Suggestions and advice needed

[snelson]

I recently moved my horses and it seems Pebbles is having a bit of trouble with it all. She is fine out in the pasture with Flint and the other 3 but is impossible when I try to take her out by herself or take Flint without her. He got a little jumpy the first couple of days but has settled in and has no problem leaving the pasture by himself but she completely loses it. She starts chasing the other horses and trying to jump the gates. She was never ever like that at the other location. I give her a little leeway since she had never been off the property and this is all new.

However, last night I brought them both in and tied them up 3 feet apart and she panicked. First it was pawing, then escalated to dancing in place and then to rearing up as far as the tie would let her. I saddle up Flint and took them both into the indoor. Now I have done this many many many times(at the old barn)...I tied her to a post and started riding Flint. He was perfectly calm and listened just fine. Pebbles on the other hand kept rearing up and dancing around. She doesn't pull back thankfully. So I had my daughter ride Flint and I worked with Pebbles, lunging and doing a lot of change of directions. She was listening to me but clearly focused on Flint. If he was on the other end of the arena she tried to suck back that direction. I finally got her to focus on me but she was literally dripping sweat. So my daughter was done riding and I tied Pebbles back up to help finish with Flint and she went right back to what she was doing before.

So question....do I just continue to tie her and let her work it out? That is my inclination, but others have told me that not being able to move her feet and go somewhere will just cause it to escalate, because she is doing it from stress and not from lack of knowledge.

Do I just give her more settle in time? Or will that just prolong it and I should be just ask her to act like I expect her to? She has always been the calm one and listened. She would leave the barn area and go down the trail perfectly calm on her own. But now I can't even ride her in the indoor arena without it being a huge fight. She has lost some weight in the week she has been here...but she could stand to lose so it doesn't concern me to much yet.

And its kind of funny since I thought Flint would be the one I would have to bring back to sanity

[ride4fun]

My thinking has always been that if they are acting like they might try to injure themselves jumping a fence I'm tying them up. (preferably to one of my high ties or a high tree branch so they can pace around) Valerian root powder or one of the rescue remedy things might help her get over the anxiety hump.

In general I would say work with her rather than Flint for a while. If you can get her to transfer to getting security from your presence rather than familiar place or Flint that will be very valuable down the road. Having a horse that doesn't get anxious is the best, but when we are 'keeper owners' we just have to find what works with horse quirks.

[snelson]

I think that is what was so surprising. She has always looked to me for security until now. So I will try to get back there and tie her when I need to.

[Idaho Linda]

Remember she might possibly be in heat, making things worse. I think you have a good plan. Hang in there.

[snelson]

Maybe Linda...I will pay closer attention when I go out today but she is normally very hard to tell except for the peeing...she usually doesnt get "marish". But new place, new attitude

[snelson]

I was out today and she seems to be closer to her normal self I had a long talk with the barn owner yesterday and she set my mind at ease over Pebbles behavior and that I shouldn't be in a rush to try to "normalize" her. Today she wasn't as moody and I did notice that she preferred to hang out with the other mare over being next to Flint. He didn't seem to care one way or another about her leaving the pasture area either. So maybe in a couple of weeks we will be all back to normal but with Flint being a nice quiet gelding again instead of the hyper vigilant gelding he had become at the other barn.

[Jenni]

Sounds like she just needed to settle in. I had a mare who would be completely freaked out for a couple weeks over a little change. Something as simple as changing the position of the water tank or where her bucket was for supper time would put her over the edge. She was a total nut when anything in the routine changed but would settle in after a couple weeks.

[snelson]

LOL Jenni...that is how Flint generally is so it was a total surprise when it was Pebbles. Flint has settled in enough to be picking up rubber mats (light thin ones) in the corral area and shaking them

[Marci]

Shadow was a nut when we would go somewhere new, especially if it was an overnight trip. (Aka horse camping) but just doing it and I think she had a chat with the old been there done that mare that was herd boss. She calmed right down and hasn't been a problem since. Perhaps that's what happened to your mare?

[snelson]

She was doing really well when I was just bringing her in and spending time with her but this week I brought Flint in and put him in a stall while I brushed her. He was perfectly fine, just stood there and looked around. She was fine with that portion of it too...but as soon as I put her in the stall and brought Flint out to brush she started pacing, bouncing and rearing up. She backed up to a corner and started pawing and pawing until she had all the bedding in the corner and she was sweating so she was wet from ears to tail. It makes absolutely no sense. It can't be that she is worried about Flint because she has been coming in all by herself and getting brushed and even ridden with him still in the pasture, but for some reason having him in the barn while she was locked in a stall just set her off.

She has been in the stall without Flint in the barn and has done just fine. I put her in there while I swept up and put things away and we didn't have any of the theatrics that she did the other day. Silly silly mare. Not sure where to go from here with it. It's not like I can avoid having another horse in the barn with her forever.

[Jenni]

Sounds like she's jealous, lol.

So Fancy is a little bit like this. She will run the pasture and scream anytime I take another horse out to work with it. I can take her out and be out of view of everyone and she is totally fine.

When she was younger she would completely throw a fit at the trailer or in the stall when I took the other horse away. If she was hauled without another horse she knew she was completely fine. She's not so bad about that now, just calls out a few times and paws a little, but she is a "herd protector" on the trail, if we ride with others and have her pasture mates with she will make evil faces or go after the other horses and is panicky if she's not right with them - none of her herd mates with and she rides right along wherever I put her in the group, same thing at the trailer - she stands nice and quiet when she's hauled alone.

I have no answers for you. Fancy just had to spend a lot of time in those uncomfortable situations until she figured things out.

[snelson]

She has always been a bit 'jealous'. She would have a fit at the other place if I took Flint out and worked him first, she would call out and pace. If I took her out first and messed with her, then put her back, she would act perfectly calm and act surprised when he came back. So since it didn't make any difference to me, I just started taking her out first unless I took both of them. And thinking about it, most of the time I did ride her first and then tie her to the wall while I rode him.
She is my go to horse when I was heading out on the trail because she would just go out and not spook at absolutely everything. So maybe her hissy fits have just intensified with the stress of being at a new place....but boy oh boy does she have a temper tantrum So I may just go ahead and ride her first as I had at the other barn until she gets settled in completely and then start with the change up.

She does not like the pony at all...but will be tolerant of him when I first get there but if I bring him in so my daughter can ride him, she gets all snakey with him when he comes back....she is just going to have to learn that I don't have time every time to play with her first.