Horse bullying pasturemate

[ohn0neverthat]

Hi everyone, first time posting so I hope it is ok. I have 2 horses (13yr gelding and 17 ish mare). The gelding has always lived in company since he was bought as a 4yo and was usually bottom of the herd. Before she was sold, his old pasture mate was with him for many years and this mare was the boss.

We’ve had the new mare for just over a year now. This mare is a rescue, she’s around 17 as advised by dentist, and is a very submissive fearful horse. When she was first turned out with the gelding (just the pair of them in a large field) he was so severely aggressive I thought he might actually kill her -chasing and biting at her and almost bringing her to the ground. ( For reference, I have never ever seen him behave like this before to any horses or humans, he was never an aggressive horse at all.) They were separated in different paddocks in the same field by electric fencing when supervised and she was kept in when unsupervised (ie overnight) and after a few months they were able to be turned out together and got on well. He has become the herd leader and would chase her from food and nets occasionally, but never actually attacked her since the first incident just the usual herd hierarchy.

They became very close and cannot be separated from each other (mainly the gelding, he cannot be in a field on his own or he goes mad and jumps fencing)

Recently however, he has started to bully her again, chasing her from food and water and even being possessive when I am near her he will chase her aggressively away from me. He won’t even let her near the patch grass he’s eating.

I really worry about her as his personality has really worsened towards her and she seems shut down and a bit miserable. They are on grass livery and cannot be stabled at all. The field is about 3 acres and is paddocked off to limit their grazing as both are good doers.

Is my only option here to keep them in separate paddocks in the field? I hate the idea of them not being able to groom each other and touch like they’ve done for the last year and been happy but he seems to have just switched on her suddenly again and I don’t want her getting seriously injured by him. I just don’t understand as when she is taken out of the field he goes mad whinnying and screaming/pacing round and trying to jump out to get to her but yet when she’s in the field he can be so aggressive towards her?

Any advice would be so appreciated, thank you!

 

[Pinkvboots]

Have they got enough to eat I find some horses will turn on the other herd members if they are hungry.

Failing that if she is constantly being chased best to separate them before they get hurt.

 

[PurBee]

Has his sudden aggressive behaviour come on due to her hormone cycles i wonder? It seems odd he got over asserting himself as boss and they settled, only for him to get aggressive again.

I have 2 and have witnessed their dynamic shift over the years - she’s still boss to him, but he’s very willing to challenge and play. Its never truly aggressive. My mares cycles are imperceptible to me, aside from the gelding getting more playful around her.

I’d be inclined to separate them to have electric fence between them so he cant bully her, and see how a week or 2 of that works. She will likely be relieved. Will he just jump the fencing? Hopefully if he can still see her and not get to her, he’ll stay in his area.

After a week i might try them together again to see what he’s like with her.

Have any other new horses moved-in beside their field, or something new happened to make him compete for resources and herd position? As pinkvboots mentions, Is the grass very short now whereas before long and plenty?

 

[JackFrost]

I've only once seen really aggressive behaviour in horses I kept, and it was pretty scary to watch, like you say the bullied one could have got killed or very seriously injured. In my case the victim fortunately was only visiting and got swiftly moved away.

For her safety I would put them in separate paddocks. It's not fair on her to put her at risk, or for her to be living shut down and miserable.

Two things I would consider - he could have any medical issues that are making him uncomfortable or stressed. If you rule that out I would be looking for a different companion, probably an uber bossy one that will tell him this is not acceptable. What you have at the moment are two insecure bottom of the herd horses and neither of them can really give the other the security that it needs.

 

[tda]

What you have at the moment are two insecure bottom of the herd horses and neither of them can really give the other the security that it needs.

This, I've had a few that were definite low/ middle of the herd types and when they find themselves in charge they go over the top
Splitting them up might be safer, or get another

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I had to separate 2 mares before they damaged each other. In hindsight, it was hilarious, watching them fight like a pair of sumo wrestlers, at the time is was very scary. Fortunately they each had another companion available.

 

[ohn0neverthat]

Have they got enough to eat I find some horses will turn on the other herd members if they are hungry.

Failing that if she is constantly being chased best to separate them before they get hurt.

I have been limiting their grass because the mare is very very overweight and I’m worried about lami etc. it’s so tough because they haven’t got stables for summer so struggling to shift the weight off her

 

[ohn0neverthat]

Has his sudden aggressive behaviour come on due to her hormone cycles i wonder? It seems odd he got over asserting himself as boss and they settled, only for him to get aggressive again.

I have 2 and have witnessed their dynamic shift over the years - she’s still boss to him, but he’s very willing to challenge and play. Its never truly aggressive. My mares cycles are imperceptible to me, aside from the gelding getting more playful around her.

I’d be inclined to separate them to have electric fence between them so he cant bully her, and see how a week or 2 of that works. She will likely be relieved. Will he just jump the fencing? Hopefully if he can still see her and not get to her, he’ll stay in his area.

After a week i might try them together again to see what he’s like with her.

Have any other new horses moved-in beside their field, or something new happened to make him compete for resources and herd position? As pinkvboots mentions, Is the grass very short now whereas before long and plenty?

No, no change they’ve been in this field for months now and are the only two horses in it - they can’t even see other horses from there as it’s out of the way of the yards other fields. I have been limiting their grass, but are being strip grazed and have been for the last few months so no change there either

 

[ycbm]

It seems to me that the key thing here is that behaviours have changed for no apparent reason. I have twice seen a herd start to bully when they had previously been fine. In one case it was a horse who was peculiar in his ridden behaviour and the others rejected him. In the other, the aggressor was himself suffering from crippling pain from trigeminal neuralgia. I would look very carefully for signs of illness in either of the horses that could have changed their relationship.
.

 

[AmyMay]

Never feed horses together. 2 horses = at least 4 piles of hay spread around the field.