However, I took in 2 rescue horses, a 15 yr old QH Jesse & his buddy a filly I named Esme. They came from ROTTEN living conditions, nearly starved when I & my husbands family decided to go get them. We agreed on half ownership of these 2 newest ones in order to save them.
Jesse & Esme have been here about 2 months now & are doing exceptionally well now. They have slowly put their weight back on, filled out, grown their winter coats & have started a worming schedule. Esme had never been worked with at all til we got her here. The place she came from was AWFUL, but all their tack & huge round pen were given to us along with them for free.
They were living in the round pen that was full of mud, poop, no grass, no solid ground, no food in reach, & no water. They were both just bones with a little skin and fur over them..their manes and tails were matted up. It took me over 4 hours to get that fixed the day after we brought them home.
Now, since ol Jack has been gone, we moved Jess and Esme down into the huge pasture with Dozer, who before had been so afraid & nervous while Jack was his pasture pal. We introduced them all to each other expecting some drama, but to our surprise they did well together.
Dozer has done things I wasnt expecting, like taking the leader position of this new herd. He used to get pushed away from his food by Jack, now he eats his food & wont let the others take it away, he uses his head to move them away from his pans. They then go to theirs when I feed. He isnt afraid to eat his hay now either, Jack used to not let him eat hay when he was here. I had to separate them at feed times.
Jack used to not let me in the gates, til Jesse came along. Jack got too close to me a few times & Jesse came up to the fence beside me, stuck his head over toward Jack & moved him away from me. I thought Jesse would be the leader when we moved them down with Dozer.
I've watched how Dozer will now, stand a good distance away from the other 2 and just watch. He does join up with them, but he makes it clear what terf is his.
Is this normal? I've been told it is & that they are establishing dominance & relationships. Dozer is easier to halter now also, since his nerves arent tore up all the time.
He did kick a few times at Jessie & nipped at Esme when they got too close to his food pan. I tell him to STOP & get his ears up, which has worked more often than not.
One other concern I have is that Dozer had become resistent to being groomed & petted. He was turning his butt to people, only did it to me once & I scolded him. He still does it to my husband, he really seems to hate my husband for some reason. My hubby can't touch Dozer at all. He wll pin those ears back & turn his head away from him. When Im alone, as I usually am, he lets me halter him, rub behind his ears & lead him. I havent brushed him in a while since he turned his butt to me that time, unsure of the best way to get him back on solid ground with that. I used to could touch him anywhere and he wouldnt flinch or move.
What do you think caused this? How do I fix this? I plan to have him haltered when I groom him next time.
Also, just FYI, several weeks ago Jack kicked Dozer right in the nose with both feet...this pissed him off good and that's when I saw the biggest change in Dozer as far as being touched.
