Is every horse, in some way, herd bound

Need some advise. I bought a haflinger gelding to my small herd, haflinger mare and shetland pony. He has bonded so tight to the little sheltand, I can't do anything with him. I take him out and he panics and calls.

Last night I seperated him from the other two. The still can touch noses over the fence but are not together. He paced the fence line one hour, and called out 2 or 3 times.

This morning I moved the other two out of his sight - just behind their shelter- and fed them there. He couldn't see them and he paced, would eat a bit and paced again.

Anything else I should be doing?

Ah, arn't horses fun?

Take him a few feet away from the others, then take him back to them, back and forth on lead. Each time take him a few more feet away, then back. Do this for at least 20 minutes a day for a while. Until he settles down, and realizes he can leave them, and he can go back to them, that they will be there, and he will return. Once he is ok with being away increase his away time. It may take a bit, and he may or may not always dislike leaving the barn, but he will settle down and learn that he will survive!

My girl isn't heard bound, but she gets disturbed at leaving her corral. She just has to be different!

Yeah, we had a similar problem with 2 fillies that came in off the farm together....they had spent the first 2.5 years of their lives together...and initially we worked them together and they were stabled next to each other...however....a racehorse CANNOT have such a strong attachment...I mean, when you go to races they can't always have their mate with them....so what we did, was we put 3 other fillies betwen them...all the stables have big windows so you can see right the way down the line, and all the horses can see each other.....

So sounds like you're doing right there with seperating him and such....try putting him in the paddock with your mare, and letting the shetland stay on his own for a bit, this will give your boy a chance to make a new friend, just dont allow him to become SO attached...maybe try limiting his time with the mare...i dont know how viable this is for you? also, when you ride him out....(iassume?)....try going with a whole bunch of your friends that way he doesn't feel so alone...he'll get over it sooner or later, just needs a bit of time is all....

I can seperate them, but they aren't in a paddock, but a 6 acre pasture that is divided in half. I think I will leave him in his alone until I see an improvement. I did catch the shetland trying to crawl under the fence, so the bottom of it is now hot.

"I did catch the shetland trying to crawl under the fence, so the bottom of it is now hot. "

ROFWL! I want a picture!!!

Crazy horsies!