SEPARATION ANXIETY IN THE HORSE

by
John O'Leary
Horseman
© 2006

This is probably the most asked about subject that I get emails about, it would probably be the most frustrating problem with horse ownership and it is a highly complex and difficult to fix  indeed. So what causes it in the first place?

• There is no doubt that horses are born with stronger or weaker minds, just as Humans are and their ability to handle things on their own can depend upon their breeding and their upbringing. As you know, we meet strong one's, weak one's and a variety in between. I have met and in fact own a line of horses that are so independent that they jump fences and can be 3k away from their herd. The entire Family have been like that.
   

• Their Breeding can play a huge part in the equation and if you have a problem Mother or Stallion, this can play a part as well.
   

• Then there is the management of their upbringing.

UPBRINGING

I find that the following issues can and do affect their ability to handle being alone throughout their life:

1. The weaning process can play a big part in this. If I see a Mare that is over the top with her possessiveness or teaching the 'flight from fear' I will wean the foal far earlier than normal and put that foal with a strong independent type of a horse. Normally a gelding.
    

2. I often find that the Human frailties play a negative part during the weaning process because everyone feels very sorry for the young one that just lost 'Mum'. Fair enough but like anything in life, such things can turn to weaknesses in the future. People will always find a friend or more to put the young one with and it then bonds to them and often, such bonding can be even stronger than with the Mother. So they are still not taught to be independent and it is as if they were still with their Mum. This lack of teaching independence to young horses can and often does commence the road to anxiety down the track. Young horses should be shipped around in paddock and mate rotation and as soon as they are successfully weaning they should be then put through the even more important weaning process, that of making them learn to be alone. This is probably the biggest mistake ever made with young horses. A failure to make them learn to live in a paddock on their own and to learn some degree of being able to handle it and being at ease with their own company. The breaking of the 'herd mentality'
    

3. Foal 'imprinting' is one of the worst things ever invented imho and I have had many of these come through my hands to be broken in or re-educated. They are often not well adjusted and are confused at to their role in life. I often feel sorry for them because when you commence the breaking in process, they just don't get it and often end up thinking that you are trying to be cruel with them. They do not react like horses and they try to commute everything that you are attempting to teach into 'human terms' They are often failed breakers or problem horses.
    

4. The Racing Industry is another big cause of separation anxiety in the horse. I must admit that I haven't put my mind to what the reasons could be but it hasn't taken me long as I sit here in front of the computer. The system of Breeding fits the 'herd mentality' as discussed before, they pretty much always are trucked with friends or prepared for the yearling sales, at the training track with friends each side, even in the field at training or races, always with a bunch of friends. Never experiencing independence. Further, the Racing Industry takes 'the horse out of the horse' and reduces them to a shadow of how they were born. Humanizing them and changing them in many negative ways. The mental anguish leads to kicking, weaving, pawing, wind sucking and so on and in general, a weakened mind that often has a diminished mental capacity to handle daily pressures or decisions.
    

5. Then we have the affect of 'human frailty' which trains or compounds existing conditions. I am reminded about the difference between the car parks at a Western Show compared with an English Show and the behavior of the horses assembled. You would be struggling to find a horse digging a hole at a Western Show or even moving for that matter but at the English discipline shows, when everyone goes home, it looks like a plague of Rabbits has just been through. Why is that? Two things. The difference in attitude of those involved and the training of Horsemanship that exists in the Western World. They don't accept such behavior, they don't run to them every time they look sideways, they make them stand alone often, they won't shift horses to the other side of the float to give them a friend, they don't get tied to twine and break away which can be another trigger of the problem and at the slightest hint of such behavior, they hobble them early rather later when it is too late. Because of the complete void of the teaching of the subject called 'horsemanship' through the teaching systems, the English discipline people wouldn't have a clue how to nip such things in the bud early anyway whereas the Western World always has people focused on Horsemanship present and these things get quickly passed onto the 'newbies' A totally different culture.

MANAGEMENT

Once a horse has developed the problem, such as this letter from today, you will have a very difficult time indeed and most people will not be equipped either with knowledge or facilities to over come it.

There can be two reasons why horses commence with any of this type of behavior. Being allowed to become spoilt brats where they train their owner just like the kids of today train their parents or the genuine damaged mind type of horse that we have been speaking about. Success of fixing the 'spoilt brat' is far easier as it doesn't have a mental component with it. The troubled horse is far more difficult.

THE BRAT

These are caused by owners and include such things as, going to the horse every time it moves, fighting with horses at tie up rails instead of allowing the rail to do the job, yelling at horses that start to paw instead of ignoring them or doing something about it in a training manner, spoiling horses rotten (carrots and sugar) not allowing them to be horses (taking the horse out of the horse), bribery and corruption or giving into them for peace. (just like the Maccas syndrome)

MANAGEMENT

As I said earlier, these can be highly complex horses and to fix them difficult indeed. Often out of the depth of the average owner without training or some other back up. So here are some ways that can work.

The thing you must know is that these horses are almost always set in the ways or now have mental problems. The first time that you go to re-train them and change the rules then can cause uproar and unless you can steel yourself to handle the repercussions, don't start. I mean possibly leaving a horse tied up for 5 hours or if one threw itself on the ground, leave it there until it gets over itself.

• Tie the horse up to the tie up rail and leave it. Ignore it's pawing or calling for as long as it takes for it to stop, whether that be from boredom or exhaustion. It could be hours it matters not. What does matter is this. On the zillionth of a second after it stops it's tantrums, go immediately to it and untie it. Reward it with whatever and put it away. Repeat every time you catch the horse for something.
   

• Ignore horses that move around at tie up rails. Providing they are standing without pawing and without moving your feet if you are present, who cares. I see people constantly grabbing the lead rope and pulling on the heads of horses that are tied up, creating a fight, stress and even the very problems that are being discussed here, all to no avail. You cannot physically impose your will for a horse to not move it's feet.
   

• Find and put your horse in with another horse which is already an independent type and preferably savage or a 'bitch from hell' Let that horse teach your horse to stay away and graze on it's own. To start to learn to be with itself and to change it's mental thinking. Horses teach horses better than we can. Feed them 50 metres apart. Later, put your horse in an adjoining paddock, on it's own and seek to make friends with it yourself.
   

• If you have several paddocks and horses, rotate the horse amongst different ones regularly, not allowing too much bonding.
   

• Where you have ridden problems, yelling, atempting to refuse to leave home and so on, become a more assertive rider and ride them out of it. Go on long trail rides, alone and stop now and again, lay on the ground and allow your horse to have a pick of grass. Let the horse learn to associate your presence with enjoyment and horsy stuff. On the arena, fix it with all of the 'leg yielding' tools and 'roundness'. Make the horse concentrate and be assertive and demanding enough to over come the thoughts of 'mates'
   

• Completely cut your horse off from contact with others, bite the bullet, leave it for weeks no matter what the behavior and see what happens.
   

• Train your horse responsible with 'leg restraints' as a tool. http://www.horseproblems.com.au/DVD%20Sales.htm Do not play around without knowledge and proper training. This will open up to you many ways to beat and re-train such horses. Believe it or not, the horse with the mental problems often greatly benefits from being challenged with such training as they need to be 'snapped out of it' before they can then begin to think with a clear mind. You can't train horses with a mental condition. You first have to defeat it. The mere use of a set of hobbles can even become the 'crutch' that the horse needs to relax with and the hobbles even become their 'comfort zone' Progressively then, diminish their use (with training) to end up with a normal horse again.
   

• One of the quickest ways to start up a bond with horses is to float them together. Horses that have never met each other will bond with one trip in a float, no matter how short. Handy under some circumstances but not otherwise. I liken it to the 'Jews' on the way to the concentration camps on the German Trains where they no doubt would have bonded quicker through fear of the unknown or the suspected.
   

• I have successfully used stockman's hobbles many times to fix yard or paddock fence runners. Proper preparation and leg restraints training must occur firstly though, in your round pen. Then the hobbles must be used with complete sophistication and training. NOT as "here's a DVD so now be quiet" The horse starts running, install the hobbles. The horse eats grass, remove them and give 'reward and relief' repeat thousands of times. I have even trained Stallions with this.
   

• Always eliminate the Veterinary of course and investigations into blood counts and balances, hormone imbalance and so on should be under taken and ruled out.
   

• Don't try to train horses at the Show unless you are not competing. Don't compensate for them. Tie them on the opposite side of the float to any travel mate and make them get over it. Preferably travel them alone however. If allowed, train them in the warm up arena with proper Dressage and assertive riding but don't compete.
   

• Never lose your cool with these horse but always nip new things 'in the bud' immediately with proper and on going ground manners training throughout their lives. Don't wait until things are established.
   

• Always use 'Justice in ownership' In such instances of Rick's letter, be fair to horses. Always use empathy. Don't lock horses in boxes if you don't need to. If you have to, don't leave them there for a second longer than they have to be. If letting out other horses along side, let them all out together and don't promote trouble. Learn to read the signs and act upon them. Goal causes mental problems with Humans too!!

This too from today.....

All in all the Mare and Mini filly spent a week together on the trip down from N.S.W as they were held over in Melbourne for almost the whole week before coming on to South Australia.
Now we can not separate them, as soon as each horse looses sight of the other they both go into instant panic mode, my mare stresses terribly, runs franticly around her yard, calls constantly and gets all sweated up and as you say they both have a brain snap and neither will listen to anything that is asked of them. Both are stabled adjacent to one another at night and spend their day in adjoining yards.

I would NOT have them in adjacent stables or adjacent yards and I would immediately get rid of one of them and start again.

Best of Luck

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