Our elderly Connemara gelding was unfortunately exposed in his stable to multiple bee stings on more than one occasion over a period of two weeks before the problem was figured out and fixed. He used to be very calm and content in the stable, but since the bee stings, he is a neurotic mess. He hates going into the stable. Whenever he’s inside, he circles and mostly paces in front of his door non-stop. He seems extra jumpy and only eats a small portion of his hay when in his stable. We’ve given him a couple of months, but he’s not getting better.

Do you have any other suggestions for reversing this? Can we condition him somehow to relax again in his stall? There is no other stall available for him. Our only other option is to leave him in the paddock, where he seems fine. But the yard manager is against having horses out in the paddock alone, especially at night. We would likely have to move him to a new place if we plan to avoid the stable. He’s in his late 20s and we worry how he might take a move. He’s lost weight over this already.

Are there any medications you could recommend? We don’t necessarily want to sedate him, but is there something perhaps to just erase the bad memory? via e-mail

Theoretically, simple behavior modification should be effective in reversing the effects of a specific aversive experience. In practice, however, it can be quite challenging and take considerable time. The general principle is to make the box stall as pleasant as possible, keep him as calm as possible when there, and hope that with time the anxiety will extinguish. But if the horse keeps getting worked up every time, and you have to argue with him to get into the box stall, then it can continue to be aversive