Horse with Severe Separation Anxiety

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Several years ago I had a mare who was recovering from an injury. As part of the therapy the Vet instructed me to take her for 2 to 3 20 to 30 minute walks, not rides, a day. For my own sake I would just take her for walks on the trail rather than walk her in patterns around the barn area. That way the walks didn't become boring to me. When we'd get back to the barn I'd do some gentle ground work so she didn't get relief as soon as we got home. I was happily surprised at how well she adjusted to not being bothered about being on the trail alone after a couple of weeks of this. She is still the easiest horse I have to ride away from home that I have.

I love how as soon as he's alone he pees and poops XD

If only the breeders who weaned their foals with poor methods (weaning too early, isolating a foal in a stall etc), could understand how badly they screw up the horse's mind, sometimes for the rest of its life. Horses with extreme separation anxiety can cause a lot of damage to themselves, to people, to fences, pastures, stalls, equipment. If you breed horses, please wean at an appropriate age (closer to 8 months, not 4), please give the foal known companions, in fact never keep young horses under 2 years old alone. It is very detrimental to them. They need a herd.

It is basically a re-hash of weaning a mare and foal. The reaction is pretty much the same with the panic, fussing and calling. One problem is I've found a horse that behaves like this with one horse will just find another buddy if kept with other horses. So it can end up a never-ending problem in a few cases.

Do what I did, get a third horse. Then another horse, then another and another, eventually, the horses don't care if one is gone. ha ha

That was excellent, nice to see the adjustment of strategy as you evaluated Tanner’s response. At the end he actually dropped his head a ‘little’, brought his head around check you out, then seemed to relax a bit, moved his ears back toward you, indicating to me he was going to pay attention to you more! Shifted his alliance maybe. He is stiff, more suppling would help him physically.

To me its a great example of "choose where you work / choose where you rest"...

I "think" this (or something like it) is what was done to my one gelding before I owned him but it was done to such an extent that he hates being around other horses. He will do it if you ask him to and won't be a jerk about it but first chance he gets he will go somewhere where he doesn't have to see or be near the other horses. He also won't whinny back if another horse whinnys at him but he will whinny at me when he sees me and he is out in the pasture. It's actually super nice because I mostly ride alone and he really really prefers to ride alone. The only explanation I have for it is that at some point in his life he was taught that being alone is much preferred to being around other horses.

I have been watching your ground work videos on patreon to try and touch base on those with Tanner again, as well to make it easier on me to work on this. I need to get myself out more often in this heat to work with him! Thanks again for having us and showing me how to work on this with Tanner 😊

Those are two of the most beautiful horses I have ever seen! 🥰🥰🥰 Lucky you, Avery!

It's always a great day when Ryan posts. Love your content 👍

Handsome boy!!! I’m sure he’ll be good soon. Great job to both.

Tanner is a beautiful horse!! I'm glad to see Ryan work with him.

That is two very Well build horses this lady have 😊

That's one of the prettiest horses I've ever. They're all beautiful though. ❤

Great video! Thanks Ryan

So interesting! Love watching your processes.

OMG THANK YOU!! This is my horse ROY in the Middle East! We got him sorted when he was with his trainer and boarding in Texas and then he regressed when I shipped them over to the Middle East

Very interesting to see the same basic principles you use all the time applied in a bit of a different situation. Cool. Also, what a gorgeous horse! I suspect they're common but Ive never seen a buckskin paint before! And such interesting markings!