Field troubles, what shall I do..?

[clairew]

I had my new mare in a field with another mare and a gelding for the last three weeks since I've had her, and everything was fine until five days ago when somebody put their mare in the same field. Whereas before Lily would always come over to the gate to come in in the morning she stopped doing that, and then yesterday when I had caught lily this other mare started kicking lily while I had hold of her at the gate and I was trapped against the gate and Lily raced off. We caught lily again and she had a bit of a scratch down her side, and I am a little bruised but other than that fine.
I was really nervous of the thought of getting lily in the next morning and after talking to another livery they said I could put Lils in their field, so I put her in there yesterday. I went to the yard this morning and she was pacing up and down the fence looking around, and later on this evening she was still pacing up and down the same stretch of fence. I went in to the field to see if she would walk with me to another part of the field but she seemed really off, let me fuss her for a bit and then turned her bum to me and started backing towards me.
Now I really don't know what to do, did I over-react, and should I just 'suck it up' and put her back in the first field, leave her in the current field and hope that she settles, or move her again to a field where she will be in with all mares and would be able to still see her old field mates over a gate...??!!
And another quick question, why did she back towards me earlier, was she just telling me to back off and leave her alone..?
And do I get the prize for the longest post...??!!

 

[Kellys Heroes]

No sorry, yours is an average sized post!! I just hoped my experience would help you...
my part loan mare is and always has been the dominant mare in the field - always the one followed, not following, always the one sorting out squabbles (usually by bulldozing in first!!) etc etc. However after she'd had lami (in April) and seizures and numerous other things, on vets advice when she had started improving we began to put her out in the field for an hour with her muzzle on.
I remember posting about it on here and she was being chased, bullied, kicked at, cornered and she would spend the whole hour pacing about, running, and at the gate whinnying for us to come and get her - it was so upsetting to watch her in such distress.
The vet (and you HHO-ers!) advised us to keep at it - and now 3 months later, shes back to field leader and loves going out. We see it that the rest of the herd saw her as weak as she wasn't turned out on the first day of turn out it was weeks later and they obviously could see she wasn't at full strength.
I'd keep at it - if she can see her fieldmates it will probably help but obviously if it gets too much and your horse is being kicked and injured constantly, I'd try to find another way round it without the new mare in the same field. Could it be the new mare is trying to establish herself as dominant??
K x

ETA not sure about her backing towards you tbh - maybe it was an "I'm a little unsettled and a little confused just leave me alone" thing?
Also, just read other post - 2 of us used to go in field to catch Kelly, armed with a leadrope and a whip as I, too have been squashed against the gate by 2 fighting horses and luckily escaped with bruises! If you can ward off the difficult mare whilst you catch Lily then you might be able to give her the message that it's not acceptable to fight with her. The new mare might, herself, be having issues with settling into a new field.

 

[ChesnutsRoasting]

Firstly re your original field, can you find a helper to catch the difficult mare whilst you catch lily? If not, take a schooling whip with you & if the other mare starts to get tricky, a sharp poke with the whip may deter her from misbehaving. If you feel you could do this, I would put Lily back into the original field, as she appears happier with her original friends.