I just purchased a new youngster right out of a field situation. The weather here was bad the other night and I brought her in with the herd. She instantly started weaving ( very high energy youngster) and was noticeably stressed. I turned her out with a buddy after a couple of hours. She’s on low energy feed, and is with a group of low energy horses.
Any tips, tricks, ideas to introduce the stables in a low stress way? My stalls are solid walls, but they are able to put their heads out of half doors. I even wonder if I should try stalling her in my very large oversize foaling stall with her best friend here. She’s became good friends with a mild mannered old mare. I hate to see it become a habit, but nor do I stable very often. I do think a horse that can at least be stalled for short times is a very positive trait. I usually do stall training with my youngsters to acclimate them to confinement. Would love input on weaving from others that have dealt with it.
I’m of the opinion that stall walking, digging and weaving in your case, aren’t a high energy thing, but rather a habit that developed due to traumatic weaning = mare suddenly and abruptly taken away (forever) / baby left alone in a stall to ‘get over it’ = habit returns whenever youngster is stalled again. Stall = bad memories, frustration, fear etc.
So…rather than stalling two in the same stall (which could be dangerous even though they are buddies) I would try taking some of the stall divider boards down, as many as will allow youngster to put head over divider (like stall half door) and thus will be able see / touch/ smell / nuzzle her BF mare in adjacent stall.
This ‘half wall’ acts similarly to them being together but seperated by a fence. How to do this depends on the construction and design of your dividers of course, and the length of the wall – might require a complete rebuild or partial rebuild to make sure wall still has a center support etc.
What you would be creating is a ‘weaning stall’ used for gradual seperation of mares and babies so each are content while they learn to be apart. I had weaning stalls on my other farm (way back when I had broodmares) and I never produced a weaver /stall walker. Weaning wasn’t traumatic at all.
Cribbing, weaving, stall walking, self-mutilating, generally have a base in OCD, obsessive behaviors.
Some horses are wired to, when stressed, find OCD ways to cope, those some of them.
At some time in their lives, such wired horses may, when under stress, start any of those.
We had some from known OCD lines that never went there, then the odd one that did.
It was well known at the track which lines were more apt to have the occasional one such.
Any other youngster you have may not go there, just those wired for that.
Best you can do is to avoid putting such horses in those situations where they get to practice those OCD behaviors, as you did and now are trying for further managing her.
Some that works, be sure they are not developing ulcers, or some other physical problem that causes pain.
If you have to stall, find what she would be happiest with, some like a quiet place, others prefer being in the middle of things.
When a horse shows to have those OCD behaviors, they are what they are, part of that horse’s makeup.
There are medications for people that have those problems.
Maybe some day we will have some for horses, that would help manage them.
Those behaviors tend to eventually, being continuous movement behaviors, cause injuries from overuse.
Weaving can be very hard on knees, as cribbing is to teeth.
In Europe, those were considered unsoundness and legally you had to disclose them as a seller.
Once our riding center bought a five year old that seem fine, a few weeks later we sold him.
New owner called a month later and said he was a cribber?
He sure had never been here, but something set him up in his new home and he started cribbing.
We took him back, the University vet school was looking for horses that just started cribbing to try a new treatment.
They were making a small incision high in the neck and cutting some nerves, which made the horse unable to crib.
If a horse had been cribbing long, the nerves would grow back and he would start cribbing again.
If a horse just started cribbing, there was hope they would not regrow and so the horse would never again crib.
Worked great for that horse for as long as we had him, no more cribbing.
Maybe your filly won’t become a chronic weaver, her weaving have been just a normal, fleeting stress response that will never repeat.
He just needs time to adapt and socialize. Mine has done the same for the first couple of weeks. But after some time he just stopped. Maybe move the older Mare next to his box to have a friend nearby.
These are great suggestions, I actually have a large stall that I could set up between her and her friend. I know it’s a mental/emotional issue. I never thought about the fact that it might go back to an early weaning. I know she displayed the behavior on her first day here. She was weaving in the round pen from being isolated after moving here. She was only isolated for 3-4 hours before I put her in with a group. Even though she could see horses, she was super stressed about being alone. This is a special youngster, and I really want to help her emotionally.
I have a gelding that has “stall stress.” He trots in place, paces, head flings…or comes out of the stall ready for a mile gallop because he gets so worked up and frustrated. I just decided not to stall him. It’s less work for me. I’m tired of having a pile of manure get trampled into the bedding.
I leave him out. If he wants shelter he can use the run-in. He’s actually okay in the stall for a couple hours, but no more than that.
”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹Do you have a barn aisle she can use? I would probably bring her in with another horse every day for grooming. Put her in a stall within sight of her buddy for 20 minutes at a time. Make it a daily routine. Or feed grain in the stall and turn back out. I probably would not force the issue - long periods of time make my gelding worse. He can only handle so much stress for so long. If i bring him in and tie him for grooming, he is usually good.
My 26 y.o. gelding has been on pasture board since day one in 2001. We did some showing in the early years. I could give him a bath and throw his purple terrycloth bathrobe on to cut down on poop stains allover his white Paint hair. I could throw him in a stall overnight and he was fine.
He hasn’t been in a stall overnight for years. Stalls are where you eat grain before you are turned out after riding. He had very odd cut just above his coronary band last fall. It started healing without problems but the BO said lets put him in a stall to get him out of the mud-season mud. He went nuts. Screaming, kicking the door, circling, weaving, mashing the hay into the bedding (sawdust) and grinding up the poop. The stall he was in is across from the entry to the indoor arena (80x200) so I turned him loose. He used every square foot. Once in a while a foot would hit the ground. It was very dramatic and his audience grew very large. This normally chill horse horse snoozes on crossties.
I put him back in the stall hoping he got most of it out of his system. The following morning he was still nuts. When I opened the stall door to halter him he flew right past me and headed straight into the arena which was empty. :eek: I put him back out.
There are a couple of boarders that should be outside but are stalled. Kicking the door is their primary signal. Horses are designed to live outside and I believe that some of them won’t adapt to being cooped up is a stall for hours. I agree with 4horses that it will take time and patience and may not ever work.
The following week I turned him loose in the arena. He stood there. And stood there. No interest whatsoever in expending any energy. I put him back out.
I hope he doesn’t need stall rest for anything. He will probably need drugs to keep him calm.
The goal is to give your mare the mental tools she needs for a successful life and that involves stalling from time to time, right? Weather, bugs, injury, showing - there are so many reasons we sometimes want to stall them. I adopted a horse with anxieties including stall weaving and it’s been interesting to observe her now for 5 years and in three different environments. She currently has an individual run-out when she is “in” the barn and it’s the most relaxed I’ve seen her. She can see the other horses at all times too. Is it possible to build an environment like that to start and give her a way to have choice and be “in” or “out”? Her choice? That would be a great place to start.
My next thought is that you slowly build “duration” where she learns to be relaxed and be inside because it feels good. Slowly building the time she is in and it’s all good and then she goes out. She gets fed inside every day. She comes in and gets groomed. Keep the sessions short and slowly build up.
And build up to overnight…slowly…over time.
