well, i have to recuse myself, cuz i'd love to live alone   ok, maybe not every day.....lol.

i will get him some kind of buddy at some point.  right now, i'm enjoying boarding him up the street and both him and i get to spend time with horses and horsepeople.  i'll do that for the winter anyway.  and then we'll see what happens.

My horse has lived by himself for about 4 yrs on and off. He's had a couple horses come and go but he remains by himself. I think a big part is also how much time you spend with him. With other horses they'll play around and run some energy off. If you work him 2 a week then he has the rest of the time to just stand around and be board. I try to ride my horse every day. And it seems to help ALOT. 

i don't know what i'm going to do in the spring.  i would like to get him a buddy, but, unless it's a horse buddy, i have fencing to do.  and i don't feel i have time to give proper excercise and attention to another full size horse.

 but, until we get longer days, he has a home that makes me happy just a few doors down.

Get an old or disabled horse that doesn't need--or can't even handle--exercise. There's plenty of pasture ornaments around that need homes. Horses that are pasture sound but can't be ridden.

i liked the horse i had that was disabled (had to put him down 1.5 years ago).  i didn't plan on getting a pasture ornament, but, once he was here, i was happy to let him live here forever.

but, the idea of getting a new pasture ornament doesn't work for me.  i only have a half acre horse area and 2 acres of land in total, so, there is daily cleaning and feeding to do.  i don't want the work and the cost.  just feeding one horse is $120 a month. 

if i had at least 5 or 10 acres (wish i had 50 acres!) i would do that for sure.  i like taking in rescues.  but, horse size rescues are kind of out of my range.

i'm still debating the tiny pony idea.  my horse is a bit of bossy boots and i know ponies can be pretty feisty.

but, maybe just making sure he gets a good workout in everyday will be enough.

Boy, if you can afford the time and money for a buddy, I KNOW that he would prefer that. He'll sleep better, and he won't be so on-guard. You may not think he's jumpy, but without a companion to watch his back he's having to do it himself.

if i had the time and money (and space), it would be no issue.  but, as i said above it's $120 a month just to feed a horse here.  let alone all the other costs.  and time i would spend with another horse is time taken away from the one i have. 

my horse lived alone when i got him.  then he lived alone for 14 months til i moved him down the street.  i moved him there because in the fall i have trees that drop leaves that become poisonous when they die.

i know it's not ideal, but, he does see the neighbor's horses most of the time, except when they go in the back pasture at their place.  and, i don't know if it's that much different than where he is now.

now, at night and in bad weather, he is in a stall with a small run off it and the horses are all separated and in every second stall, cuz when they are side by side, they (well maybe one in particular) destroy the fencing.  so, he can't touch another horse there.

then in nice weather, they are in paddocks, each horse in its own paddock.  and he doesn't have any kind of relationship with the horse next to him.  they don't stand at the fence together or anything like that.

he still gets super excited when he sees or hears me and whinnies and paws the gate, whether he's in or out.  that's what got me wondering how lonely he might be initially.  he is awfully attached to me whether there are other horses or not.

i generally just feel bad for all the horses in this neighborhood.  it's not even close to a natural lifestyle.  but, there's no such thing as large pastures where horses can run in a herd around here.

but, everybody does spend lots of time with their horses, so, they are well cared for.

it would be great if horses were like dogs and you could do horsey day care and send him for the day to run and play with others and then at night he would be tired and happy to be home in his paddock.

My QH spent time as the only horse for quite some time before I outgrew her and got my TB, one thing I found was she was happy with just me, but when I wasn't there she bonded strongly with our cows.

You don't really need to make any serious fencing changes with cows (though you may need to get a stronger fencer (we have one that puts out 4J and can't keep the cows in with 1 hot wire (depending on the style of your fencing will depend on how strong of a fencer you need).  Your horse may be spooked by a cow at first, but if you have a way that they can see each other without contact they adjust pretty fast (my TB was originally so spooked we thought he'd have a heart attack, and after about 2 weeks he was cautious but not terrified).

My mare is actually nicer when she doesn't have another horse with her.  She is calmer.  But, not every horse is like that.    It sounds like you are giving him a very good home!!!