@Texarkana is spot on. My go to move when shifting from my home barn to the training barn is a nice fat pad of alfalfa hay in turnout. Without it he runs around when first turned out. With it he’s like “oh yum … I need to eat this and not gallop around”.
You might ride her in the grass paddock for a few days until she gets bored with it. Stop every now and then and let her graze. The idea is for her to explore the space and eventually to conclude that it’s safe and a yummy place to be.
BTW, what kind of grass do you have? Same as old place?
I know you said you’re giving her ace in the mornings, but have you asked your vet about any other better-living-through-chemistry options for the short-term? Maybe a different sedative, or even one of the anti-depressant or anti-obsessional drugs for a few weeks might help her through the transition.
You’ve received a lot of good advice for what sounds like a frustrating situation. Part of the answer may be, as others have suggested, just giving her some more time.
You might want to back off the Ace: some horses have a completely contrary reaction to Ace with the drug making them even more anxious rather than less.
You might also try doing something completely different with her, like clicker-training. This is something you could do in her paddock and just use the clicker with her to do simple things like stand still while you walk away; touch objects with her nose; etc. The combination of engaging the brain and associating the paddock with learning and rewards (treats that go along with clicker-traing) may convince her that life at the new place isn’t so bad after all!
While she is getting acclimated it might be worth keeping her brain busy with more riding. Ride her twice per day. Not saying hard work, but enough work to keep her brain going. Like suggested above, hacking around her paddock might be worth a try.
Would something like one of these slow feeder hay balls in her stall keep her brain going? I got one for Charlie for Christmas and it was an instant hit.
Horses are gregarious and do do better with more than one friend. You don’t say if the friend goes out in the paddock with her and she gallops away from said friend to where she feels safe.
The other thing is there is a balance between work and feed, which gets out of whack when it is changed. You said you were riding 3 to 4 days a week and then really nothing.
This is called the realm of over fed and underworked and would happen if you stopped riding and were only letting her eat grass with no feed.
It will take her as long to get out of this realm as it took her to get into this realm. So if it took a week she won’t come out of it overnight.
She was happier when you worked her. So work her. Don’t work longer than normal. If she needs more, work twice a day rather than longer once a day.
Use praise. Make sure you are her happy place.
What does overfed and underworked look like?
Mum lost her Tommy so I bought back my company horse where I worked as I had to sell him as they wouldn’t let us have our own horse. And I gave Jaaames to her Jaaames as he was sooo quiet he needed his name drawled to match him.
Mum fed James hay only, taking him off grain and rode him an hour a day. He was of course perfect.
It was a week before she called me for help. She had been riding him down at the scout den and had to get off him, then thought, “I haven’t gotten off a horse for 50 years”, and remounted. She then had to get back off again. She then had a whirling 16.2hh tb that she had to try and lead home.
I came home and got on him and fun. Not. He had taken to leaping through the air. I took him out for a trail ride. He leapt and was going to land right before a road sign, was he going to bounce left or right? I hope I go with him and not the other way. Phew I went with him.
I took him out for a couple of hours and into the second hour he stopped doing it and was back to his old self. He had just gone into the realm so he came back out of the realm just as quick.
Yes he was only being given hay and being ridden an hour a day, however as my company horse he was being ridden 3 to 4 hours a day, so he went out of whack exercise way.
Was this mare her buddy before bringing her home? Did she share turnout in the pastures with other horses?
Having a horse across the aisle is different than right next door where they share a wall and a paddock fence.
Horses don’t really care about nice facilities. She doesn’t " hate" your new place . They like what they are used to and taking her away from all the horses she is used to being with all these years is a big adjustment, but not one that is impossible to overcome. It just takes time.
Whats interesting is that she responds BETTER since coming here to my husband (not a horse person) than me. I think it’s likely becuase she senses my own anxiety, which is driven from her anxiety.
This sort of caught my eye. Maybe it’s not your anxiety so much as she could have had a primary handler at the old facility and now is insecure without that person? Is it just one person that handles and turns the horses out at the old place? Maybe she’s just not used to you guys being in that sort of leadership role?
My other thought is, maybe since it is an equestrian community, there are horses scattered on properties all over the place…or even other types of animals she’s not used to, like llamas, goats or cows, and that makes her nervous?
Either way, there isn’t much I think you can do about those scenarios, correct or not, you just have to hope she settles. And I would also ditch the Ace. I haven’t Aced a horse in my entire life (other than if the vet gave it for a procedure or something…I’ve honestly never asked what he gives for sedation). But at some point, the horse will just need to cope and I wouldn’t get reliant on drugs to do it. You want her to live a life as a normal horse if you can.
I’d say your anxiety isn’t helping her anxiety. Though to be sure, moving can be awfully scary for horses. It’s really different than going to a show.
I think she will settle given more time Enjoy your wine and your new farm!
ETA: I’m also a believer in the power of alfalfa
Can you turn your two horses out together separated by a fence and see how they get along? Then, plan to try turning out together? I really wonder if that wouldn’t be the answer to her anxiety.
And yes, let’s order you some CBD. Are you open to trying that? I take it daily and wow does it help.
I adopted a mental/physical mess years ago and had never had someone so anxious. In the barn move before coming home it was just her and another horse separated by a fence. She was a mess! Running the fence like she’d never done, jumping the water trough even. Just a wreck.
Brought my other horse to that barn and turned him out with her and VOILA - instantly and I mean instant calm.
THEN, brought them home to my place a year a later - just the two of them - and not once did she run a fence or act neurotic. But they are turned out together all the time. Only time they are stalled separately is for vet visits.
Do feel them having access at all times to moving around in the dry lot (or out in pasture) helps. No stalling short of horrible weather event. I knew having only a few horses at home would be harder on them mentally and a bigger herd is better.
OR…
My TB was bred to race.
Failed his 2yo Speed Test, but trainer kept him as their Pony horse for the next 4yrs.
So he was always kept in a race barn, with the other horses in the string.
I bought him as a 6yo & boarded for the next 14yrs - at 4 different barns - where he got varying amounts of turnout, always in small herds.
Took him & new horse home & they settled into a Herd of 2.
After about 6mos, I took Horse 2 away for a weekend.
Neighbors had horses, but none were very visible & I worried he’d fret being alone.
I checked with my farmsitter & at no point in my weekend away, did TB show any sign of missing his “herd”.
On our return, there was an allover sniff-fest between them & things went right back to Business as Usual.
TB never seemed to care when he was the one Home Alone.
OTOH:
When TB had to overnight at the vet clinic, #2 spent the whole night pacing the fence & calling.
It was Summer, so my windows were open & I heard him.
I now have 3 & am gone for near a week every Summer for Fair with my mini.
I come home each night, he stays on the fairgrounds.
He’s also the one who generally gets taken on daytrips.
The other 2 will watch me load him, then go back to whatever they were doing.
He gets inspected on his return & sometimes “celebrated” with an Everyone RUN! .
Same on the rarer occasion my horse goes with me.
#3 is a pasture ornament, hasn’t been trailered in over 10yrs.
Sorry to ramble.
My point is they are individuals & you can’t apply a blanket statement on their reactions.
OP:
Give your mare more time.
Give yourself more time (& wine?)
If she’s still unsettled after 6mos (I know, sounds like an eternity) that’s when I’d start looking for a fix.
Hope you both relax & enjoy your new place.
I am envious of the horse-centric community you describe
When we brought our daughter’s show mare home to our beautiful new farm and turned her out into her 5 acre pasture (thinking she would love it), she grazed for 10 minutes and spent the rest of the time standing at the gate staring at her stall. It was probably at least six months before she spent more than 30 minutes in the pasture. Fifteen years later she still likes her stall but also the pasture, although she still spends a lot of time standing in the turnout shed. She is also a sensitive mare - I’m sure your mare will adjust and be happy in time!
Yes…same grass and same fencing as old place. We’ve also made sure to hand walk her around multiple times around the whole farm - and in the paddocks - to let her graze and try to realize that its not scary.
No this is a new buddy. She never shared a pasture or a fence line - she was the typical “show hunter in a bubble” horse her whole life.
To clarify too, yes we have nice facilities, but I guess what I was trying to get at by saying all of that is we are trying to do everything and give her everything to make her comfortable - its not as if we just brought her home and threw her in a field. We’ve gone to great lengths to make her feel as comfortable as possible. I think you’re right…its just going to take time as its been MANY years of the same thing for her. I think I probably need to realize too, to focus on the positives - she can walk generally quietly through the community and is VERY focused and workmanlike (her usual self) when I walk her down to the main eq center to work her. Those things in and of themselves are HUGE “victories”. Thank you kindly for your advice.
The other mare belongs to someone else and is coming back from an injury after being on stall rest. As mine has never been turned out with another horse EVER, I worry that if my mare riles her up, the other mare could become injured again.
Thank you. Yes, I have only given her ace when she has become dangerous. Other than that, I ordered VitaCalm and mare magic which are arriving tomorrow. Hopefully those should help too…I am not a huge proponent of continuing to use the ace and I want to get away from it. Its not a solution.
These are great suggestions! She does respond very well to “re-focusing” type things when she gets worked up. I spend lots of time doing stretching with her, etc. but I like the clicker training idea.
And yes, I’ve ordered some calming supplements and do intend on ditching the ace…I dont view that as a solution.
Thank you for the advice. As she loves to work, I do plan on bringing her down to the eq center twice a day now and my husband will work with her in the pasture and around the property. “An idle mind is the devil’s playground” and hers seems way too idle since shes been here.
Thank you for your post!