Does your horse discriminate against other coat colours?

Gabe M

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Oct 16, 2017
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I've been asked to do an investigative project for one of my college modules on anything regarding horses. Since I knew one mare Haflinger that was especially discriminate against both gender Piebalds, I was wondering if this was similar in any other cases and the back story behind it.

The Haflinger I know is at my riding school and has been there a couple years after being bought from someone who bred them in Austria and if she wasn't bought she'd have gone for slaughter since she was surplus.

If anyone has similar cases where their horses discriminate against, or even simply flick their ears back at, either most horses or at specific coat colours more often than others it would be a great help as insight into their psychology behind colour recognition.
 
Mine likes mist horses, although she really loves greys in particular. She's only ever taken a dislike to two other horses, one a Haflinger gelding and the other a chestnut mare, can't be coat colour for her though as her best friend is also a chestnut mare.
 
sorry no discrimination regarding colour or gender in our field, only time ears go back if someone is attempting an assault on anothers food.
 
Maybe its a Hafi thing? A friend of mine had her grey mare share a field with three Hafis. The Hafis really bullied my friends horse and she had to move her to another field.
 
Maybe its a Hafi thing? A friend of mine had her grey mare share a field with three Hafis. The Hafis really bullied my friends horse and she had to move her to another field.
Doubt it my mare is a Haflinger, she either loves other horses or she simply ignores them apart from those two I mentioned above.
 
I did know a mare who was terrified of any small ponies.
Mine was a little unsure of the resident miniature if he lay down. But fine after a while.
No issues with coat colour though.
 
Not really horse on horse hate more horse on black sheep hate. Whiskey HATES black sheep. She's near enough bombproof in everyway, though when she sees a black sheep she starts snorting at it and drifting sideways at a jog. Like she's stepping on hot coals, and she won't take her eyes off them until she's clear. Dont know where this stems from as I know shes never had a bad experience with them before and at one point I even had her Sharing a field with a couple zwartbles. At first she hated them then after a few weeks they were the best of friend's! (Still didnt like other black sheep though ) Weird.
 
I doubt very much that any of these are discriminating because of the colour, perhaps they can't see the features that distinguishes a sheep as a sheep when they are all black (maybe its a dog, or a wolf in disguise ;)), or they just don't happen to get along with the 2 coloureds in their field, but I think its anthropomorphising a bit to think that a horse would be prejudice to colours.
 
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I was taught that wild stallions have been observed "collecting" mares of all one color, and the trend was that they were the same color as his mother . . . and that this has been observed in many wild horse herds. Personally, I grew up with a family of percheron cross horses . . . several mares and several geldings (and actually related by blood, not just pasture mates). The youngest horse was a bay, and the only non-gray on the farm. When she was leased out to a pony clubber for several years she became excited every time she would encounter a gray horse at a pony club event or other outing. She always seemed to be looking for her family. She was reunited with her home herd in her elder years, but as the youngest, she has now out lived the others. She has now buddied up with a roan pasture mate. She is a very grumpy boss mare type in the pasture, but tends to be kind to gray horses.
 
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