This is encouraging!
@Weezer I would add that my same herd bound horse also had trailer loading anxiety and now self loads calmly and I can haul alone. I believe all of it helped with P+ training just using hay pellets. Just a thought. Have you ever experimented with positive reinforcement training?
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This is a bit extreme.
Many of us deal with herd bound horses just fine. We have a mare who is 19 now. She goes completely berserk when left alone. We put her in the round pen panel enclosed dry lot and let her have her meltdown when we need to . No drugs needed. Once they are reunited she is fine.
She has never suffered an injury outwardly or inwardly because of it. I suggest @Weezer have a place the horse can safely meltdown when she needs to separate the 2 horses. Notify the owner of what will happen and how the horse is going to respond and take it from there.
There is always a risk and horses hurt themselves under ideal circumstances. Just let the owner know and they can decide if they want the horse moved.
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That’s for sure!
There’s herd bound horses and then there’s HERD BOUND horses. I’ve dealt with both. The more normal herd bound ones sometimes can be trained to not be so worried. But the really bad ones just can’t, and from her statement that she’s worried the mare will hurt herself I’d assume it’s the second one.
I own a really bad one. He was INSANE in the wrong situation. At his worst, he jumped out of a stall and over a metal gate to get to my other horse, injuring himself in the process. We once did the ‘put him in a round pen, let him sort himself out’ and he never did, actually ended up collapsing from exhaustion in the 2 hour time my other horse was gone and we had to have the vet out to give him fluids. It didn’t matter there were horses on both sides of the property that he could see and touch, he needed THAT HORSE and just could not stop freaking out.
The only thing that fixed his behavior is a change in circumstances. He went and lived with another group of horses for a few months while he learned to have a brain again, and then was brought back to my property. He did better, But he still didn’t thrive.
He now lives at a very busy boarding barn and he just absolutely loves it. He thrives with all the other horses. He’s never alone, and he always has a friend no matter where he goes. Friends in the arena, in the cross ties, in the field. Some horses just cannot do certain situations.
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Yes, I have a feeling this mare may be like that but I’ll start small and see how she reacts. I’ve learned that in other areas she tends to start out as a drama queen and then settle once she has figured out the situation. Fingers crossed!
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My HERDBOUND mare does surprisingly well with just her donkey once her friend is completely off the property and out of sight.
This is a horse who has kicked down barn walls in the past because her friend stepped outside into her run (where she could still be fully seen, she was just a few feet away).
Also, my donkey is worth her weight in gold.
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Sometimes they can surprise you. Good luck. Our dry lot works because the fence is tall and the mare isn’t. I think part of her issue is Uveitis and she just doesn’t see as well anymore. It may turn out better than you think in the end.
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I think “starting out small” is the best approach for ANY stressful training issue. Most people don’t have the patience horses need. Herd bound, trailer loading, horse showing/off-property schooling, etc. Most people hope the horse will be good and when they’re not, they do something drastic vs putting in the baby training steps.
How many of us have seen people trying to load a horse when they’re running late? The mood is already bad and the horse picks up on the negative energy. So human grabs a whip or lungeline or something to force the horse to load and it all gets worse. There are very few horses who can’t get over behavioral issues with patient, thoughtful, consistent steps. They’re all free for the taking, but the hardest to do!
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I think that’s part of my mare’s issue as well – she has pretty bad cataracts and her hearing is not very good either (she’s 28). So she needs to be pretty close to my other mare to be able to know that she’s still in the general area.
Thanks for this reminder. I sometimes forget that you can never be in a hurry when working with animals.
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A mare at our busy barn attaches herself to whomever is her horse neighbor. When the neighbor leaves to ride in the arena, she frets. She frets despite horses on her other side, across the aisle, and that she can see the chosen one in the arena. The groom puts her in crossties and she patiently awaits the neighbors return. It has been working for a couple years now.
Well, it turns out I was worrying about nothing (as usual for me!). The two other horses moved out a couple of weeks ago. The two remaining horses were in a bit of a panic at first but they settled quickly and the herd-bound mare became super relaxed. One of the two horses that left was a real bully and the others would feed off her and all target the mare - who is the most passive horse I’ve ever known.
Every day since the horses left I’ve been leaving the mare in her stall for a progressively longer amount of time after her meals. While she seemed a bit fussed, it was nothing major. So yesterday I put her in the stall and headed out for a ride with instructions for my husband to phone if she seemed really worked up. I came back after 50 mins and although she had been calling a fair bit, she did not show any signs of real stress: breathing rate and heart rate were low, no sweat or hot spots, etc.
BUT, when it was time for dinner, I had quite the time getting her back into the barn! 
When the other two horses were here, they would not let her into the barn and anytime I had her closed in a stall, she would bolt as soon as I opened the door. She hasn’t done that since the horses left so it makes me wonder if maybe she wasn’t herd bound but was afraid of getting cornered in the barn?
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