Aggressive Mare

[D Dunlap]

I have a chestnut mare (yeah i know all about chestnut mares! LOL!) who bullies the other horses. I have 3 horses total, another chestnut gaited mare ( i think she's a TW) and a large QH gelding. The TW mare was penned with the bully mare and i think being w her is what led to her impaction colic a few weeks back! The TW mare is fine now but i traded her w the gelding and so now the gelding is with the bully. (Poor guy) so far everything seems fine but she is for lack of a better word... a B@#ch! she full out kicks at him, (she did this to the other mare too) to keep him away at feeding, i don't think she has ever made contact because he has no injuries, she reaches out to bite, sometimes making contact on the other mare, the gelding seems to be able to avoid actual injury, but i don't know if she is just being dominant or really has an issue being housed with others. I don;t want him to have the same life threatening issue that the other mare had, he is my 12 YO daughters horse and she loves him like no other, she would freak out if he had that problem. What to do? Just house each horse seperatley? try the TW mare w the gelding and put miss attitude by herself? advice please?

 

[Ferguson K]

I would put the alpha mare in a pasture by herself. There's no reason to put other horses at harm. It took years to find a horse, just one, that my alpha would put up with in close quarters. Now they're inseperable. She was unruly just like your mare.

 

[HorsesAreJustTheBeginning]

How are you feeding them? In close quarters with one another? In one feed bin?

I usually have 12-14 horses in a mixed herd around here. You could say I'm new to homesteading but old to horses! They coexist very happily, often even sharing feed buckets, despite introducing and removing members of the herd on a regular basis.

Among other things, a key to this is the horses never feeling like any of their resources are limited. Including dry space to lay down in, limited space to roam, plentiful hay or grass.. even water if the water tub doesn't have clean water from time to time or goes dry from time to time. And that's key -- never let it run out, so it never becomes a resource to argue over.

A tangent of this - horses need space, especially during feed time. Make sure you're spacing your feed buckets at least 20' apart if along a fence line, and feeding everyone at the same time so that each has a chance at food. Also make sure you're never putting your horses in a position where the lower members of the herd could get pinned (closed quarters in a barn or small run-in shed where lowest members get kicked out into the rain).

It could very well be that the home your mare came from included limited resources - so she could be particularly defensive of food, for example, because she's expecting to have days where she goes without. Time will help quell a lot of that behavior, not to mention bond your horses together.

That might be too much information for what you needed, but I hope it helps!

 

[HorsesAreJustTheBeginning]

Oh! Also - bullying can be contagious. If you find its not something that calms with the passing of a few months, then move her - the others could pick up these bad habits.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Way back in the day when I had multiple horses who were fed in the pasture I would always put out an extra feed pan. For instance - for 6 horses I would have 7 or maybe 8 pans in the pasture that I would divide the feed into. I spaced mine well apart in a huge circle. That way there was always an extra pan for the timid horses.

 

[Bunnylady]

I have always had animals that had different feed requirements - some who are hard to keep weight on, and others who get fat on air. Since one serving size can't possibly fit all, I separate at feeding time, but make sure there is plenty of hay spread out over plenty of space during those times of year. There will always be dominant horses, that's just the way horses are; some will become buddies, and some never really will. But I agree with an earlier poster - space enough to move seems to be the secret to keeping horses from getting banged up. Of course, sometimes you get a dominant horse, and another horse that constantly challenges the dominant horse; there's not a lot you can do about that (I remember wanting to tell one owner, "if your horse would move when the dominant horse tells him to, he wouldn't be getting banged up. There are 8 other horses in that pasture, and they aren't getting dinged up, just your guy . . . .)

 

[Ferguson K]

Agreed.

My mare is the exception, not the rule. In most cases a simple game of musical bucket is in order. In others, like hard keepers, it is easier to just separate at feeding time.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

I agree with what alot of these folks mentioned about the horses needing their space while being fed. When we had horses when I was younger, they all had to have their feed dishes spread apart (and sometimes one of them would have to go in a stall to eat by themselves with the door closed, because certain other horses would come try to hog their grain as well even after finishing their own!)

As I have seen mentioned, horses want to be left alone at feeding time. So maybe consider this, and spread them out more...if not separate them. Everyone has done a great job of covering this so far- hope it helps!

 

[sonorabitandspur]

Often times I have found that it is a lower mare trying to rise in the rankings. In this case there will be constant aggression until one finally submits to the more dominant animal. I have a small bay mare who has always been on the bottom. Every so often she would bully the next one up in rank. If there are only two in the pasture or pen then it will show up as one bulling the other. How horses establish dominance is sort of like kids playing "made ya look." Only the game is "made you move your feet." The horse that moves away is the loser, and when that happens with a low ranking mare she will continue to assert herself, kinda like"now y'all pay!" I have had some of these mares pin their ears or offer to bite when the order changes, in their mind you are the next one up the chain so they will try to assert their self. Horse herd culture is not hard to understand but we humans often miss the obvious. Some times it is the dominant horse maintaining the order. Horses are quite subtle, and often it appears the lower animal was not doing anything, positioning and subtle body language are seen as threats.