My horse gets dangerously over excited
by Vicki
(Australia)
Where are my buddies?
After doing ground work in a yard where he can't see his paddock mate as we start to head down the track toward the paddock he will almost trample whoever is leading him doing circles, trotting head high as if going to a race track how can I get him to settle and work without knocking down a lot of trees do they can see each other. It has become unsafe to work him with out the other horse present.
Answer:
Hi Vicki,
When it comes to the point where a horse will put his/her own personal safety and the safety of others at risk they suffer from a severe case of separation anxiety. This dangerous situation must be handled carefully and breaking training down into small steps to avoid the horse from becoming so unfocused must be taken.
I take it in your explanation that the horse was reacting more when being returned to the paddock where the other horse was? How was he when you removed him from the paddock to begin with? Was your session with him where he could not see the other horses successful? Or was the horse displaying a lot of concern like calling back to the other horses or being unfocused upon you?
When a horse becomes this anxious about being alone all it mean is we have gone too far too fast for the horse to reason with his environment. Remember as a prey animal being left alone is like a death sentence for them and unless we can fill the need of the horse “feeling” we are a good replacement for another horses company we will have a difficult time helping them.
Focus, focus, focus. I measure a horse’s focus at all times. Just like in your situation where you could be standing or leading a horse but you know they cannot “see you” because their focus is elsewhere, I must first get their focus upon "me" and away from everything else. Trust and then respect is what I would constantly work on. As well as measuring when and where does the horse react? Is it 5 feet from the gate or 20 feet from the gate?
Have a look at the video on this page Dominant Horse Behavior. In the beginning, notice when I do not have the focus of the horse who knows the other horses on the other side of the arena doors. If it was summer time I would have had the doors open with a gate across so he could see them first while we establish some play training.
Take smaller steps and build upon each success. Clicker Training is a great tool for obtaining a horses focus. And see our page on Separation Anxiety for a more detailed explanation too.
Elaine Polny
Training Horses Naturally
