When I purchased my horse, Porter, 9 years ago he was a 4 year old
that had been kept in a box-stall as a show-stallion. I bought him for
all the wrong reasons (pretty looks!) His biggest problem was the
isolation that he had been brought up in. He was even afraid to be
left alone in a small corral outside, let alone go into the big pasture
with the other horses.
I buddied him up in the barn with 8 month old colt. After a couple of
days the two had become friends. I then turned him out with the young
colts (there were 3 youngsters) to teach him to live with horses. It
worked out great! I figure he was mentally a weanling when it came to
dealing with the social graces of a living in a herd. He lived with the
babies for 2 months without being fussed with much. Then I we trained
him to be ridden. I left him in the "baby" pasuture for about a year.
Good luck! I think the people that keep their horses locked up
like this should be forced into living that way for a while.
Stacy Berger
Morgan Hill, CA