Sorry, I had a hard time titling this thread! And thank you for reading to the end, I feel like more info is better than hardly any!
I have a previous post where I had asked about letting our new horse be put with the old horse, here http://www.horseforum.com/horse-training/help-w-putting-2-horses-together-134631/ if anyone wants to catch up on it.
Thank you to all who replied, and to summarize, we did put them together with really no theatrics to speak of; I was quite surprised. They have been together for almost 3 days now, and aren’t having too many squealing or kicking or biting moments.
But I do still have a few questions.
So newby a 7 yr old who is def. the lead mare. Sonata is the 3.5 yr old laid back previously had horse who has no issues being follower.
Question 1: When we are in the pasture and I want to interact with Sonata, be it to check a hoof, rub her, what not, and not interact with newby, but newby tries to run Sonata off, I assume since I am technically the biggest lead mare, I can run newby off and tell her to pound sand, right? That won’t cause issues among the 2 of them will it? Part 2 of this question: I swear today when newby went after Sonata for what was seemingly nothing, Sonata had run to me, I assume for protection from it? Is that what she is doing, and do I get to tell newby to back off, what she is doing is uncalled for? I can’t see any good reason for newby to run Sonata, other than that she can, in those moments, other than jealousy.
Question 2: When they do get into tiffs, this is how they go: newby w/ body lang. lets Sonata know she wants her to do something: move, etc, I assume. Most times Sonata does- 99%. But it seems that sometimes newby does it just to be a brat, or to block her from something, so Sonata stands up a bit to her. My question is this- when Sonata does appear to stand up, she almost immediately spins around and offers her butt to newby, and if she feels she needs to, she will kick too, different strengths, depending on how annoyed she is by newby and how hard newby was to her. Of course newby then spins around and throws kicks too. Sometimes it becomes a kicking and squealing match. Is this appropriate communication between them? When Sonata was previously boarded, the other mares seemed to all communicate through biting, which newby doesn’t do much, or Sonata doesn’t tolerate as much from newby, and therefore spins to offer her butt instead.
Oh and this doesn’t happen when hay is involved. They are fine then, newby just walks Sonata off, and Sonata leaves to the next pile.
Okay, I think that is enough for now, thanks to anyone who can offer a bit of insight into the horse psyche for us! :P
I have a previous post where I had asked about letting our new horse be put with the old horse, here http://www.horseforum.com/horse-training/help-w-putting-2-horses-together-134631/ if anyone wants to catch up on it.
Thank you to all who replied, and to summarize, we did put them together with really no theatrics to speak of; I was quite surprised. They have been together for almost 3 days now, and aren’t having too many squealing or kicking or biting moments.
But I do still have a few questions.
So newby a 7 yr old who is def. the lead mare. Sonata is the 3.5 yr old laid back previously had horse who has no issues being follower.
Question 1: When we are in the pasture and I want to interact with Sonata, be it to check a hoof, rub her, what not, and not interact with newby, but newby tries to run Sonata off, I assume since I am technically the biggest lead mare, I can run newby off and tell her to pound sand, right? That won’t cause issues among the 2 of them will it? Part 2 of this question: I swear today when newby went after Sonata for what was seemingly nothing, Sonata had run to me, I assume for protection from it? Is that what she is doing, and do I get to tell newby to back off, what she is doing is uncalled for? I can’t see any good reason for newby to run Sonata, other than that she can, in those moments, other than jealousy.
Question 2: When they do get into tiffs, this is how they go: newby w/ body lang. lets Sonata know she wants her to do something: move, etc, I assume. Most times Sonata does- 99%. But it seems that sometimes newby does it just to be a brat, or to block her from something, so Sonata stands up a bit to her. My question is this- when Sonata does appear to stand up, she almost immediately spins around and offers her butt to newby, and if she feels she needs to, she will kick too, different strengths, depending on how annoyed she is by newby and how hard newby was to her. Of course newby then spins around and throws kicks too. Sometimes it becomes a kicking and squealing match. Is this appropriate communication between them? When Sonata was previously boarded, the other mares seemed to all communicate through biting, which newby doesn’t do much, or Sonata doesn’t tolerate as much from newby, and therefore spins to offer her butt instead.
Oh and this doesn’t happen when hay is involved. They are fine then, newby just walks Sonata off, and Sonata leaves to the next pile.
Okay, I think that is enough for now, thanks to anyone who can offer a bit of insight into the horse psyche for us! :P