Do horses recognise each other after a long time apart?

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Dexter

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I own a 17 month old colt and his mother. I didn't breed him. He was weaned at 6 months ish and I bought him as an 11 month old. I bought the colt in July and the mare in October.I'm assuming he saw her in the gap between weaning and me buying him, as they were on the same stud. Until now I've had them totally separate but, thank god! I've finally managed to find a yard where I can have all of mine together. Its only an idle pondering, as hes a young uncut (for the next few weeks anyway!) colt, and shes my riding horse, so they wont be turned out together etc. But he will come up to the yard for handling etc. Will they recognise each other?

He was born within 15 minutes of his half brother and they lived together 24/7 through weaning etc. There was a month gap between buying Dex and bringing Pride home and initially they point blank ignored each other. After 24 hours they were back to there normal bestest buddies thing. Should I expect a bunny hugging black beauty moment when mum and son clap eyes one each other, or will he finally realise he has boy bits attached and, bleurgh! try to chat her up?
 
Based on my recent experience of close field buddies moving from our yard to another, I wouldn't expect too much of a 'family reunion'.

These guys barely gave each other a second glance and they had been close companions for years.

My girl didn't give her field buddy a 2nd look either - hey ho! Guess that's how it goes in the horsey world.
 
My friend and I bought a mother and daughter last April. I had the daughter, friend had her dam. They'd been together for the entire four years of my youngster's life and the dam was frightfully bereft when we separated them.

Fast forward to October last year and I took my, now broken in, mare to my friend's yard to use her school. The dam (and her other horses) came to the fence to watch her being ridden, but she didn't show any more interest in Tilly than her other horses......and no more interest in her than she showed to my daughter's pony who she'd never met before.

Whether they would recognise "scent", I've no idea, but they didn't seem to know each other from my experience.
 
YES they will probably recognise each other and may call softly to each other, but its nothing to worry about its quite sweet. i remember my old man not seeing a friend for about 8 years and we saw the friend at a show, they kept calling to each other and only settled once they had nuzzled each other.
 
My two lads go crazy when they meet up after being parted. Last time was for over a year and it's the only time I have seen the big lad with all four feet off the ground at one time, they definitely recognise each other.
 
When my colt was weaned and my mare came home without him, she didn't bat an eyelid. He came back (3 months later) and was delighted to see her - she was indifferent!

At 3.5 yo he went away (for reasons I won't bore you with) and didn't return until nearly a year later. Again, she was indifferent and he was beside himself at seeing his mum again and when I worked her in the school, if she was out of his line of vision for 10 seconds, he went beserk and kicked out the back of his loose box. She couldn't have cared less....

I was amazed that he was SO possessive, and obviously stressed not having her near, having been away from her for such a long time and, apparently, was never bothered when he was left alone at his temporary home!
 
Dancing Queen said:
YES they will probably recognise each other and may call softly to each other, but its nothing to worry about its quite sweet. i remember my old man not seeing a friend for about 8 years and we saw the friend at a show, they kept calling to each other and only settled once they had nuzzled each other.
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Aww, see despite my hard faced persona, thats the sort of bunny hugging black beauty moment I'm hoping for :D

My practical self tells me the moment he claps eyes on his mum will be the moment he realises he temporarily, has his bits intact, and will want to do rude things :D But I'd really like him to recognise her and vice versa, wuffle quietly in recognition, then go there separate ways. Fantasy or what? :D

When Dex was reunited with Pride he totally ignored him for 24 hours give or take and from that point onwards they have been incredibly close. I'm pretty sure thats more to do with them being the same age etc than anything else!

Never mind! I adore my ponies, I get to see bunny hugging black beauty moments most days, without having to see Dex and Moomin recognise each other :D
 
Mine did. Years ago I had a horse on loan for a couple of years and then went back to her owner. A few years later they asked me to have her back for the summer which I did and as soon as she was unloaded my other mare knew her straightaway. It was one of those moments you talk about. They grazed literally cheek to cheek for days after.
Have another mare that really plays up when she sees her ex field mate at a show as well, she also starts calling as soon as she hears him call when she is still in the trailer so I definitely believe they remember each other.
You will have go let us know how yours react.
 
We had an RDA horse stay with us 'on holiday' one summer, and a year later my lad went to the RDA. The other horse called to him as he got off the lorry, he called back, and they were 'paired up' for stabling during the day and definately remembered each other.
More recently we hacked over to a friends yard to ride out together, our horses had been living out together for a year, but had been apart for over 6 months, and both called to the other before I even got to the yard!
 
Last march I brought my 4 year old down to anoher HHOer for horse camp, This hhoer had bought Tommy tucker, Both my mare and tommy had been together for 2 years, They have been apart then for almost a year if not more . As soon as I brought her off the box she nickered to him and he ....her . Even when I went to load her in, Tommy nickering away to her and followed the box to the entrance gate .


So yes I do think they recognise each other :)

Col x
 
Yes, they do, but it may show as just a calmer greeting than they would give to a strange horse. Our horses have a road gate, and occasionally if someone riding by is unwise enough to stop there are great squealings and ruderies from ours. But an ex-livery who'd returned to the area rode by, and there was a very touching, gentle welcome between them all, with a lot of whuffling and blowing and no squeals.
 
My gelding and my daughter's mare used to be at the same livery yard. but we moved and they had'nt seen each other for about 7 years.

This was their reunion.

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It was so moving. They stood like that for ages, with my gelding's head pressed against her neck. Bit of a weepy moment....
 
My mare was separated from her half brother when she was rising five, six years later he came to live with us, they both whickered to each other and began mutual grooming straight away. It was lovely to see.
 
Horses remember other horses and people for many years. They only react though if the bond they had was especially strong. If the foal has changed a lot since his dam saw him last then she may not recognise him though.
 
We reunited three horses which were unrelated but had been together in a herd situation for 6 years. They were then separated for 10 years and brought back together after that time. It was not done intentionally, but just the way circumstances turned out.

What I can say is that these horses really did recognise one another and from their behaviour appeared pleased to see each other.
 
My little cob was bought from the same dealer in Ireland as my friends ID x, we kept them together on shared fields for 3 years and apparently they had been in fields at the dealers for 1 year also. She then moved and 4 years later I took my cob to hers for a long weekend visit so we could hack out together. My cob started shouting the moment the lorry pulled into her drive, something he never usually does! And when he saw her horse he dragged me to the gateway and they were definately happy to see each other. My boy is used to travelling and visiting different places so leaving wasn't traumatic for him but sadly for her ID he got extreamly depresssed when we left and stopped eating for 2 days!!!:( I felt awful for him because he obviously missed his old mate.
 
My friend and I used to keep our horses together, I moved on, she then moved somewhere else, few years later we started going to fun rides together, OAP's days out we used to call them, mine is 32 now hers is 20+ they remembered each other, shared the same hay net, wickered at each other etc, horses are supposed to have longer memories than elephants ! They definately remembered each other.
 
Just to update this. I moved them and turned them out in adjacent fields, with 4 foot fencing topped with 3 foot electric fencing on top, just in case :D Dexter went mental, wickering and neighing in a really sad way, Moomin couldn't have cared less, she flicked an ear then point blank ignored him! I felt really bad as Dex clearly just wanted his mummy.

24 hours later, Dex gave up and every things pretty settled. Hes booked in for gelding on the 22nd, and the plan is they will eventually all go out together, so maybe she'll acknowledge him then, or maybe not :D Shes a fab mum, but gets bored of her babies very quickly, and is always glad to see the back of them :D
 
Idon'tknow about horses but I've known adult dogs to recognise each other after five years living in different countries. The two dogs were fine with other dogs and bitches but hated each other with a vengeance. They still hated each other from 50 yards five years later!!
 
When my horse was 2 he was turned out with an apaloosa for about 3 months. Later we went for rides together and they spent time together when one would stay with the other for holidays, although they never lived together for a long time. My horse hadn't seen this horse for over 12 months as he had been retired and no longer being ridden. However, my horse went to stay and he went mad when he saw his friend. He galloped across the field neighing and they spent ages scratching each other in greeting.

Mine is a very friendly sort and where ever he goes he has to make friends with the horse in the next door stable and neighs if it is taken out (everywhere he stays comments on how noisy he is!) so I guess some horses make stronger bonds thanothers. Mine doesn't really care who he is friends with, as long as he has someone, as he is never nappy, he just needs another horse in his field or in the next stable.
 
Doncella said:
I put mother and son back together after 3 years apart and she kicked seven bells out of him.
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Snap - introduced son back to mother after 3 years and she went for him. Every time i walk him past her stable she pulls all sorts of faces.

However the son definately remembers his mom despite her dislike of him.
 
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