Separation anxiety

Separation anxiety in horses is one of the most difficult behavioural problems to overcome. I strongly recommend that if you have 2 horses that are bonding closely, you look now into how to separate them for at least some period each day, if either is to have a ridden career.

D and T are sisters, with D a year older than T, beautiful black cob mares of 3 and 4 years. They have lived together for the past 18 months, and it's time now for some more serious effort to go into the backing process. 

Thankfully, they have the ideal set up to begin the separation process, should it prove difficult. A stable block in a small enclosed yard, with another small enclosed area outside that, a field just the other side of that but still in view, another field part in view of the stable yard and part not, and another field completely out of view of the stable block. 

Of course not every horse will suffer separation anxiety, and these might be lucky. But if they do, using the facilities they have to gradually move the mares further apart from each other, over a period of days, weeks or months as necessary, should result in minimal difficulties in the future.

Ears back and tail swishing at saddle or rug

Recently I asked readers of my free 'Brain or Pain' e-newsletter:

"If you approach your horse with the rug or saddle and they put their ears back at you and swish their tail, I believe they are trying to tell you that there is something they don’t like about the process. This may only be a fleeting something - for example they may not like having the girth done up but are quite comfortable once it’s done up - but personally I don’t believe they behave this way just because they think it might hurt. I say this because it’s a question I’m asked almost daily, in some form or another, and I am interested to hear your thoughts."

Here are some readers responses, posted in case they resonate with you and help in any way.

"I am sorry to say my mare is an ears back tail swisher at the saddle and rugs. I have never managed to find any physical reason but she also hates being touched, though she is always fine to be touched after she has been ridden, always like a smoker who needs a cigarette ie edgey beforehand. Some days better than others but over 10 years I have not managed to eliminate the problem though of course if it was severe I would have tried harder. 

Sometimes I have noticed that if I walk into her field with the rug, she walks off pointedly. In that case I leave the rug off as other days if I walk in she doesn't necessarily walk off but (perhaps even with ears back) stands and lets me put it on. I have not nailed the reason for this but I suspect its something to do with her understanding the weather and her needs more than I do, and so if she sees the rug and walks off I would usually respect that and leave it off."

"Thanks for your latest helpful hints.  I always enjoy reading them and picking up more useful hints to help or get me thinking.  With regards to your observation regarding a horse putting back their ears / swishing a tail when you approach with a saddle.  My boy, Levi, turns his head towards me when his saddle is getting tight (which it is at the moment thanks to all the grass!).  He just turns his head and looks at me and sometimes nudges me but doesn't more the rest of his body and is lovely to mount / ride etc.  He doesn't move at all once the saddle is correctly fitted again.  

I once had someone comment that he was being naughty as it looked like he was going to bit me which I thought was interesting as years ago I might have 'told the horse off' for bringing his head into my space whilst tacking up.  However with Levi I've learned to not presume he is being naughty trust him not to bite me (he never has) and as a result I have an early warning system of when my saddle needs adjusting - no second guessing now, the horse tells me."

"Yes I think you are right – however I think much care is needed when discussing this with the owner. I have a ‘difficult to fit’ horse and spent 10 years trying to find a saddle/girth/saddle pad combination that did not result in a tail swish or ears back when I put it on. Of course I had a lot of advice from saddle fitters/other ‘experts’/other owners etc. Eventually I decided that the problem might be ‘remembered pain’ and that it surely couldn’t be a problem anymore because I had spent so long and so much money trying to make it not a problem - including having a saddle ‘made to measure’.

Last year though I had ‘another’ new saddle and I have finally got to the point where I can put the saddle on and do it up without a reaction. So I must therefore conclude that she has had 10 years of discomfort EVEN THOUGH I tried my best throughout that period and consulted professional saddle fitters and other experts. It is a total minefield for the average horse owner and I don’t know what the solution is. I would say to professional bodyworkers, vets, instructors etc. if you do see a horse react to a saddle please be gentle when discussing this with the owner – unless you are in possession of a large number of saddles, girths, pads etc. that you can loan to them for free, because your opinions and advice will doubtless conflict with other advice that they have been given by others. 

I can only hope that one day enough research will have been done into saddles that no-one ever has a problem, until that day I think we will all have to muddle through as best as our bank balances and will allow. 

My horse also dislikes rugs. I have never found one that fits her really well which I suspect is part of the problem, I find that whatever she wears slips back and is tight across the chest and shoulders. Mostly she goes un-rugged unless needs must."

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Could your headshy horse have a chronic headache?

“All truth passes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as self evident." Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (1788 – 1860)

The current focus in medicine (include physio in that) is on evidence based assessment and treatment. Whilst I am very much in favour of this, I think that like most things this should be adhered to in moderation. After all, if we only ever used treatments that were proven (from a scientific point of view) to work, then nothing new would ever be discovered. Plus the statistics are that something like 50% of the science that is 'proven' today will be 'disproven' within 5 years. 

So often I work with a horse by following my instinct. Often I feel frustrated that I am not following a more scientific approach, but what I do seems to help the horses, and my training and core principles are most certainly based on science, so perhaps the 'instinctive approach' is simply something extra on top of the underlying science. It's difficult when I can't explain to an owner exactly what I am doing or how or why it works, but the results speak for themselves. I am continually searching for more answers, and ongoing learning is a passion rather than a chore.

A while ago I commented to a client that I believe a horse who is headshy is more likely to be spooky. In my opinion, this is because headshy horses probably have some level of permanent equine headache, and I believe that a horse whose head is continually hurting is more likely to be spooked, because the pain would keep his body on high alert. There is no evidence to support this, and I doubt whether anyone funding research will ever get interested enough in the subject to investigate it. But on a very small level, I ask each of my clients many questions about their horse, including asking whether he is headshy (or earshy) and whether he is spooky, and in my mind there is a link. In the same vein, I believe that mare-ish behaviour and headshaking are also linked to being headshy (or earshy). And yes, in many cases I believe that good physio (osteo / chiro / massage) can help, to a greater or lesser degree depending on the horse.

No matter how much you know, there's always so much more to know....