I haven’t read all of the replies, so I’m sure you’ve gotten a lot of great advice and questions asked. I think I saw ulcers mentioned, and that was my first thought. I saw in one of your own posts the thought of pain, and that’s also my thought.
My gelding went through a time like this when I moved him to a boarding barn after his last remaining buddy passed away and I sold my farm. My gelding had lived on that farm since he was a yearling and was 10 when I moved him. He seemed to do okay at first, but eventually his behavior declined and he eventually got so stressed out by being brought into or even NEAR the barn (he was pasture boarded, but needed to come in for grooming, tacking, etc.) that he’d attempt to turn and not run but slowly drag me back toward the pasture. I had to be super firm and diligent about keeping his attention, and all that wound up doing was getting me into the barn with a horse that was then on high-alert, completely bugging out and inconsolable. There were times I couldn’t keep him in the barn aisle because he was so uptight and anxious he was literally trembling, wild-eyed, and just desperate to be out of there. I worked and worked and worked with him, and some days I would break down crying because my quiet, sensible, sweet boy was an absolute basket case and I couldn’t figure out why.
Long story short: his back was sore and would go into spasms when he’d get a little uptight, and then it was like a vicious cycle of him anticipating the muscle spasms, that tension causing the muscle spasms, and then him trying to escape the muscle spasms and just getting more and more frantic. It was literally like watching a horse being attacked by his own body. It was so upsetting to see HIM that upset and obviously terrified.
I moved him to a barn he preferred, but he was always still just a touch wary now and then. It wasn’t until I moved him to his current barn that he went full-throttle nuts and I honestly thought he was going to have a heart attack. That’s when (duh) I finally decided to try some tubes of Ulcergard. Bingo. Two days in he was drastically improved. By the time he finished a whole 28-day treatment, my bank account was hurting but my horse was back to his old self. Happy as a clam. And I realized that he’d probably had the ulcers since leaving the farm where his friends were buried and he’d grown up. The ulcers probably played a role in the back tension (though saddle fit and need of a better farrier played a role in that as well).
Oh, and my guy was buddy sour during his crazy time at the first farm. Very uncharacteristically so. Now? Pfft. He couldn’t care less. His pasture friend (a mare) calls for him pretty consistently when he’s off being ridden or whatever and he never answers her. It’s like he doesn’t hear her.
Ulcers. Backs. Pain. I think they exacerbate the buddying up because horses feel more vulnerable when they’re in pain, so they look for the comfort of company as herd animals.
Wracking our brains and trying to assign scenarios or blame to behaviours that are ingrained is a waste of energy that could be better spent working with the horse. UNLESS, we know we are the cause of the behaviour because of a very clear mistake we made/made repetitively. Even then, we need to be able to check our list, tell ourselves we were an arsehole, get over our guilt, and do better by never making that particular mistake again.
. I tried a bunch of stuff. Treats, two halters, backing her into the turnout. She was fine 95% of the time but that 5%…usually spring and fall…she had her own agenda.