Distressing to see

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Natural Lady

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Yesterday down yard I sadly watch a mare wearing shoes go through fencing and double barrelled an elderly horse.
Not going to lie really upset me even with yelling stop, she didn’t. I did finally get him into school opposite
Where she did catch his leg, I rang owner who came straight away, wound cleaned and walked around, naturally he’s going to be sore.
A through check over!…
The Mare was caught and checked over too.
Some one on yard was quite amused by it and claimed horses will be horses. I said no it was bad, the owner of the mare came I told her facts at what I witnessed. She said I upset her, I explained that was not my intention, however as an owner it’s important you are aware.
My question is did I do the right thing by informing the owner. Wasn’t angry nor abusive just dealing with facts.
In all my years around horses never ever witnessed anything like it.
Ps I’m now the bad cop.
 
Natural Lady said:
Yesterday down yard I sadly watch a mare wearing shoes go through fencing and double barrelled an elderly horse.
Not going to lie really upset me even with yelling stop, she didn’t. I did finally get him into school opposite
Where she did catch his leg, I rang owner who came straight away, wound cleaned and walked around, naturally he’s going to be sore.
A through check over!…
The Mare was caught and checked over too.
Some one on yard was quite amused by it and claimed horses will be horses. I said no it was bad, the owner of the mare came I told her facts at what I witnessed. She said I upset her, I explained that was not my intention, however as an owner it’s important you are aware.
My question is did I do the right thing by informing the owner. Wasn’t angry nor abusive just dealing with facts.
In all my years around horses never ever witnessed anything like it.
Ps I’m now the bad cop.
Click to expand...
So, mare broke through the partition fence to boot the pensioner, and then actively pursued him - with you trying to separate them? Well done for managing that, but lucky that you didn’t get hurt, yourself.
Yep, whether mare-owner, pensioner-owner, or definitely the yard-owner (who will be wondering what the hell happened to the fence), I would certainly want to know about this incident. Horses will indeed be horses, and if there’s one with that propensity on the premises - everyone needs to know.
Keep safe!
 
I'm not sure of your yard dynamics but in that situation I'd probably secure the safety of both horses, inform the owner of the injured horse immediately and then approach the YO to let them know what had happened and let them deal with it from there. If I had any doubt YO would deal with it, I would make more people aware, but hopefully YO is responsible enough I wouldn't have that concern. Yard politics can be messy, perhaps the owner of the mare felt quite affronted and defensive arriving at the yard to be told how terrible her horse had been and felt gossiped about, plus likely upset at what her horse had done so I wouldn't take it personally, she's likely just distressed about the whole situation and feeling a bit accused. It does need to be dealt with by a paddock relocation or better fencing, but the owner isn't actually directly responsible - unfortunately horses WILL be horses and sometimes they do arsehole things we can't predict or control. Hopefully your YO will take it seriously and put appropriate measures in place.
 
Of course everyone should be informed, ideally in a kind calm manner, it's generally not the owner's fault if a horse behaves in this way although it is their responsibility to make sure people know if it's typical behaviour, and that measures are put in place to protect others. Generally I agree that the best thing is to go through the YO, but if the mare owner just arrived it would be odd if you didn't tell her what happened.

Having had a horse kicked by a mare that we thought was absolutely fine, I was astonished that the owner said something like oh, she has done that before. (BTW mine and this horse were tied at opposite ends of the yard, seemingly at a safe distance, she pulled back, snapped the string and ran backwards a long distance to boot him. So it wasn't through carelessness on my part even though I had brought both in and tied up). ).
 
I think I'm fortunate I've generally had very proactive YO's who would want to know straight away this had happened and would step-in to inform all parties and make a adjustments to ensure it couldn't happen again. I have been on more 'free range' DIY yards with no proactive management where you would have had to take matters into your own hands, so can sympathise that is a more difficult situation.
 
Natural Lady said:
Yesterday down yard I sadly watch a mare wearing shoes go through fencing and double barrelled an elderly horse.
Not going to lie really upset me even with yelling stop, she didn’t. I did finally get him into school opposite
Where she did catch his leg, I rang owner who came straight away, wound cleaned and walked around, naturally he’s going to be sore.
A through check over!…
The Mare was caught and checked over too.
Some one on yard was quite amused by it and claimed horses will be horses. I said no it was bad, the owner of the mare came I told her facts at what I witnessed. She said I upset her, I explained that was not my intention, however as an owner it’s important you are aware.
My question is did I do the right thing by informing the owner. Wasn’t angry nor abusive just dealing with facts.
In all my years around horses never ever witnessed anything like it.
Ps I’m now the bad cop.
Click to expand...
Its natural for mares to kick out, the weather has been very mild and she may be ovulating. One of mine could go back wards going faster than some horses go forwards kicking out. This why some yards separate mares from geldings but most geldings get the message and stay clear. Some mares will tolerate being climbed over by young geldings.

A mare usually manages the herd, most of the time they pull faces and flick an ear, but it's normal for them to use their back legs for defence in the field. My POV is the sooner young horse learn herd socialisation skills the better and I used to have an old mare I always put young horses in with, but when she met my daughters pony for the first time I think because he was much larger and older than her, she gave him a real good kicking. The look of shock on his face WTF, but after that they lived turned out together and he adored her.

I do not think you were wrong telling the owner, but it depends how you framed it, and how it sounded to her. I would be looking at why it happened.
Nature is cruel and I have noticed that old or infirm ponies can get shunned and run off by younger ones because in a herd situation they would attract predators and they have no value to the herd.
 
You definitely did the right thing. I can see that the owner of the mare could be upset though, she's probably mortified and embarrassed. It's a horrible thing to happen, I hope the older horse is ok.
 
honetpot said:
Its natural for mares to kick out, the weather has been very mild and she may be ovulating. One of mine could go back wards going faster than some horses go forwards kicking out. This why some yards separate mares from geldings but most geldings get the message and stay clear. Some mares will tolerate being climbed over by young geldings.

A mare usually manages the herd, most of the time they pull faces and flick an ear, but it's normal for them to use their back legs for defence in the field. My POV is the sooner young horse learn herd socialisation skills the better and I used to have an old mare I always put young horses in with, but when she met my daughters pony for the first time I think because he was much larger and older than her, she gave him a real good kicking. The look of shock on his face WTF, but after that they lived turned out together and he adored her.

I do not think you were wrong telling the owner, but it depends how you framed it, and how it sounded to her. I would be looking at why it happened.
Nature is cruel and I have noticed that old or infirm ponies can get shunned and run off by younger ones because in a herd situation they would attract predators and they have no value to the herd.
Click to expand...
I was very factual, wasn’t rude or nasty, but I had to look away at one stage cos I thought she’s not stopping even with me yelling stop. I thought she was going to break his leg.
Really upsetting to watch and sort it out.
 
While I understand how distressing it would have been to witness, the horse isn't going to stop kicking because you're shouting at her to stop. Especially if she's not used to you as a person. Unfortunately, this is what happens sometimes with horses, they are big and dangerous animals.

You were correct that the owners need to be informed but the owner of the mare isn't responsible in the sense of she can't stop her horse kicking, what she can do is make sure she is in a suitable field and with suitable fencing, company etc.

I've had a horse break into my field once and kick my horse, I didn't blame the owner but was annoyed with the fencing and made the YO change it.
 
U.N.Owen said:
While I understand how distressing it would have been to witness, the horse isn't going to stop kicking because you're shouting at her to stop. Especially if she's not used to you as a person. Unfortunately, this is what happens sometimes with horses, they are big and dangerous animals.

You were correct that the owners need to be informed but the owner of the mare isn't responsible in the sense of she can't stop her horse kicking, what she can do is make sure she is in a suitable field and with suitable fencing, company etc.

I've had a horse break into my field once and kick my horse, I didn't blame the owner but was annoyed with the fencing and made the YO change it.
Click to expand...
I honestly felt helpless,
 
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