STOCKYARD
HORSE  DISCUSSION FORUMS

blitzen

I'm just curious about the grief process in horses?

there were 3 horses down the back of my agistment property. all other horses on the property are towards the front (so, several hundred metres away, separated by trees, buildings etc).

one of the horses tragically passed away from colic, he was not on the property, but at the vets... so the last thing the horses saw was him being floated away in the middle of the night and not returning.

since then, my horse has changed quite noticeably.

1. he does not come to greet me at the fence anymore & could care less if i'm in the paddock with him or not.

2. he gets INCREDIBLY anxious when his neighbour is taken out, even down to the stables for a brush... worse yet when he's taken out for a ride. he kind of 'shuts down' and won't roll/eat/mind me at all. I had a lesson last week & his neighbour had gone out for a ride meantime, and even tho he was being worked hard in the lesson, he was so distracted and whinnying and worrying about things. afterwards, i hosed him off & let him back in his paddock & he just stood there, frozen, until his buddy returned. THEN he dropped & rolled & his whole demeanour relaxed.

3. he's more okay if HE goes out (lesson in the arena, walks etc) and the other horse is much more resilient in himself & doesn't panic & freak out the way my horse does. in fact, my horse feels quite normal when i take him out. but he still takes his sweet time to come and see me in the paddock, when he used to wait by the paddock gate from the minute my car showed up.

4. i've done some float training since the death, and my horse was not at all fussed by the float & being locked up, so i don't think he is associating the float with death or anything? idk.

5. all horses have had a chance to spend time in Guinness' paddock & they clearly *knew* something was up in the days after he died.

when guinness passed away, i put my horse onto CLM Plus calmer (he's been on and off them previously as he is quite an anxious horse ordinarily) and had my bowen lady out who gave him some flower essences etc to help with grief.

i am also considering moving my horse to a new paddock to separate him a bit from his buddy. is this a good/bad idea? i know horses are herd animals etc & need company, but my horse gets quite irrationally attached to horses when he is in an extended period of anxiety, as proven by this situation, and when i first bought him - he got attached OUTRAGEOUSLY to the horse who passed, as they were paddocked next to each other.

any suggestions or anecdotes?

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There is something about riding down the street on a prancing horse that makes you feel like something, even when you ain't a thing." Will Rogers.

Juanita, Blitzen & Beejay

izzy2512

Absolutely no advice but he really sounds lucky that he's got you, you sound as if you go to great lengths for him

wildsteel

omg i had no idea guiness died :O

poor beej

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'Wildsteel Casanova'

blitzen

thanks mate. that is a super nice thing to say because i have REALLY learnt about the true meaning of patience & sensitivity since owning this horse. he has been a great challenge to me and i have been determined to try and make things work. he's actually in a bit of a contract at the moment & has until December to pull his hoof out. but yeah...

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There is something about riding down the street on a prancing horse that makes you feel like something, even when you ain't a thing." Will Rogers.

Juanita, Blitzen & Beejay

blitzen

yeah mate, it was bloody BLOODY awful. K, as you can imagine, is absolutely heart broken. Very sad. i'm tearing up a bit typing this!

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There is something about riding down the street on a prancing horse that makes you feel like something, even when you ain't a thing." Will Rogers.

Juanita, Blitzen & Beejay

Cheeki

I'm sorry to hear you horses mate died

It's such a delicate situation to be in .. but its lovely to hear you're willing to go to all lengths to help him. No advice here sorry, but good luck

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Karijini

Blitz, just wanna say I'm glad to hear that you are 'sticking' to your contract. It must be hard but I sometimes I guess you have to bite the bullet. Having said that, I hope everything works out coz the Beej is such a lovely mover!

Not really any advice to offer except you are spot on with them being herd animals, some of them get the separation anxiety worse than others and so hard to break them out of it, especially when it is a mental thing. BJ is so lucky to have you as a Mum like Izzy said.

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~~*Karijini King & Forestdew True Talisman *~~

banjo

i don't have any advice but my sister got a yearling from a station 2 yrs ago and they had shot the mother with the foal right beside her as they did'nt want her anymore, so my sister jumped in and grabed the foal as it was headed down the same path. she always had trust issues and hated men as a man was the one doing the shooting..... alway wanting to have horses around her but not wanting to get to close. she always looked sad in the eyes and mistrusting of people. so i think that they do greive as we do they just can't tell us...unfortunately she suffered a blow to the head after going thru a fence and hitting herself on a tree and got brain damage and had to be put down.. it was so sad and she had begun to trust my sister....

sorry dribbling along

hope your horsey gets better.

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home of "madhay banjo" "madhay tickle me elmo" "madhay blue fanta"

Gaia

Horses definetly feel grief. I agree with Izzy that he is so lucky to have you to understand him. Talk to Laura, she can help you too

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Pride yourself on your future plans, not your past mistakes.........

up4thechase

sorry no advice but just wanted to also say your horse sounds like he is very lucky to have you. I guess all you can do is be the good mum you are until he gets over it as he sounds like he 'knows' what happened to his mate. maybe like humans it just takes time. I know the horse next to mine knew what was happening when my horse got colic (he recovered). His reaction was also something that alerted me that something wasn't right with my boy.