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  Discussion on Introducing two HUGE horses into herd?
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Member:
remmi

Posted on Thursday, Aug 16, 2012 - 5:44 am:

We have a herd of 5 geldings, and just got a new boarder with two ENORMOUS MASSIVE HUGE warmbloods - over 18 hands and sturdy. They have a strong play drive, which includes alot of body slamming, rearing, biting, etc. They are very confident horses and I think would be top ranking in any herd.

I have been gradually exposing them to our herd. We put up a temporary fence so they can be within 6 feet of each other but can't touch, and have introduced them over a gate, etc. There is still some squealing, kicking and striking out, but for the most part it is calmer now.

I am not set up to keep them separate so need to combine the herd. However, after watching how hard they play I have become increasing worried about introducing them as I fear they will injure our smaller horses. I saw one come down on the back of the other today and while it didn't phase them, it would have probably injured one of our smaller horses.

I am worried enough about this that I couldn't sleep tonight, which is why at 4am I am surfing! I have considered the option of telling my wonderful new boarder that we can't keep her horses, as I fear ours will be seriously hurt. But I dread the idea of putting her in that situation as she is so relieved to be at our farm, and she is such a nice person.

Does anyone have any experience with a situation like this?
Member:
stek

Posted on Thursday, Aug 16, 2012 - 2:06 pm:

Hi Heidi, we actually had a very similar situation just recently, had a herd of 5 of varying personalities and introduced two very large warmbloods who were already buddies and played pretty rough together.

Interestingly the one new guy who had a tendency to be a dominant horse in the past went right to the bottom of the pecking order and has pretty much stayed there, with the exception of now being above one new mare and the most omega of the pre-existing herd.

I would say how it goes will depend primarily on how much room they all have to get away from each other and the personalities of the horses involved. In our case we had two very dominant geldings and one very dominant mare in the pre-existing herd, so they disciplined the new boys very strongly right off the bat to make sure they knew their place (at the bottom). Being in unfamiliar territory, the new guys backed off right away and that set the tone.

When we first introduced the two new guys to the group, we started with about three weeks where they shared a fenceline with the existing herd. Then we gave them some one-on-one turnout with the herd bosses so if there was drama it wouldn't be with all involved. When the whole group got together, we put them in a very large, very grassy pasture where the horses were all more interested in eating than each other. The dominant horses in the pre-existing herd did a couple charges, and the new guys backed off. We did supervised turnout that way for about a week before I felt comfortable.

For our 'big day' we did leave halters on everyone, and had a couple extra people standing by in case we needed to intervene and separate horses out. That IMO is a minimum requirement regardless of how many horses you are introducing and what the personalities are - you never know quite how it will go.

For us, that is how it has always gone when we introduced new horses to our herd. Even with horses that turned out to be dominant later, they were not dominant to begin with as they were literally on unfamiliar territory. The pecking order can change rapidly after that.

Even if it means making a temporary pasture by dividing off a chunk of your existing turnout (capped t-posts and electric tape work great for that), it's worth it to make the introduction gradual.

Since we do group turnout, we try to make any new additions long-term as I plan on spending a month of careful gradual introduction for any new horse. After that period is over, the horses usually sort out the pecking order and politics between themselves.

Also you might be interested to know I don't see a lot of rough play between the two new geldings and our other horses, though they still play rough together. The other horses just make it clear they want nothing to do with it =)

There are a lot of variables so ymmv but that is my experience...
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Aug 19, 2012 - 9:57 am:

Hello Heidi,
While I have never combined such large horses with smaller horses I have seen many herds where this was done. With the exception of kicks and nips, it is rare that play behavior results in injury despite the size difference but exceptions are sure to exist. If you decide to go through with this I would recommend you remove everyones hind shoes. Much less damage is done with the bare feet.
DrO
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