Reverse separation anxiety?

reverse separation anxiety? By carol   01/6/00 11:30:12 AM

Annie's has settled into her new home very nicely. She has made progress with her head yanking problem, and has started to do nice slow circles at the canter. Things are going well, except for her attachment to her new boyfriend (Sparky - the paint gelding). 

She seems to be very possessive about him and chases the other horses away from him. She is not aggressive if the others leave her and Sparky alone. I have no problem going out and catching her in the pasture and she comes willingly into the barn. But if anyone takes Sparky away she gets really upset. She doesn't mind leaving him behind, but can't stand being left behind without him. 

Should I be worried about the new man in her life? 

I had a mare who was the only horse I was training and she got all my attention. Well when she about 5 I started working with her sister and she would throw such a fit that I would have to pen her up when ever I rode the other filly. I guess it was jealousy. She wasn't that way about her mother. A lot of it was that she was some what of a spoiled only child and use to getting all my attention. She eventually got over it.  How does Sparky feel about all of this attention from your mare? Does he care of does he just put up with it. Maybe when she gets more secure in her place at her new home she will relax a little. 

Right now she's like the new kid who has latched on the first person who was nice to her and she's very possessive of that friend. If she gets really wild when he's taken off I would pen her up. I am assuming that Sparky isn't yours so his owner will be taking him off when maybe your not there. If your there you could pay extra attention to her of give her a handful of grain or hay if she's food motivated. Distract her. Hopefully as she gets more relaxed in her new home she won't need him as much.

I was working two three-yr-old ponies that were half-brothers born within a week of each other and companions their entire existence. I sometimes worked them together but jealousy problems and competition for my attention developed so I had to separate training sessions. The larger one could care less what his brother was up to or where he was off to but the little one threw a fit when his brother went out without him, separation anxiety in such a sense as he was left alone in the corral. He is a tiny very fine little fellow at just over 12 hands and I came back one day to find him in a neighboring corral hanging out with another horse. 

Upon closer examination I found that he had gone and jumped the partition under the covered area of the corral which was still four feet in height. Pretty impressive leap for companionship for a pony measuring 4'1" at the shoulder.