Separation anxiety

The girls are settling in the new barn. I’m at the barn twice a day right now. My morning feeding and turn out person doesn’t start until next week and though this barn is closer to the house making the trek twice a day can be rough. In other words I’m tired as all get out. Both mares are still in raging heat, in fact all three mares are (Sabrina too). I think that means its spring finally so i’m keeping them in the smaller turn out until everyones horsey hormones calm down no point making it harder then it has to be. Once they are all out of heat my new barn-mate and I will pick a time to introduce them all to each other proper.

In the mean time I’ve been doing a little bit of work with them on the ground starting with the cross ties. The aisle is very wide, much wider then my last barn and that was already a wide isle. Jez was up first and she definitely picked which way she wanted to face. Out to the street cuz she loves to look around. She always picks her direction and get nervous if shes asked to stand in the opposite one. The cross ties were just barely long enough to hook to either side of her bridle and miss bossy pants likes to be able to move her head around. She did okay she swung her butt around some but i just let her work it out while i tried to brush some of her shedding coat out. During all this i decided to buy some new cross ties longer ones. Theres a local tack shop on the grounds of a horse center by me. I try not to buy stuff there cuz the mark up is high but i really didn’t want to wait for shipping so i got a really nice pair of red cross ties that work much better for horses that need to move their heads around.. yanno like mine.

Circe was a champ in the new cross ties, no fuss no muss. I scrubbed the dirt off her and tried to get some of her shedding coat out. Since she now has to wear her cribbing collar i rubbed all the places where the collar is and she was very appreciative and rewarded me with horse snuggles. When i put her away she looked almost clean, almost. I’m hoping it will be warm enough this weekend to give her a bath because she needs one. Brushing her was like brushing Pigpen from the Peanuts, a cloud of dust where ever she goes. If there’s dirt Circe will find it.

I then tried to work on separating the  girls a little. I really though that this was not going to be an issue. Umm yeah wrong! I brought Jez inside with me and left Circe out in the field and Jezebel lost her mind. Shes always been a horse thens been just dandy on her own. I’ve had her on stall rest… alone. In a small paddock at a friends house for two weeks… alone. I think being in a new place, in heat just made her lose it. She had a total melt down, screaming for Circe, walking in circles, calling out some more. She was anxious and nervous. I tossed her some alfalfa thinking she couldn’t scream her head off with a mouth full of alfalfa… wrong! Talented pony. I only kept them apart for 10 minutes but it was a loud 10 minutes. I’ll work on this every day. I’ll bring Circe in next and leave Jez out in the field where she can hang over the fence with Jax and Sabrina see if it makes a difference. I talked to my barn-mate about this and she said its always an issue with such a small heard there are days when they just lose it. I’ll work it out eventually but i have a feeling it wont be easy.

Next up is grazing them both out side of the paddock closer and closer to where the street crossing is to get to the ring. Theres a dressage show over at the ring this weekend so i wont be able to take anyone over there until after the weekend which is fine it will give me time to work n the separation anxiety. Also maybe i should have Michelle with me the first time i take one of them across the street. It might be better to have back up!