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Horses can't be left alone

1K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  Saddlebag 
#1 ·
I have two horses, younger gelding and older mare. When i used to go to competitions only with my mare she was perfectly fine with being by herself (calm in the arena, paddock, stable) - no problem at all. But now when i'm going to competitions with both of them, there are some problems. The horses can't be alone. At first i understood that the younger horse can be a bit anxious and stuff so when i went to ride him, the mare was by his side, just walking in the arena and then everything was ok, the gelding could be a bit nervous when left alone but mare was completely fine as i expected her to be because she's always been like that. But now lately it's impossible to separate them when i'm in some other barn. They have to see eachother all the time, otherwise they will go grazy and really nervous, especially the mare.. and i don't know what to do. I can't just leave with one of them and leave the other one in the stable because it can hurt itself. I've tried separating them slowly etc but it doesn't seem to help. Any ideas??
 
#2 ·
Do a search on "buddy sour" horses here on the forum while you wait for responses and you'll find some threads addressing this one. I remember a couple from not very long ago that were helpful.
 
#3 ·
There is only one fix I know for this.

Haul these horses to places where they can be tied safely, far apart and not bother anyone. I have done this numerous times to 'season' horses that were going to be hauled. I love taking horses to round-up club roping practices. I'll tie one in the bucking horse pens and another to the trailer several hundred yards away. I'll haul to a show and tie one at one end of the show ground and the other at the opposite end of the show grounds. It may take a 10 hour day or it may take 3 different days. It will take as long as it takes to teach both of them that they are wasting their energy and that they will be returned back to the barn.

Once they stand tied quietly, start riding one of them and make sure that one is working well for you. You may have to haul to several events and not compete just to get their 'minds right'. If you do not take the time to do this, then your competitions will suffer when one or both develop problems performing that will take a lot longer to fix.

They will figure it all out and they will be OK. This is just a part of training and seasoning any new horse. Some are OK right away and others take a good bit of separation training and seasoning.
 
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