Dominant Behaviour?

D

DrDolittle

Member
Joined
12 March 2010
Messages
26
Visit site
Can anyone please tell me why my horse is behaving in such a way.

He is a 5yo warmblood and is currently turned out at night with one other horse, an old boy that he seems to get on well with. They were both turned out with the rest of the yard, 8 others, til it got so hot that I put him on night turnout.

Anyway tonight one of the other horses went out with them and all was fine for about an hour then I checked on them and my horse was chasing the new horse away from the old boy with such aggression. He was really chasing him, at full gallop with ears pinned back and teeth bared. He caught him once and bit his bum, took the hair off but he got a kick in the chest for it.

Now I know he has probably become accustomed to being the leader and I think he is always is pretty high in the pecking order, but I have never seen him chase another horse the way he did tonight.

Is this behaviour acceptable, should they just be left to get on with it or should I intervene?

Any help would be great,
 
DrDolittle said:
Anyone?

Guess thats what i get for posting at dodgy times of the day.
Click to expand...

yes, bed time - but seriously, I would just let them get on with it. I suspect it is just guarding behaviour over your gelding's older friend and it will all be sorted out. I know that sometimes they do really hurt each other, but it's pretty rare and mostly they calm down once they figure out who's boss. Good luck.
 
One of my geldings did exactly this when a friends youngster came to stay for a bit - he was chasing it away very aggressively from the two other horses. The field was big enough though that the youngster could easily get out of the way - mine never went very far from the horses he was guarding - and after about two days it all calmed down and he became best friends with the youngster.
 
DrDolittle said:
Can anyone please tell me why my horse is behaving in such a way.

He is a 5yo warmblood and is currently turned out at night with one other horse, an old boy that he seems to get on well with. They were both turned out with the rest of the yard, 8 others, til it got so hot that I put him on night turnout.

Anyway tonight one of the other horses went out with them and all was fine for about an hour then I checked on them and my horse was chasing the new horse away from the old boy with such aggression. He was really chasing him, at full gallop with ears pinned back and teeth bared. He caught him once and bit his bum, took the hair off but he got a kick in the chest for it.

Now I know he has probably become accustomed to being the leader and I think he is always is pretty high in the pecking order, but I have never seen him chase another horse the way he did tonight.

Is this behaviour acceptable, should they just be left to get on with it or should I intervene?

Any help would be great,
Click to expand...

Sounds a bit like my horse. Luckily my YO has said he can stay on his own so I'm quite happy about that!! I'm sure they'll sort themselves out eventually..
 
Thanks for the replies, since i last posted the older horse has gone back onto daytime turnout so it is now just the two of them and they seem to be fetting on ok, the first night they pretty much ignored eachother but since then they have been pretty close to eachother, my boy will still pull faces, I just hope they have sorted it out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top