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Separation Anxiety

By Meredith Ransley

I get a lot of questions from people about how to help their unsettled horses that get anxious when taken away from home. Often they’ll tell me that the horse is fine when asked to do any things at home, or near his mates, but as soon as he’s taken out if sight or earshot, the anxiety increases and the displaced behaviour begins.

The behaviour can range from anything like calling out, to loss of concentration or attention, head tossing, trying to escape from the horse handler and back to his mates, bolting on the trail, to flat out screaming and obviously very distressed body language.

Separation anxiety is quite common and can be equally distressing and frightening for both the horse involved as well as the handler or rider. So … what causes it and what do you do about it?

The Cause:
The best place to start is to understand why horses display such behaviours. Rather than just blaming the horse, try to understand things form his point of view. Horses are prey animals … meaning that they are preyed upon as a food source by other animals / predators. They know they taste good so their very day to day survival depends on their ability to out think, out manoeuvre or out run their hunters. Their safety is very high on their list of priorities. A big part of safety for a horse is their need to live within a herd. Safety in numbers is a prey animal analogy and one that helps ensure their survival.

A herd can offer safety in a number of ways. For one they can help to provide protection for younger or weaker members of the herd by keeping them in the center of the herd during flight. The best defense they have as a herd though is the herd’s ability to confuse and disorientate the predator by their very movement. As horse owners, you’ll know that a horse can move in six directions … forward, backward, left, right, up an down … sometimes all at the same time! When a herd of horses moves at speed, running away from a predator, you’ll notice that they will run in all directions, zigging and zagging as they go with a lot of sudden and quick manoeuvres. This makes it very hard for a predator to focus on, and single out, a particular herd member, therefore making it harder for him to zone in and attack. This very swirling or swerving action is used by many other prey animals also … think of a school of fish … and is most effective with a herd of a reasonable size or number.

So … it’s in all horses’ instincts to seek out and co-exist with others horses. A horse on its own can feel very unsafe and vulnerable … many horses live their lives this way. This will depend greatly on the mental and emotional fitness of the horse plus the environment he finds himself in. A nervous horse in a familiar place may well come across as fairly confident. But take him away from home and see what happens. Alternately, even a confident horse may feel vulnerable if he feels pressured or threatened in anyway. The important thing to remember is that all horses, domestic or wild, have finely tuned instincts that live close to the surface and the right stimulus will soon have these surfacing under certain circumstances.

If you have a horse who displays Separation Anxiety, you may find it confusing to understand why your horse seems okay in some places and on some days, but not in others. He may only be anxious every now and then. Or, you may have a horse who is always stressed as soon as he leaves home or his friends. It's important to remember here that horses are gregarious to places and things … so it may not be when he leaves other horses that he gets unsettled … it may just be when he leaves home. It may never make sense to you why he gets so anxious at some times and not others. The important thing here though is that it makes sense to your horse. They have good days and bad days just like we do. Have you ever had a day where you feel like you can take on the world? Or a day where you’d really just rather not leave home? It’s the same for your horse. So don’t give yourself grey hairs trying to figure out the stimulus, just work on the cure and both you and your horse will be happier.

The Cure:
As mentioned above, the big problem here is a lack of emotional fitness or, in other words, confidence. This could be confidence in himself, or a lack of confidence in you as his leader. This lack of confidence causes the horse to be fearful and feel unsafe and vulnerable so he will look for comfort by staying with his mates or somewhere familiar. A truly confident horse won’t mind having a timid or nervous rider / handler as he has confidence in himself. This horse is terrific for a beginner rider or horse owner as he will cut them a lot of slack and not be too worried if the rider gets a bit nervous. Alternately, a nervous horse can gain much confidence from a strong and confident leader. Even if he feels scared himself, if his rider or handler is confident and shows good leadership, he’ll be able to settle and go where and do what he is asked.

So … the key here is to build the horse’s confidence in himself and also, even more importantly, in you as his leader. If you want him to go places where he is fearful or feels unsure, then he must feel that he can trust you, that you will look out for his well being and only ever ask him to go places and do things that won’t harm him.

How do we do this? The best place you can start is by working with your horse on the ground (so you can build some communication) at home … in a place that he knows. If he is really worried about leaving his friends, you can even just start doing things with him in his yard. Programmes like the Quantum Savvy horsemanship programme will give you set tasks and assignments to do to build your horse’s confidence. Things like teaching him to accept being touched and rubbed all over, having a stick and string in his space and touching his body … even in sensitive areas like the legs and belly. You can even use a plastic bag, clippers, balls, jackets … anything you can think of that may have been scary to him. Teaching him to yield in all directions, be able to go through narrow spots and over jumps … all of these things will build his confidence in himself and also in you as his leader. If he finds something frightening but you get him through it safely, his estimation of you will sky rocket!!

Once you can do all this in his yard, you can begin to take him further and further away until eventually you can take him any where, anytime without him getting worried … because he takes his confidence with him plus he has his trusty leader … you with him to look after him.

The same principle applies with riding. Do this after the ground work though, once you have some communication in place. Before long you’ll be able to ride him anywhere, anytime with ease and confidence.

Make sure that you work on your own skills though too. A good horseman who is confident can help a timid, nervous horse out in no time at all. My husband Shane is renowned for starting young horses under saddle in a way that they enjoy and gain much confidence from. He will have the youngsters he starts out riding on the trail, moving cows around and all sorts of things after just 3 or 4 days. And they are confident, happy and looking like they’ve been doing it for years! It’s wonderful to see.

Separation Anxiety is very common in horses, so if you have a problem with your horse with this, you’re not alone. Try to see things from your horse’s point of view, build your leadership and horsemanship skills and work on helping your horse to be more confident. The two of you will be out and about and taking on the world in no time!

ARTICLE ADDED THURSDAY, JULY 2, 2009
CATEGORIES: TROUBLESHOOTING, HORSE ANXIETY

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