I had 4 and would take two away. That worked out fine, even though the two left behind were not exactly BFFs. Now I’m down to 3, and the one left behind is adjusting. It’s hard for her because she is the BOSS and does not like her subjects to disappear. Oddly, she does better when I take the other two away in the trailer than if we ride them away. I think she understands that horses go off in trailers and return later. She will call for them at the beginning, but so far has not done anything stupid when left alone.
Definitely depends on your horses. Have a backup plan and enough stall/paddock space to support a third if needed.
I started with one and bought a yearling about 3 weeks after moving the big guy home. I knew it might not work out to just have two, but I have three stalls so I figured I could see how it went and adapt. The yearling latched onto his new big brother very fast, and got very anxious every time we went for a ride. I definitely could not leave him out in the field alone without risking injury. Sometimes I would hear him screaming from the barn the entire ride. So, a couple weeks later I got a mini donkey. The dynamic with three of them is much better, and now there’s no screaming or stall churning when anyone else leaves.
If you don’t want a third horse I would definitely recommend a mini donkey! They are very easy to care for and great fun to have around. And look at this face!!! (Scroll down.)
[QUOTE=normandy_shores;8223631]
I did that. Moved here last July, and went ok for 2-3 months. Then one started to get more and more herdbound. I had them in separate fields, and took each one away daily for riding grooming. Still didn’t help. Herdbound horse went THROUGH the fence and sheared off two posts.
Now I have three horses.
Herdbound horse was never herdbound before coming here, and coped by himself. I still have to switch up living arrangements every month or so or he gets too into the routine and gets ridiculous again.
Can I reiterate he was never herdbound at all before?[/QUOTE]
This! I built my barn with 3 stalls specifically to avoid the herdbound issue. When we lost one horse this winter, suddenly the super steady, chill horse next to him got super panicky any time his remaining friend left her stall or paddock. Every day I have just two, it makes me nervous, because you never know. 3 makes me much more comfortable!
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences everyone.
That mini donkey is adorable! My sister would absolutely love to have one of those cuties 
I started off with two horses. Life becaue much easier for them once we got Evil Mini Pony to keep company whomever wasn’t being ridden.
I have two, who both have the possibility of travel. I’m lucky that I have wonderful neighbours (why I bought the property), so if I’m just taking one, the other I lead across the field to “day care.”
They’ve both lived alone, so it’s quite silly of them, but…horses. If I’m just going to ride out on the trails a little ways, I leave one on his own & it’s fine. It’s also a training issue that gets better with time, but some individuals…are just individuals, LOL.
I’ve pondered a donkey/retiree/rescue foster, but always end up at it being one more thing that needs hay in the winter, shots, & then if I take both riding horses, well…so then you’d need four & omg.
If your fencing/pasture is amenable, a pair of mini-donks can be a good solution. I have 10 acres of lovely mixed tall fescue that would founder them to death & some pastures are cross-fenced with a single strand of tape, so if I do go the donkey/llama/thingy route, it’d have to be hony-sized…
[QUOTE=wildlifer;8226350]
I’ve pondered a donkey/retiree/rescue foster, but always end up at it being one more thing that needs hay in the winter, shots, & then if I take both riding horses, well…so then you’d need four & omg.[/QUOTE]
Not to be an enabler or anything but my mini donk is an air fern so hay costs are VERY minimal and they aren’t as likely to panic and be fools as horses are, if left alone. Obviously I wouldn’t keep him alone as a long-term lifestyle, but when both horses leave the worst thing he does is bray a few times, if that. No pacing, and definitely no mad gallops. Of course I’m generalizing from one donkey, but I think their sense of self-preservation is too high for those behaviors. I have thought two mini donks would be nice, but he can be studdish with his own kind since he was cut late and anyway, why rock the boat?
And on the founder, my guy has been on overnight turnout with the horses (14-16 hours a day) wearing a Greenguard grazing muzzle in a nice fescue mix pasture and he’s staying in good health.
In short: donkeys rock, you should ponder that more. 
My mini, being The Mini Pony of Evil, is quite content being left by himself.
Libby2563 is right though -donkeys are awesome!
I originally wanted a donkey or a mini donkey instead of a mini, but we went over to a friend’s house (she runs a rescue). While we were visiting Moonie the Evil Mini (aka Moonie the Mob Boss, aka the Pasture Shark) picked my husband to be his human and that was that. Moonie continues to hate all humans other than my husband.:sigh:
Here is my experience. My place is zoned for 2, so I don’t have any choice. The first 2 tbs I had were fine, even though one was otherwise quite neurotic. After I lost the neurotic one, I bought another tb and he wasn’t terrible. He would trot around and call but not get crazy. However, when I was bringing his buddy back one day he was so excited that he ran around the paddock ripping around and bucking wildly and blew out his stifle :(.
After it became clear that the injured horse was not going to recover, I moved him off the property for retirement board (since it was obvious I couldn’t leave him alone).
Next I got a percheron/paint cross who was fine being left alone. Unfortunately shortly after this I lost my old tb. So I got a companion pony. He was the worst of all. Even though he was very cocky and brave he DID NOT LIKE being left alone. So I gave him to a friend, and eventually bought a 4 YO cross-bred that I thought might be OK alone for short spells.
At first I kept him in his stall and brought over my neighbors mini to keep him company and that worked fine. Now I can leave him in a small paddock by himself with some alfalfa, and within sight of the mini, and he tolerates that when I take my other horse for hacks. When I am going to be gone longer than 2.5 hours or so at a horse trial, I drop the 4 YO off at the farm where I board my retired horse. That works but it is a pain (even though it is only a few miles away).
My biggest issue now is teaching the 4 YO to stand on the trailer alone, but that is another story…
I am down to two. The mare is happy alone. The gelding I has me wondering. I worry about how he will react if something happens to “his mare” as she is old and he got a little stressed when we lost Doodles last month. We are looking for a bud for him “just in case.” Plus we were considering another anyway.
I’ve got two and they handle it fine. The first few weeks at our new farm with no neighbor horses, my two were a little nutty, but they settled. There is lots of crying when I’m tacking up, but when I ride back a couple hours later whoever was left behind is quietly grazing.
A mini donkey is in the game plan, but I’ve had friends whose horses get crazy attachment issues with their donkeys. I hate to rock the boat since the status quo is working.
[QUOTE=Libby2563;8226369]
And on the founder, my guy has been on overnight turnout with the horses (14-16 hours a day) wearing a Greenguard grazing muzzle in a nice fescue mix pasture and he’s staying in good health.[/QUOTE]
You are a terrible, terrible person & I don’t like you anymore. :lol:
I do keep my horses out 24/7 though, I hate stalling unless I have to at a horse trial or something, I did not even build stalls, heck I never even used them at the last farm I boarded at. If absolutely needed, I can easily close off half the run-in into a 12’ stall with one gate to confine something.
Although I’m still safe from mini-donk enabling, as I’d have to add tape strands to a couple fence stretches & I already have plenty of projects on the 30-yr list, ha! Neighbour has a mini-donk stud (doesn’t breed, is not stud-annoying, very sweet) & the freaking cutest little mini-mule mare you have ever seen with gorgeous big brown eyes, I heart her so much.
So it’d have to be a pair of standard donkeys (I do love mules, but I also know about mules, LOL) about hony size who are free, stand nicely for farrier, NO mares (one gelding turns into mustang stallion if he can claim a girl, aka giant @$$hole, ha), and have a healthy respect for white tape.
That should keep me safe for a while… :lol:
[QUOTE=wildlifer;8227003]
You are a terrible, terrible person & I don’t like you anymore. :lol:
I do keep my horses out 24/7 though, I hate stalling unless I have to at a horse trial or something, I did not even build stalls, heck I never even used them at the last farm I boarded at. If absolutely needed, I can easily close off half the run-in into a 12’ stall with one gate to confine something.
Although I’m still safe from mini-donk enabling, as I’d have to add tape strands to a couple fence stretches & I already have plenty of projects on the 30-yr list, ha! Neighbour has a mini-donk stud (doesn’t breed, is not stud-annoying, very sweet) & the freaking cutest little mini-mule mare you have ever seen with gorgeous big brown eyes, I heart her so much.
So it’d have to be a pair of standard donkeys (I do love mules, but I also know about mules, LOL) about hony size who are free, stand nicely for farrier, NO mares (one gelding turns into mustang stallion if he can claim a girl, aka giant @$$hole, ha), and have a healthy respect for white tape.
That should keep me safe for a while… :lol:[/QUOTE]
Those all sound like surmountable obstacles to me! Forgive me if I keep enabling.
I’ve done it with just two here, but they were older and used to comings and goings of others. They didn’t get turned out together, so that helped to prevent too close of bonding, and they are both the types that don’t get real attached anyway. But I have three most of the time, and I much prefer that. I still don’t turn out together and everyone, even the 2 year old, gets walks up the road off the property to reinforce the idea that they CAN be separated and it isn’t a big deal.
Sometimes you just have to try it with the two and see how they do. You could look at maybe adding a mini or something that won’t cost as much to feed, but not all horses take to them that well. I had one (a mini mule) as companion to a retired horse and they got on great, but when that horse left, my others hated the mule and I had to rehome her (to a fellow COTHer:)).
I have had it work, with three different pairs
I think most horses can be trained to accept their buddy is going to come home. I had my gelding by himself and then got my mare - she was more herd bound than he was. But, they both learned to accept it. We do endurance, so we regularly leave with me in the saddle - and that became no issue quickly. A nicker to say bye and a welcome home whinny. They also came to accept that one or the other will load in the trailer and be gone for a few hours, or a few days.
Then I got a 3rd horse and life was easier. But then my gelding died and original mare was BFFs with new mare … but she also learned to accept the deal. And was so so happy when BFF came home.
Then I got another 3rd horse and original mare died. So now it is two again and “new” mare started very herd bound. Like hurt herself climbing through fencing herd bound. In the beginning, I would shut her in her stall, then she got paddock rights for off property trail rides and eventually pasture rights.
Trailering was a whole nother issue. She got put in her stall, stayed in all day (stayed around home and did day rides at first) and then started putting her in and having someone let her out after a few hours. This progressed to eventually leaving her out when we left - yes, she carried on like she was dying when we left, but after awhile, she calmed down and went to her happy place. So now she is a big girl, it took 2 years of working up to it, but it was worth it. It has done wonders for her overall behavior as well because she doesn’t rely on her sister to make things “right” anymore. She’s learned she can rely on herself and make it through.
So it takes a lot out of you, worrying and planning, but I think you can train horses to accept their friend is leaving but coming home. My two most herd bound mares are from the same line - so I think some of it is genetic as well as upbringing.
As with anything with horses, it is never easy, but it is worthwhile:-)
Enjoy having your horses at home!
I agree that 3 is simply easier. And what a great opportunity to adopt a geriatric soul that might not have many good homes available to it. I usually have 3 or 4, but lost my two oldsters over the past year, so just have two mares. The pony calls and paces the fence when I ride my mare, and I let her do that for the most part. She’ll survive an hour of distress.
If I’m just out for a hack, I often let her come with me since it’s good exercise for her. The pony sometimes does the WAIT DONT LEAVE ME squeal-buck-fart gallop across the field, but my mare doesn’t blink at those shenanigans so I tolerate it. Good for desensitizing / asking her to listen to me. But I pick my moments-- not on a windy day when they’re wild-eyed, not when I’m trying to do serious work. I recognize that another horse might come unglued at this kind of thing, so I’m not endorsing this for everyone. (But it does make me smile to have the pony as a companion).
We have 2. Don’t really have the time, room, or money for more. Some tizzy fits on separation at first by the gelding but now they are used to it and it is not so big a deal. I’m glad it worked out.
[QUOTE=Bluey;8224141]
Every horse and situation is different and can change also, just play it by ear first with your two horses and add if you see a problem developing.
Three over two does seem to keep most of them from getting as buddy sour as some do, if they tend to do that.
All bets are off, until you try it with your horses. They may surprise you.[/QUOTE]
^
THIS
Until you try it you won’t know.
I have only ever had 2 (geldings) on my farm.
Got #2 because I didn’t think #1 could be alone <-OTTB who had been boarded for the first 15yrs I owned him.
Turned out he could have cared less.
There would be some calling when I left with #2, then some posturing, sniffing and striking when I brought him back, then Business As Usual.
#2 did get concerned when I took #1, for one overnight vet stay he spent the night calling, but not overly upset as he still ate & drank, just fretted.
With #3 & #4 neither cared much if the other was gone totally, but #4 did do some running & calling if I rode outside the pastures.
At first I’d stall the one staying while I loaded the one going, but mostly for my convenience so I didn’t have to watch the gate as I led a horse out.
Maybe consider a companion like a goat or mini-donk instead of another horse?
The good news is that even if you have a herd bound horse, you can train them. I’ve had 8, 3, 2, 1 + goat, 3, 2, 1 again. Even in a boarding barn full of horses, some critters will freak when their special buddy who doesn’t even share a paddock with them leaves for a show or has to be moved. Or when their brand new stall mate at a weekend show gets loaded up.
My current horse is 24, have had her her whole life. I’ve even kept her 100% alone on a farm before–which isn’t something I’d recommend for most but she was totally fine w/ it.
To me, the important thing is to evaluate and address the situation prior to haveing some sort of emergency so you’ve got time to work on any separation issues that might pop up.
I had one mare who was pretty herd bound who literally jumped the pasture fence when I took my other horse out to groom and bathe once. Right up and over. SMH. You don’t want them getting hurt of course, but most can work out of it.
Reading this thread brings back memories. Growing up my sister and I had two horses. They were not herd bound at all unless: you hauled them to a show together and then separated them. Spaz City.
My Dear Dad had to haul one horse 5 miles to the neighbor’s to catch a ride, then go home and get horse #2. Then my sister and I had to keep them from catching on during the show. Sometimes it would be close and one horse would think “wait I think I just saw… nah, couldn’t be. She’s not here”.
Then after our classes they would be reunited for the ride home.:lol:
