[SaddleHappy]

Well, for good or for ill, we are taking delivery of two of the rescue horses today. Half of me is so excited and the other half is scared to death that I'm not ready yet! Plus, I really only meant to get one from them, and neither of the ones that are coming are the one that I wanted most. We had a hard time getting back in touch with the lady who runs the rescue. Finally I enlisted my husband's help to call her one last time.... I think I posted that we were trying one more time and then dropping the matter.... well, she happened to be right there and answer the phone when he called, he wound up handling it, and there you have it. To tell the truth, I'm surprised we aren't winding up with all 4! I thought that my husband and I had discussed it, understood each other and agreed to just begin with one, but oh well. So it's Dante and Midnight that are coming. Dante is a sure thing as far as riding, but can only handle the younger kids because of his back. Midnight has not been ridden since she's been at the rescue because of confusion over whether she was pregnant or not, but she's real gentle to handle. Hopefully we'll discover she's rideable and knows what to do. Otherwise she'll be beautiful in the pasture, she's a real pretty horse. Her bio says she's TW, but she's really small. I thought tw's were tall??? I guess the only really negative part here is that Midnight is the horse my daughter really wanted and we weren't going to get her because Ariana didn't want to get attached to her and the horse never really be "hers". I'm just going to make sure we constantly refer to these horses as "foster horses" I guess and hope it goes well. I do like the idea of rescue, and our rescued dog is the greatest dog in the world... hopefully this will be as pleasant an experience as that.

[MissBandit]

That's great news! I'm sure Buck will be delighted to have some company Let us know how things go.

[SaddleHappy]

Yeah, if nothing else these horses are saving me from having to run out and buy a goat or a sheep! And speaking of Buck, what should I do when these other guys get here? Should I put him into a stall for a "get acquainted" period, or should I just let them have at it? Horses don't usually fight, do they?

[MissBandit]

It's really best if you can separate them by fence line first. Did you say you have more than one pasture? Or a riding ring? You do have a fenced in round pen, correct? This way they can sniff noses and get aquainted safely. Let them visit over a fence for a day. (Or less if you feel comfortable) Horses do occasionally fight, but its actually pretty rare. They will however establish a pecking order. And that may involve a fair amount of squealing (loud and scary sounding, but harmless), tossing heads and even possibly striking out with a foreleg or a hind kick out at oneanother. Don't fret though! Horses speak to each other in BODY language. So while these displays can be extremely alarming to us, they rarely come to actual blows. Horses give quite a fair bit of warning to each other before that happens. Depending on individual personality, you may see any, or none, of these behaviours..

Flattened ears
Head tossing
Tail swishing
Charging
Threatening to kick
Baring teeth
Striking out/kicking (with no contact)

All of these are perfectly normal equine language. I would suggest you do not interfere as they NEED to establish a pecking order within their little "herd". It's totally normal, healthy and quite important if they are to live side by side in peace with oneanother. Once the pecking order has been established, peace should ensue.

<small>[ March 30, 2004, 10:33 AM: Message edited by: MissBandit ]</small>

[drafts]

MissBandit:
Horses do occasionally fight, but its actually pretty rare. )

Actually a horse fight can get pretty severe, especially when you put two herd boss' in one pasture.
I don't think it is too rare, I have seen quite a few get really nasty when new horses were brought in. They may even fight for days.

<small>[ March 30, 2004, 10:53 AM: Message edited by: drafts ]</small>

[gdp1]

I hope the rescue agents is working close with you if this is this is the first rescue you have been involved in. Rescuing a horse can be a wonderful experience but there are a few things different about bringing in a rescued horse that other horses. At Broken Oaks we work closely with the people that adopt horses from us so the new owners understand some of the particulars of adopting a rescue horse. If we can be of any help please contact us at:
Broken Oaks Equine Retirement Center
gpratt@gorge.net
http://brokenoaks.org

[MissBandit]

Wel Sure, putting two Alpha's together can get quite nasty. But that is not something that you see all that often. I've been in the horse industry for over 20 years and have only seen that happen once. The ratio of Alpha horses to less dominant horses is pretty low, so the chances of them actually tearing each apart is not that great.

Saddlehappy is getting two foster horses that have been living with at least two other horses, in pasture. From from the description she gave us of these horses tempermants, they certainly don't sound like they've been tearing each other apart. And as for Buck, the way he acts around the people and the dog, he's playfull, not an Alpha. So I don't think that in this case, she will have two alpha's batteling it out. Besides, that's why I say let them meet over the fence line first. If by some fluky chance one of those fosters is an Alpha and Buck turns out to be an alpha (which I HIGHLY, HIGHLY doubt), then she would know IMMEDIATELY.

<small>[ March 30, 2004, 11:14 AM: Message edited by: MissBandit ]</small>

[MissBandit]

BTW, when you use the word FIGHT, that means actually beating each other up. Trying to inflict harm. Horses may take several days to establish a pecking order by bickering about each other for days, but that in my mind is not what I could call "fighting".

[gdp1]

A horse “fight” is a very rare event. The jockeying for position may look violent but normally it’s just a kick or a bite and most of those don’t connect and if they do there is little damage done. As with most animals the attempt at dominance is mostly noise and a showing of force. In my over 40 years of working with horses I have only seen one mare that was out to hurt another horse and she really did try and do all the damage she could but I don’t think she was really and alpha. She just wanted to hurt other horses for some unknown reason. When an alpha is trying to get control of the herd it is over rather quickly.

[MissBandit]

GDP1: applaud