I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions or has dealt with this before. I have two horses I have problems stalling and don't know what else to do.
We have a mini that came to us out of shape and underweight. He is a performance horse but hadn't been shown in a year so wasn't being worked so in addition to being too thin, wasn't in shape either and didn't have a whole lot of energy.
I would stall him at night and turn him out all day and for several months he has been getting lots of good feed and supplements plus red cell because of low iron and blood levels. I don't recall this being a problem in the beginning. He would circle (fast) in his stall if his feed wasn't ready but as far as I could tell would settle down and calm down after he ate.
I've been working him all summer, we showed him for half the season and took him to nationals and I don't recall it being a problem when stalled at shows. As he has put on weight, gotten in better shape, more muscular and started to be more energetic it has gotten really bad recently. Our box stalls have rubber mats and then I put a thick layer of shavings down. In the mornings there has been a perfect bare circle on the rubber mats with all the shavings kicked to the middle or outside from his circling during the night.
Since we got back from nationals I've been leaving the horses out a lot with shelter available. Yesterday we were expecting bad weather so I decided to put him in a stall and he was going nuts. I thought what if I put a buddy in the same stall with him, so tried that, and the buddy just stood in the corner (looking at him like he was crazy) while he continued his circling. Then I thought what if I divide the stall in half so he doesn't have room to circle. The stall is 12X12 so I took a round pen panel and divided it so he only had a 6X12 area. That was worse, he did it anyway, spinning in circles like a reining horse.
It really is sort of freaky to watch, because he does change direction when he gets tired, and last night he was spinning like a top and changing directions about every third spin. I gave up and turned him back outside and though it is miserable and raining out, he is currently outside soaking wet eating hay.
The horses can't look out of our box stalls because they were designed for big horses, but I've also tried putting a short gate in so he can look out, I've put toys in his stall, I've left a light and the radio on at night, and there are always other horses in the barn if he is in.
I guess the only solution is to NOT stall him but one of the reasons I wanted too is because he is a hard keeper and I want to keep weight on him over the winter. He is also a VERY slow eater so it is more convenient to put him in his stall and leave him in there than wait for him to eat. I don't like for him to eat hay with a group either, for the same reasons, he is a very slow eater and he is also the sort that will not push in there and eat his fair share.
We have a mini that came to us out of shape and underweight. He is a performance horse but hadn't been shown in a year so wasn't being worked so in addition to being too thin, wasn't in shape either and didn't have a whole lot of energy.
I would stall him at night and turn him out all day and for several months he has been getting lots of good feed and supplements plus red cell because of low iron and blood levels. I don't recall this being a problem in the beginning. He would circle (fast) in his stall if his feed wasn't ready but as far as I could tell would settle down and calm down after he ate.
I've been working him all summer, we showed him for half the season and took him to nationals and I don't recall it being a problem when stalled at shows. As he has put on weight, gotten in better shape, more muscular and started to be more energetic it has gotten really bad recently. Our box stalls have rubber mats and then I put a thick layer of shavings down. In the mornings there has been a perfect bare circle on the rubber mats with all the shavings kicked to the middle or outside from his circling during the night.
Since we got back from nationals I've been leaving the horses out a lot with shelter available. Yesterday we were expecting bad weather so I decided to put him in a stall and he was going nuts. I thought what if I put a buddy in the same stall with him, so tried that, and the buddy just stood in the corner (looking at him like he was crazy) while he continued his circling. Then I thought what if I divide the stall in half so he doesn't have room to circle. The stall is 12X12 so I took a round pen panel and divided it so he only had a 6X12 area. That was worse, he did it anyway, spinning in circles like a reining horse.
It really is sort of freaky to watch, because he does change direction when he gets tired, and last night he was spinning like a top and changing directions about every third spin. I gave up and turned him back outside and though it is miserable and raining out, he is currently outside soaking wet eating hay.
The horses can't look out of our box stalls because they were designed for big horses, but I've also tried putting a short gate in so he can look out, I've put toys in his stall, I've left a light and the radio on at night, and there are always other horses in the barn if he is in.
I guess the only solution is to NOT stall him but one of the reasons I wanted too is because he is a hard keeper and I want to keep weight on him over the winter. He is also a VERY slow eater so it is more convenient to put him in his stall and leave him in there than wait for him to eat. I don't like for him to eat hay with a group either, for the same reasons, he is a very slow eater and he is also the sort that will not push in there and eat his fair share.