Bullied horse.

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littlen

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I have a gelding who always seems to be at the bottom of the pecking order in any herd.
Since I have had him he has been with 3 different herds. The first was mixed, he was bullied horrendusly and wasnt allowed to mix with any of the others.
We then moved yards and he was placed in an all gelding herd, where he wouldnt settle.

Around 3 months ago I moved him to a different all gelding herd, consisting of older and smaller horses. At first there was alot of chasing but he seemed to settle down alot quicker than previously. He has since bonded to one of the small ponies and grazes with him happily. I have never witnessed any aggression and I often find him lying down with the herd, and he seems happier with these than with any other group.
He also grazes with them, but he is still quite low in the order.

Recently however he seems to be coming in with various scratches, that look suspiciously like kick marks. I have never seen any problems but this week another horse was put to sleep on my yard due to a bad kick (not in the gelding herd but the mares) and I am worried about him as he will not defend himself and has no social skills at all.

Is there anything I can do for him? I really dont want to move him from the only friends he has ever made.. but im worried about the risk of him being seriously injured.
Surely its normal for horses to have arguments amongst themselves?
Has anyone else had a horse who is forever getting hurt?
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My horse is at the bottom of the pecking order - and yes, always has a scratch or two on him. However, nothing serious. He is very settled within his group, and knows his place. I would be very, very reluctant to move him now.

I don't agree that scuffles are normal. However, if essentially your horse is settled, then I wouldn't want to move him if he's happy where he is.
 
How many horse are there in the herd your horse is in? I always think that vulnerable horses are best kept in small, stable groups. I realise that when you are at livery you have little or no control over horse movement but wonder if you can keep him in a small group, maybe along with the pony he has bonded with?
 
Thanks AmyMay, he seems more settled here than with any others. This herd has been together for years before he was introduced and he has been accepted but is definatley a low ranking horse.
He hasnt had any serious injuries, the worst being a kick or scratch but he seems to always have at least one scratch, and being very thin skinned they are very obvious and take longer to heal, and as a result he can look quite tatty lol.

I just want him to be happy and not be bullied or anything, I suppose its a case of Ive never seen him be attacked in the months he has been there and all i have seen is him grazing or sleeping with them, but then again he must be getting kicked from somewhere!!
He has no social skills due to being stabled 24/7 from the age of 1 to 6 so he never got the chance to learn to interact with others and I suspect that he is getting in the way of the others and is being told off.
 
My young gelding was right at the bottom of the pecking order in a field with 3 older larger geldings. They were quite a rowdy lot, it never used to be nasty before I put my young smaller one in but he always seemed to come in with scrapes and I did see a couple of the others pushing him around in what looked like quite a brutal way to me. There were flying hooves and although I think it was meant to be playful it was too dangerous for my liking. He certainly wasn't too happy and loved to come in every day. I moved him with a cobby pony of only 13.2 (mine is 16hh!) and he is a different horse; much happier and more relaxed in the field. I see them cantering around together but there's no kicking and he never has marks any more.

I think you have to judge the level of risk to him and act accordingly. For me it was too high and I was lucky enough to be able to move him to suit me.

Good luck with him.
 
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How many horse are there in the herd your horse is in? I always think that vulnerable horses are best kept in small, stable groups. I realise that when you are at livery you have little or no control over horse movement but wonder if you can keep him in a small group, maybe along with the pony he has bonded with?

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I wish i could move him, unfortunatley at my livery yard the horses are split in the following groups:
1. mares
2. older/smaller/ quieter mares
2. geldings
3. older/smaller/quieter qeldings.

He is already in with the 'weakest' gelding herd so to speak and there would be nowhere else for him to go, other than be stabled alone.
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Don't forget he could be picking up skills now, so may eventually manage to keep himself out of harms way
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I have noticed one of ours is very definately refining his interactions with his herd. Even though unlike yours he is top dog (because he is overly aggressive due to not having company until he was 4) I still think the same could happen with your chap.

Has another horse been added or taken away since you've been there, therefore starting the scuffles again? Or is there not enough grazing, perhaps?
 
If you suspect he is being kicked regularly then I would be concerned. The 'worst' my horse get's is bitten.

It's very difficult when you keep your horse on livery, because there is so little control over 'how' you can keep them in terms of the make up of the herd.

As another poster asked, how many is he actually turned out with??


EDT: 3 months isn't very long to settle in to a group - my horse took a full 9 months I'd say to settle completely.
 
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He has no social skills due to being stabled 24/7 from the age of 1 to 6 so he never got the chance to learn to interact with others and I suspect that he is getting in the way of the others and is being told off.

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I think that is your problem right there and is why horses need to be socialised (as does any animal) from the outset. he will find it harder as he won't automatically pick up on the other horses body language straight away.

However, he WILL learn, it will just take time. 3 months is nothing in the world of a horse herd. Christ with our lot (4) they have been established for ages - two of them I've had 14 and 15 years respectively and if we introduce a new horse we have to separate it for at least a month to start with and introduce slowly starting with introducing the lower ranking horse first and so on. If yours has a field 'buddy' then he's doing ok and he'll establish himself properly eventually. I wouldn't move him really as he's not had adequate time to settle.

Unfortunately horses will be horses and accidents can and do happen but we can't wrap them up in cotton wool and, unless he is being viciously attacked then I would leave be. He will eventually pick up the signs from the others - most higher ranking horses give a 'warning' first before they bite or kick so he will have to learn what the warning is and to get out of the way!
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Hello there...what a worry for you
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Ditto all the usual good advice.....I would be reassured that he feels relaxed/comfortable enough to sleep whilst in his herd...thats a good sign.

My lad was getting bullied in his group of rather boisterous horses...I was worried as he is a veteran and he looked so fed up. I asked to change groups and all is fine, literally from the first day he was so much better. At 3 months though they are still sorting out the pecking order and finding out who they have more of a bond with, so I would give it a bit more time and try not to worry.....although thats pretty impossible I know
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