Tapsmom
Loving the herd life
Hi all, Let me give you a little background. I have a 26 year old Arab. I purchased him just before he turned 4 and he was untrained. He has been-and still is-an awesome horse. My 10 and 6 year old children can handle and ride him but he is still willing to go for a gallop when we head out for a trail ride. He has very good manners and is frequetly led with just a rope around his neck. About a year ago he was moved to a friend's house while we build our barn to finally bring him home. Previous to that he was at a barn with just himself and another mare. They got along well, but neither one cared much if the other one left. Where he is currently there are 6 horses. He has REALLY bonded with a paint mare there. There have been some shifting of pastures etc and he has not handled it well., They cannot put her anywhere but with him or he gets frantic and gallops along the fence. Apparently he has started coming out of the barn in the morning like a stallion and this morning he actually mounted her once they were turned out! The current setup has him on a dirt turnout during the day and the barn is not attached to the pasture so they are lead in and out am and pm. He had also started losing weight with the heat and the flys so we have been trying to get it back on him for the winter. He is currently on a cup of Sunshine pellets, 2.5 qts of SBP 1410 (Blue Seal) and a couple of good handfuls of alfalfa cubes am and pm along with pm hay. As a yougster he was a fence walker, but when he could go in and out the problem did decrease. When he comes home he will be out with our Nigerian Dwarf goats and will be able to go in and out of his stall at will.
My conundrum is that his behavior is causing problems for my friend. She also has an older gelding and the other horses are picking on him so she needs to find a better way to mix the horses. We are going to try and put up some other fencing andsee if the two old guys will be ok together with the mare. My barn is not quite done and we have to do more clearing before I can get the permanent fencing up. I am starting to bring him home a little bit here and there..but I haven't brought him alone yet.Does anyone have any suggestions or thought as to what I might be able to do to get hime to relax and or what I can do if he really flips out about being home by himself? At this point I cannot afford a second horse. His current possesive behavior towards this mare is proving a challenge.
My conundrum is that his behavior is causing problems for my friend. She also has an older gelding and the other horses are picking on him so she needs to find a better way to mix the horses. We are going to try and put up some other fencing andsee if the two old guys will be ok together with the mare. My barn is not quite done and we have to do more clearing before I can get the permanent fencing up. I am starting to bring him home a little bit here and there..but I haven't brought him alone yet.Does anyone have any suggestions or thought as to what I might be able to do to get hime to relax and or what I can do if he really flips out about being home by himself? At this point I cannot afford a second horse. His current possesive behavior towards this mare is proving a challenge.