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Discussion on Introducing a new pasture mate
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Member:
twhgait
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Posted on Friday, Mar 23, 2007 - 10:44 am:
Hopefully I'm putting this in the right area!
I am bring home a 10 y.o. TWH mare next Friday 3/30. She will be living with my 26 y.o. and 10 y.o. TWH mares. I haven't introduced horses to each other in 10 years! I'm not sure how to proceed. I will be putting up a common fence to seperate them initially.
How long would they need to be seperated before I can start letting them mingle together? And should I do one horse at a time? And do I introduce the more agressive mare first or the more laid-back mare first? The new mare is low-man in her current herd. My 10 year old mare can be pretty aggressive with chasing and biting. My 26 y.o. settles things very quickly and prefers going butt to butt until the newcomer backs down.
Thankfully I have a horse friend who will be babysitting my children for spring break at my house. She will be able to watch the goings-on in the pasture for the following week.
Thanks for your suggestions ahead of time. I want to minimize any risk of anyone getting hurt.
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Member:
leilani
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Posted on Friday, Mar 23, 2007 - 3:44 pm:
Hi Kim,
When I brought my young mare home we separated her from the other 3 for about a week. Two geldings and my older mare in one pasture and Anuhea in the other. They were separated by a fence line and spent a lot of time hanging and vocalizing.
The second week we opened the gate so all four could be together. It was pretty touchy at first as my 2 mares went butt to butt and almost locked legs. Mele persevered and now all is fine. Mele is the boss with Anuhea a close second.
Only one horse has back shoes and the other 3 consider him invisible.
I've found that if you give them enough room they work things out. Good luck.
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Member:
jd1947
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Posted on Friday, Mar 23, 2007 - 4:40 pm:
Kim,
Take each horses temperment into consideration....your 10 yr old 'boss mare' may need to be seperated from your newbie for a longer period of time since you say she is very aggressive.
The timeframe to keep the newbie in her own space may be a week...may be longer...I think the best way to judge that is to watch all three alot, see how the interact over the fence.
If you think they need a few weeks, then go with that, I find that is you keep them seperated for as long as you can stand it, then when you put them all together it's no big deal.
If any of the mares wears shoes, I'd pull off the back shoes as a precaution.
As long as they have enough room to get away from each other when you do turn them in together...probably be a quiet transition.
When the big day comes, get a couple of friends or family out there with you so if need be, you have help to chase away Ms. Aggressive if she decides to be a b----c!!
Good luck.
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Member:
freshman
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Posted on Saturday, Mar 24, 2007 - 1:06 am:
I've had good luck with letting the new horse buddy up with a nicer horse at first. They will quickly establish a relationship, and whether the new horse ends up on top or bottom of the deal, it will have some level of confidence when facing the rest of the horses. Only one horse to worry about at one time.
Removing the old horses from the common pasture can also help. Turn the new horse out alone in this area for the first few days, then introduce the nice buddy. Let them sort it out, and then let the more aggressive herd-mate into the situation. This can take the aggressor down a notch, since it is now the new horse's territory, at least to some extent.
Don't know if that makes any sense, but the bottom line is that the new horse should not be sent into the old horse's pasture territory.. There will be inevitable fits and fights among the horses, but maybe less so if the old horses are forced to met the new one outside of their territorial comfort zone.
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Member:
twhgait
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Posted on Saturday, Mar 24, 2007 - 9:07 am:
Excellent advice, THANKS!! Sounds like I'll have to leave them apart longer then I initially thought!
What I can do is split their paddock (unfortunately I don't have a place to put the two old horses that doesn't have new spring grass growing) and I can give the new horse the side with the barn. That way she can learn the area and where the barn and feed tubs are. I will for sure put the less aggressive horse with her first! I think once my dominant mare sees that her friend is getting along with the new mare, she'll have less reason to attack and the new mare will feel more secure. The concern will be that my dominant mare is also really protective of her friend (mother)..so my fear is that if the new mare cozy's up to HER best friend, it could be a problem 
Oh, and are front shoes OK? The aggressive mare has front shoes on in anticipation of show season...
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Member:
kbr1
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Posted on Saturday, Mar 24, 2007 - 10:08 am:
Kristin's advice about the horses meeting on neutral territory is a good idea, even if you can only lead them out somewhere and introduce them to each other, and do this a few times. This way they can sniff and yell all they want but you are in control of the situation. I wouldn't think the front shoes would be a problem, things would have to get really bad for them to come in to play. Good luck!!
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Member:
leilani
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Posted on Monday, Mar 26, 2007 - 4:15 pm:
Forgot about the neutral territory. When I took Anuhea to her trainer, he placed her in her stall until the gelding he was going to work with arrived. Then he put both of them in the paddock. No problems; nobody owned it first. Let us know how things progress. Leilani
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