Separation anxiety

After the 'how haflingers work' revelation (see getting to know Sofie post) I stated to invest more time in trying to work out what was causing Sofie's bad behaviour.

By far her worst habit is bolting to the field. She was always reluctant to leave the field and keen to return. So keen in fact she sometimes returned without me (via breaking loose). She was unsettled on the yard and paced in stables. There was a distinct 'I want to be somewhere else' vib from her. She would call, and get particularly agitated if she saw other horses leaving. I noticed she was happier when I rode her in the morning, where all of her herd were in the field - in her opinion where they were meant to be. In particular she worried about where her bested friend Serenade was.

Sofie charging back to her freinds

I've noticed horses are a bit like school children. They have cliques, BBFs, rivalries, and squabble over boyfriends and girlfriends. In Sofies 'class' she is the prom queen - obviously. Serenade is the cool kid everyone wants to be friends with. Sky is the Sofies prom queen rival, Rosie is Sky's henchman, Fly is the awkward kid no one likes, and the driving ponies act as groupies. Sofie bosses everyone around, standard. So it might seem surprising that she has so many anxieties about leaving the group given she is a confident mare.

I started reading into separation anxiety in horses. Sofie fit all the categories. Horses who get separation anxiety tend to be the most dominant in their herd. The theory as to why is they have most to loose if they are booted out of the herd or have to fit into a new herd dynamic. The have often pair bonded with a particular horse - in Sofie's case Serenade.

I think Sofie gets worried because 1) she likes to know what and where all of her herd are and 2) she never knows what Sky is up to. This would explain why she is happier when she leaves them all together and is more upset when horses are missing.

So what could I do to help? Well first of all not to shout when she is creating a seen. She is actually distressed rather than being bloody minded so shouting will just wind her up. Secondly gradually increase the amount of time she is away from the herd to get her used to it. Thirdly I read that if the horse pair bonds with its rider, there are fewer problems removing it from the herd.

I started to spend more time building a bond with Sofie. We did mutual grooming (I let her mess my hair up whilst I scratched her neck, mmm horse slobber hair). I played games with her. I spent more time learning her body language and using mine to communicate with her (something Mr T taught me - mainly because if I read him wrong, or he miss read me he would get defensive. Nothing like an angry 1 tone horse to make you learn fast).

All of this bonding time seems to have worked. She is still worried when leaving the field but not fretting as much. She now walks calmly to the field rather than trying to tank off. Brilliant. Slight problem though - I can't leave her eyesight. As soon as I do, for instance to go and get her saddle from the tack room, she panics and breaks loose. Bugger.