my horse lady

Question
my Arabian  horse lady  shes 26  and i put her with a herd of 4 mares  so she can have freedom the problem is when i ride her away from the herd  and she cant see them she panics and fights me   but when i ride in ariound the herd she is fine .  whats up?

Answer
Hello Tonnie,

Your mare has become "herd bound". She sees the herd as her safety net and as her social gathering. I have a few questions to ask before I can give you a prognosis.

1.  How long have you owned her?
2.  Is this a new situation or has she always been reluctant to leave the herd?
3.  Has she spent most of her life working or as a brood mare?

Horses are herd animals for safety and protection.  They have been that way all through their evolution and some feel the need for the protection of the herd more than others. The also are social animals and some need the social feeling more than others.

If your mare has been this way all of her life I doubt very seriously if you will be able to change this.  If it is necessary or extremely desirable for you to ride her away from the herd, you will have to separate her from the other mares for good and have her get used to being alone.  This is not always successful.

I recently bought a gelding that was herd bound.  After a year I got him to the point where he would work in the arena away from the other horses, but then he devised another resistance. He began to have fits in the trailer so he would not have to go away from them.  In a trail ride with other horses he was fine.  Just being alone was not his cup of tea.  Eventually he was not worth the effort or expense and I gave him away for simple trail riding with other horses. On one occasion I trailered him to a new place and we walked around a field with another horse and rider.  After that he simply refused to get into the trailer to go home.  He was that attached to the horse that strong and that quickly. I learned to never get a herd bound horse ever again.

Sincerely,
Dorothy