We recognize the problem. One horse becomes anxious about leaving another. It could be that he merely puts his ears back and balks as you lead him out of the pasture, leaving his buddies behind. Or he might start bobbing his head up and down, taking short steps, and threatening a "temper tantrum" when you're out on the trail and his buddy slips out of sight.
We use the term "buddy sour" to describe the behavior of a horse who gets upset when he's separated from another horse. Ironically, the length of time that the two horses have been buddies doesn't have much to do with the buddy-sour behavior. Two strange horses can trailer together for five minutes, and the horse prone to getting buddy sour will holler and carry-on for his companion when they get separated, just as if they'd grown up together.
It's sometimes tempting to rationalize that since a horse's nature tells him security is to be found in a herd situation, we can excuse his behavior and bring him back to his buddy for reassurance. There may be times when that's the safest thing to do in the short run. But if you have a horse who shows signs of being buddy sour, you have some training to do.
Buddy-sour horses can be downright dangerous. Like a drug addict desperate for a fix, a buddy-sour horse is focused only on getting to his buddy. He's not paying attention to his rider or even to where he's going. Scolding a horse when he's in that condition-hollering at him, kicking, jerking the reins and so forth-only adds to the problem. He works harder at ignoring you in order to stay focused on his buddy. He truly thinks this is a life-or-death situation.
Whether your horse merely expresses anxiety at being separated or has a full-blown upset, getting beyond the problem requires weaving two goals into one lesson: helping the horse to develop emotional control and improving his responses to your cues. It's the separating, not just the being apart, that's difficult for these horses. So we'll practice separating lots of times.
Friends Helping Friends
Ironically, solving the problem for your horse involves enlisting the help of a friend who will ride your horse's buddy. Prior to the day of your training ride together, you should each work your horses on small maneuvers, improving their responses to rein and leg cues.
