I tried to let all the horses out together yesterday.
It did not work out so well. Killian treated Princess MellyPalouza like she was poor white trash....or a spy....or some sort of forbidden interloper who must be driven away.
She gave him a pretty good double barrel shot right in the chest and then moved away. She was happy to mind her own business and graze away from Killian and Sassy. I had not even had time to get Trax yet.
But he went after her again and he was not playing around either.
I stepped between his charge and my Princess. He altered course and made a big circle back to Sassy and kept his distance while I grabbed Melly and put her back in her pen.
These are the times when I am really glad that we work on ground manners. There are not many things that Killian is truly afraid of....I'm glad that I am one of them!
So for now we are back on rotation, which is probably for the best. My grass when weeks with no water and needs fertilized badly. I don't know that it can handle more than 2 at a time right now.
Eventually I will try again, but first I'll try putting them next to each other so they can become friends over the fence.
I've heard of geldings killing mares. There is an Arabian breeder who lost her best mare to a gelding attack. I guess sometimes they just go crazy for no apparent (to us) reason. If you don't need to house them together, you might want to keep them apart.
ReplyDeleteThe joys of herd dynamics.....
ReplyDeleteWouldn't be surprised if Killian views her as a rival herd member. Sassy is his, Melly belongs to Trax and that's the way it is in his world. Sometimes their personalities just don't mesh either. It's like putting together a blended family. We chose the herd members, they didn't and not everyone gets along.
ReplyDeleteHm, maybe after a couple weeks when they are in pens next to each other they'll get along when you put them in the same pasture. I wasn't there but it doesn't sound to awfully bad, just like they need more time to get used to each other. When I added 2 mares to my little herd of 2, they were separated and kicking at the gate and fence for about 3 weeks before I finally let them all out together. Then it was about 5 minutes of rearing, squealing and kicks and everyone settled down. Wish I got it on video.
ReplyDeleteThat comment above about a gelding killing a mare sounds pretty frightening.
Our herd is so close-knit, it usually takes months before we try it with everybody together. Glad nobody got hurt.
ReplyDeleteYep, we have 2 we can't turn out together.
ReplyDeleteglad you were able to step in and no one was hurt. Being the "boss mare" is a pretty important thing with your herd.
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