You’re tacked up and ready to ride at the barn, and begin to lead your horse out to the ring. As he leaves, his buddy calls to him, and both horses start getting nervous, prancing, and continue screaming for each other. What’s the deal? Are they just such great friends that they can’t stand to be apart from each other for a few minutes?
This is a common and frustrating scenario and the best solution is understanding herd-boundness from the horse’s perspective. While it’s easy to think that the horse needs to “get over it,” horses are evolutionarily designed to live in herds of other horses, and when they are forced to be alone and aren’t accustomed to it, no amount of discipline or frustration will help the situation.
Horses eat, sleep, and travel in herds in the wild. They alert each other of imminent danger (like predators) and take turns sleeping and keeping watch. The instinct of strength in numbers is still strong in horses today, but many can become accustomed to being ridden, riding in a trailer, and being turned out alone, if necessary.
The best way to handle the situation is to systematically, for short periods of time, introduce your horse to being alone, even if it’s just right outside the barn doors. Stay calm, be a leader for your horse, and keep his mind occupied while he’s alone (even if – at first – that means letting him graze or eat his dinner). As always, consult a qualified trainer, and remember that punishment will never override instinct.