pacing

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pinck43

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I own a 2yr. old stallion, and would like to know what psycological issues he has for doing this. What can I do to ease his unhappyness
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He not only does it at home, but breaks down the saw dust so bad at shows, that he's a mess. When I put him in a 60' round pen he still does it, so it's not space. any help would be great. Thanks, Dionne
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Can you get him a buddy? a gelding, a goat, a sheep ...something to keep him company....I have a gelding who would pace in a 5 acre grass fill field if kept alone...he also will pace in a stall so much that it looks like a rototiller was in there all night.
 
runamuk said:
Can you get him a buddy? a gelding, a goat, a sheep ...something to keep him company....I have a gelding who would pace in a 5 acre grass fill field if kept alone...he also will pace in a stall so much that it looks like a rototiller was in there all night.
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I had a gelding with him, but had to remove him till after Nationals, because they were playing to rough and wanted him in better condition. Dionne
 
I quess I have an old adage for everything. There is one for this case also. If a horse does somthing twice its well on its way to becoming a lifelong habbit. He might have started this our of frustration or boredom but if you allow him to continue it it might be lifelong. He needs a buddy. Not just part of the time but all of the time. The most likely cause is anxioty caused by his buddy being gone. We had a gelding who had been kept alone most of his life prior to us owning him. He was a fence pacer before and put in with several other horses he continued the practice for as long as he was with us. If there was a fence he was more interested in what was on the other side!! There was one redeeming factor, we never had a concern over his being overweight. He would work off all the feed we put in him.
 
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Yep, I got one. At 17 he'll pace a ditch as fast as a ditch witch!
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This guy could go on a cross country race and hardly break a sweat -- thin!! -- in spite of huge amounts of feed. Like JustaboutGeese says, "he's GOTTA get to the other side". This guy is a stallion and he's never got "enough" mares in his herd if there is even ONE within his sight, hearing or smell, who is not already in his herd. He's really not hard to handle just has to do this.
 
It is funny my gelding seemed born to pace ..he has always done it...was raised in a herd although stalled at night lived alone the first 6 months we owned him thats what he does he paces........he is wayyy better with a pal...his sire paced and most of his 1/2 siblings also pace especially the male ones
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When I first got my two year old stallion, he did the same thing. It was very upsetting to me to see him pace like that.The hormones are raging at that age and as soon as they figure out their purpose then they seem to settle down. Of course it didn't hurt that I put a mare in with him and he calmed right down.
 

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