Expert: Rick Gore Horsemanship - 6/19/2009

Question
QUESTION: I just bought an 8 year old, Spanish Mustang gelding. He is Green Broke. I rode him a few times before buying him and other than being a little rusty on woah, he did fine. I have brought him home now and it has been about a week since he's been here.
At the moment there are no other horses with him, which makes him lonely, so he has started Fence Walking and being a pain to catch. Is there a way to stop this?

ANSWER: yea get him a buddy, horses need a herd to feel safe and sleep or they develop bad habits and their health and mental state suffers.  This horse is not just lonely, he is nervous, scared, can't sleep or relax, does not fee safe, and is in attempting to be in a constant state of alertness so he does not get eaten or killed.

When I hear green broke that means the horse is untrained, unreliable and is going to hurt someone, so I hope you are advanced enough to start a horse from scratch and to treat this horse like he has never been ridden.  A horse that is eight and just Green Broke tells me he was not worked with much for eight years which means he is an accident looking for a place to happen if you think or treat him like he is in anyway broke, so just a word of warning.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: At the moment the big pasture is being worked on so he is only on about one acre. If I get enough hay for both horses and I did find a suitable buddy, would it be ok to keep them in here together until the big pasture is finished being refenced?

Answer
Keeping them in a box stall is better then alone.  One acre is fine, but they will need to be fed since normally you want about two acres per horse if they are living on the pasture only and not hay or feed.

You can also spend lots of time in pasture with him, bring a chair out and sit and read a book, bring a cot out and take a nap, just having another set of eyes and ears will help him relax a bit.  He will still be hard to catch when he gets a buddy since they will get close fast as they need each other.  The more time you spend with him not trying to catch him and just being with him, the more he start to trust and want to be with you.

Let him and the new horse get settled for a week or so before you do too much.