Herd Bullies: Am I over reacting?

MOVE HER! Don't wait until she is REALLY hurt!

I have a very aggessive gelding who has run another gelding in our pasture thru the fence. My daughter has spent many house doctoring the hurt gelding who is an old guy and has always been low man. We built the old guy a small pasture to keep him seperate from the aggressvie gelding.

If you have an aggressive horse, some days they are nice and you think.. "hmmmm maybe they can now be friends" but then other days you realize that they CANNOT. At least that is how it is here at my pasture!

MOVE HER!!!

Rhonda

The plan is to move her quickly, even if I have to pay for an additional month at her current barn. If I can arrange it, I'm going to move her this weekend. The new BO is aware of her timid nature and I've given her a run down of all the injuries suffered. She's going to be in a private pen for at least a month while the BO and her staff watch and evaluate her personality. Then, they'll place her with a complimentary herd. The BO has a large paddock with 5 other timid, elderly horses that she's going to try Vanna in first. All of these horses have been bullied badly in other herds, but live quite comfortably with each other. According to her, the worst she has seen this group do is lay their ears back at newbies and maybe attempt a nip. They're all low in the pecking order and while they have their own heirachy, none are aggressive about it. Aggressive horses at her facility are moved into private pens.

Update: The new barn looks great and it only takes me 15 minutes to get there! The quickest I could arrange hauling to her new barn is next Saturday, so that's the big day. She'll be in a private pen just behind the indoor arena for about a month, and then we'll try her in the 20-acre pasture with the 'oldies'. Three of the six horses are permanently lame, one is missing an eye from an old injury and the remaining two are just completely calm. There may be a couple warning nips when I introduce Vanna to the herd, but the private pens are close enough to the pasture that Vanna can talk to the residents and make her presence known before she's moves to their herd.

Well, I spoke to the barn owner and it went very well. I called him up today since I didn’t see him on the weekend and I don’t like to interrupt him at home on the weekends, and I let him know that I was going to be moving Vanna on Saturday. He sounded a little bit surprised, even though I had warned him I was going to move my horse in the spring time anyway.

Me: Would you like me to deliver a written notice to you, and pay my board in full to March 30?
Him: You’re a nice kid and I don’t want to hang you out to dry. How about you figure out what 10 days of board costs and we’ll call it even?

Wow. I was prepared (and expecting) to pay for March at both barns, but it’s a really nice surprise to my budget that I don’t have to. Now I'm feeling even more stoked about the move!

Great update!

I know what it's like to have your horse bullied. She will be so happy!

I hope so! I don't know if I'm just imagining it, but when I take her out of the field, I can feel tension radiating from her. As soon as I close the gate behind us and we walk further from the herd, I can feel her begin to relax. I make a point to take my time brushing her and scratching her favorite spots, just so she has extra time to relax and enjoy herself. When I saw her the other day, she started licking my hands as I was rubbing her chin. Then she rested her head against my shoulder and just sighed and stood quietly - she wasn't rubbing her head on me, but it was almost like she was saying, "Thanks, mom. I needed this. I'm so happy right now."

I hope she can make friends with her new herd. If nothing else, I hope they tolerate her standing beside them and maybe indulge her in some mutual grooming. Right now, I hate leaving her at the barn because I know she's going to be run off from the herd and made to stand by herself. That can't be beneficial to her mental health and I hope her new herd will accept her as one of their own. They don't have to be buddy-buddy... but I've got my fingers crossed that they'll let her stand beside them. Small wishes...

Well done you! That's a fantastic result, and let us know how Vanna settles into her new home

For only $50.00 more and you get way more perks I would move.

All moved! At around 4pm yesterday, I went to my new barn and hopped in the truck with my new BO to pick up my mare. Aside from a sudden apprehension of the small barn that we had to pass to get to the trailer, Vanna practically loaded herself. 15 minutes later, we were unloading at the new place and Vanna has three pens to herself. Because she is the only horse in the back pens for now, they moved a few panels so she would have more room to move around. When we unloaded her, all her future herd mates were crowded at the gate and watching. She stepped off the trailer and nickered to them, and they all nickered back. After we threw her some hay and gave her some water, I hung around to make sure she was settling in. For the entire time I was there, she stood at the front of her pen, talking to the horses across the way. I hope this is the start of a beautiful friendship for her and those horses. Heh.

When I get out there today, Vanna is starting some basic training. The BO spread some shavings in the round pen and a bit of manure to melt the ice, so it should be safe to do a little bit of work with Vanna in there. If not, I guess I'll just have to spend a few hours cleaning her up instead. Compared to the show horses in that barn, Vanna looks practically feral with her fuzzy coat and overgrown (and half chewed) mane.

That is so good that the move is already going well for Vanna. I honestly think you made the right choice for your horse - while horses are animals and that is their way of communication after three months, I too would be moving my horse. I'm really happy that she is enjoying it already at her new home. You'll quickly notice a positive change in her behaviour, etc too. Soon as we moved my horse from a place where he had small, individual, grass lacking paddocks. To a massive facility with arenas, yards, a huuuggge grassy field he became SO happy and adapted more 'herd-instincts' in his work, specially ground work.
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