I need a little help. my mare is on pasture board at a local barn and she is currently sharing her pasture with another mare that i am a little bit afraid of. D (my mare) is not an alpha mare per say but she knows how to hold her own which is why she is currently in the pasture with this alpha mare. Alpha (the other mare) is extremely gate agressive and for some reason just loves my mare. when i go to take D out of the pasture or bring her back in Alpha meets me at the gate and wont let me pass without pressuring us. D always gets antsy about being near this mare when she is with me and often tries to get away at any cost (i.e. pushing, rughing the gate, kicking out...) but my mare does not display these behaviors outside of the pasture or when around other horses its just this one mare. also she has never actually kicked out AT me but i am worried that i might get caught in the cross fire.
however irritating this may be, this is not the true problem. Alpha gets agressive towards D when i am trying to negotiate the gate and when i try to get her to back away from the gate she often turns and becomes agressive towards ME directly, often biting, kicking out or other such antics. i have already been kicked in the knee once in the knee and was layed up for a week because of this mare. she is at our barn for training and i have talked to both my trainer and Alpha's owner about her attitude but she doesn't become agressive with either of them, although she has gone after some of the barn staff. the other issue is that we have limited space and Alpha has no other pasture to be put in away from my mare.
so here is the crux of the issue: this mare is overly agressive towards me and my mare and i am afraid that i am going to get caught in the crossfire between them when i enter or exit the pasture. also anytime i try to get this mare to leave me alone she comes after me which is obviously not acceptable. I have and will continue to defend myself with the whip (and have often had to actually hit this mare to get her to back off which i HATE DOING!!). I have resorted to unclipping my mare's lead and letting her rush through the gate so that she can get the heck outta the way of this mare and i don't have to be in the pasture with them which is totally unacceptable because i HATE letting my mare develope such nasty manners but i feel like i am outta options to keep myself and my mare safe. any suggestions you for me would be totally appreciated. i really just want to be able to go see my mare without having to deal with this stress (or atleast not having to worry that i am going to end my excursion to the barn with a trip to the hospital.) anyways, thanks for your time and sorry that this is so long.
however irritating this may be, this is not the true problem. Alpha gets agressive towards D when i am trying to negotiate the gate and when i try to get her to back away from the gate she often turns and becomes agressive towards ME directly, often biting, kicking out or other such antics. i have already been kicked in the knee once in the knee and was layed up for a week because of this mare. she is at our barn for training and i have talked to both my trainer and Alpha's owner about her attitude but she doesn't become agressive with either of them, although she has gone after some of the barn staff. the other issue is that we have limited space and Alpha has no other pasture to be put in away from my mare.
so here is the crux of the issue: this mare is overly agressive towards me and my mare and i am afraid that i am going to get caught in the crossfire between them when i enter or exit the pasture. also anytime i try to get this mare to leave me alone she comes after me which is obviously not acceptable. I have and will continue to defend myself with the whip (and have often had to actually hit this mare to get her to back off which i HATE DOING!!). I have resorted to unclipping my mare's lead and letting her rush through the gate so that she can get the heck outta the way of this mare and i don't have to be in the pasture with them which is totally unacceptable because i HATE letting my mare develope such nasty manners but i feel like i am outta options to keep myself and my mare safe. any suggestions you for me would be totally appreciated. i really just want to be able to go see my mare without having to deal with this stress (or atleast not having to worry that i am going to end my excursion to the barn with a trip to the hospital.) anyways, thanks for your time and sorry that this is so long.