Do you ever just watch your horses interact?

bitsnpieces

Active Member
Aug 22, 2007
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Just going on from my other thread, do you ever just watch how your horse behaves with other horses?

I was watching Puz and Inca last night, Inca can be really "in your face" and can be like this with other horses, which means just the way she walks makes her look dominant (actually she's just trying to say hello but thinks she's the bees knees when the other horse moves away from her). But she is UBER respectful of Puz, she only has to give her a look or put her ears back and Inca stops in her tracks. I've also noticed that Puz doesn't do things in half measures, if Inca doesn't listen to the first subtle warning then she gets full on charged at & bitten on the bum.

It really got me thinking as when I was doing groundwork with Inca, the only time she really got respectful was when I gave an over-reactive response....I didn't have to ask twice after that.

Was a really interesting insight into what she reacts to. Also as Puz is also her dam, this may also be the main behaviour that Inca has learnt to expect as well.

How do yours behave?
 
Tobes is boss of our two and is not a particularly nice boss - he often ticks Amber off who is old enough to be his granny!!

When I first got him he was 4 and Amber was always the boss in whatever herd she was in. He was relentless in taking over and after two weeks of constant battles between them he won.

With groundwork with him I have found that if I am too forceful he will take me on and he doesn't take prisoners. The best success I have had with him is to chip away with groundwork asking for smaller and praising a lot.
 
I love watching them.

Mattie is bottom horse, always chased away by Ziggy and by Tommy. He is very affectionate though and often instigates playtime and grooming. In play he is very stallion-y, given to pawing, squealing and rearing. He's kind to other horses, I found him this morning gently reassuring a new arrival over the fence.

Tommy is just a big young goof, always mouthing everything, especially his field mates. He tends to turn mutual grooming into a bite-your-bum session! He is the biggest, and can take food from both others if he wants to. But he'll follow Ziggy anywhere. He'll play with anyone any time.

Ziggy is below Tommy in the strength order, but he is the horse the others look to for guidance and to decide when they will move grass patch, go for water, seek shelter and so on. He tends to threaten to kick rather than bite, and plays by running about and engaging in competitive rolling.

They all flirt with Izzy the filly if they can. She has a preference for Tommy first (because he is tall and young and horny) then Mattie, then Ziggy. Ziggy seems to know that she likes her boys tall because whenever he sniffs noses with her he tries really hard to grow 2hh!
 
Oh this is interesting...I only have Scarlet but she has been in fields with different horses...I have to ask does anyone think there is something in the breed/type of horse and how they react to each other?

Scarlet always seems more aware and respectful to other welsh types....at last yard Scarlet worked her way up the herd a bit from the bottom, she had horses she ignored, ones she chased off and ones she obviously respected one being a slightly bigger and older sec D who the other horses considered lower in the herd.

At current yard when the one other welsh D 'speaks' in her field Scarlet instantly looks interested, rushes to the fence and responds but not so much when others do.

Maybe I should learn welsh to get a better response from her :giggle:
 
All the time, having them at home helps me just watch without them knowing!

The 'boss' changes in my field, mostly Sam, but sometimes Minnie....they must be a coalition I think, with Minnie being the Cleggy. When I am not there, they do graze closely sometimes, groom each other alot, its only when you bring in attention or food do they growl at each other:wink:

I have to mini donkeys at the moment and 12 sheep, the mini donks are adorable and Sam plays with jack donkey all the time... but you do see the donks together on one side, and ponies together on the other mostly...unless its play time..:wink:
 
Yep watch them all the time, more I see them, the more I think about how their relationship and personalities mirror mine and my friend's - the owner of Flipo's fieldmate.
Flip is quiet, submissive, likes his own company and will for the most part ignore all thats going on in favour of his stomach (lol!)
He has the odd moment of sheer excitement where he squeals and jumps about the place, but its usually short lived. He doesn't express emotion very well or easily and is pretty thick skinned when it comes to listening to the other horse. He begrudingly does as the other horse orders - but sometimes the arab has to up his game to get Flipo to respond.
The arab is nosey, bold, dominant and unspooky. If he's not been worked enough he herds Flipo round and round and round the field.

I guess there's something to be learned from their interactions -if Flipo doesn't do as he's told by the arab, he ups the ante a bit. Maybe thats what I need to be doing as well. Feel a bit bad though that my horse is told what to do in every situation. Poor sod.:tongue:
 
I love watching Izzy's herd. It's so relaxing to just sit and watch them go about their business.

Izzy is in a herd with 3 other geldings and is the bottom of the herd. An ex-racer is top bod, then the other two dressage divas. Izzy is the boisterous one with all the finesse of a tank that they all keep in check!

But it's quite funny when we are out and about as Izzy is friends with all the horses, even ones who don't tolerate others very well. He hacks out with a couple of ex-racers who really don't like other horses near them, but they almost like Izzy. The funniest thing out hacking is that they are okay with Izzy on the way out but like him to be behind or next to them, if there is something spooky they clearly tell Izzy it is up to him to go first which he always does, then the moment we are past the scary thing, he is put back in his place often with a snarl. Izzy doesn't bother with any of it but it is hilarious to see.
 
Its one of my favourite passtimes tbh......but I am a lazy cow at heart, and any excuse to just sit and watch:bounce:

My two are very close, except when I first arrive when they seem to hate each other and Sioned chases him away, actually thats not true anymore as Bert stays out of reach until we have done the first 'hello's' and patting then worms his way over for his fuss..............its always worse in the Winter when they know its feed time...........

By the time the Kettle has been filled and is on the gas stove they are together looking over the door to find the 'Bisquites' :biggrin:

Should I give in and offer it all starts again, so when I ignore their pleafull faces they stand there more often than not grooming each other:bounce:

Its weird because there are times I think Bert is 'herd leader' and times I think it has swung to Sioned and although Bert sometimes plays the less
dominant character he is crafty enough to always get to where he wants to be regardless of Sioneds bossiness:wink:

However, when I have my cuppa and COME OUT..........there is no doubt
about who is 'herd leader'.................MOI :giggle:

But I could easily sit and watch them ALL DAY:wink: and the funniest thing is they seem to do the same with ME, lol.
 
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I love watching the herd. Caymen is the leader and I find his behaviour really interesting. There is another horse in the herd that tries to he the leader when Caymen is not there though it is all a bit half hearted!

Caymen has always been very close to my friends horse as they have always been stabled together. The two of them have taken a wee pony under their wings and they are always together, to the point they can be tricky to catch! Caymen and the wee pony were having a mutual groom yesterday, it was really intense and they interacted with each other for ages.

One of my fave pastimes is watching them
 
Yes :). It's one of my very favourite things to do.

One of the first things Kal does when he goes out into the field is patrol the pasture and sniff every single pile of poo . . . then he gives a deep sigh and puts his head down to eat. He is currently bottom of the herd (he's only been there 3 weeks) and so spends quite alot of time being moved on by the others. At our previous yard, he most definitely had "friends" who he preferred to graze and play with . . . two of them, in particular, would grab each other's tail flap and then run in circles (idiots).

I find it fascinating to watch how horses interact . . . their body language is so very subtle.

N
 
Forgot to add, I have learned an awful lot about Kal and what makes him tick by watching how is with other horses/in his herd.

One thing that struck me early on is that within the herd there are only certain horses he trusts . . . the flip side being that there are some horses he actively distrusts and actually considers them "non." The only way I can explain this is is that if left in the field with only the "non" horse for company, Kal will behave as though he is alone and panic, walk the fence, call - and if no'one shows up to "rescue" him he will start doing the wall of death, getting more and more wound up.

Fascinating - and a real illustration of how "dependant" and insecure he can be.

N
 
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