Horse killed lamb… upset and angry

[twiggy2]

It happens, one place I worked at the cattle killed a sheep, the flock and herd had lived together for years and no one had ever heard of or seen anything like that before, they didn't touch anything but the one sheep and it was 3 or 4 cows that did it.

 

[rabatsa]

I used to graze the sheep and horses/donkeys together with fenced off corners as sheep escapes. Chase the sheep became a too regular pastime, about 4pm every day, so the sheep were moved.

A friend was having troubles, with neighbouring dogs - so she thought - removing/tearing off her sheeps ears. We were stood chatting in the paddock one day when she spotted her donkey pick up a sheep by its ear and swing it round. Once seperated no sheep ever lost an ear again.

I think grazing together only really works in huge areas with lots of cover, so the species can stay apart.

 

[mariew]

I used to ride an 18.2 that hated little creatures, he would chase them in his field to try to get them. It was always entertaining to explain to dog owners whilst out hacking that their puppy that 'doesn't mean any harm' when yapping around his feet may get booted if they don't retrieve it quickly.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

My stallion once for some unknown reason took a dislike to a ewe and chased and bit her. If we hadn't rescued her he would have killed her. A few years later we found him having a serious attempt to kill my Wiltshire Horn tup. It was coming up to breeding season and I think the tup had been throwing his weight around a bit. I saw Hal grab him by the skin on his shoulders and lift him off the ground. Knowing how heavy that tup was it was a impressive display of how strong a horse could be. We managed to separate them and it never happened again.
In the case of the lamb, that sounds more like an accident not a deliberate attack as it was with my stallion. I have had a mare pick up a lamb by its ears, again a one off and no real harm done. However I have to say we never let the ponies in with very young lambs and definitely not newborns unless we have been caught out by a very early or out of season lamb.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

Not sheep but my sister's mare once killed a chicken. We had the ponies in the paddock where my fil kept his hens. She had stamped it into the ground, feathers everywhere. We were in a flat panic because fil would have ordered her horse off the farm and possibly mine too. We removed as many feathers as we could, tried to conceal signs of the attack and my sister went off home on her motorbike with the chicken in a bag and found somewhere to drop it off.

 

[ycbm]

I had a mare who I watched once trap a sheep into a corner where she proceeded to bite the front and kick the back. I think she would have killed it if we hadn't stopped her.

I had a gelding who stamped on a Jack Russell and killed it and the girls at a nearby stable yelled "murderer" out of the window when I next rode past. It didn't seem to occur to them that he couldn't have stamped on a dog who wasn't near enough to be stamped on (or ask if my horse had been bitten, which from his filled ankle when i went to feed him, he had).

I hope your OH sees reason soon.
.

 

[maya2008]

Many male animals who live in social groups like horses with one male and several females have instincts to kill or drive off young that are not theirs. Our very sweet, gentle gelding went nuts when we had a foal born on our yard and had to be kept at a distance from her. I introduced him after weaning and he went for her, having to be put solidly in place by my boss mare (she pretty much threatened to kill him if he went anywhere near the weanling ever again!). In contrast, the mares were fine. There was a thread recently about attacks on foals - all the horses mentioned were geldings. Perhaps in your case this one lamb triggered those instincts for some reason where the others had not.

Not to say all mares are saints, I’ve known some who were vicious!

 

[dominobrown]

It was an outbid season lamb, we normally lamb indoor and put them out when they are bigger. I tried to catch the ewe and lamb earlier to get them in but I was by myself and they were both doing so well. It was only a metre or two from going under the electric fence where it’s safe. I just keep thinking if I had got across the field quicker to stop it, I got there fast enough to be right next to the lamb the moment it got injured. I am just giving the two horses involved a quick lunge today, I think it wouldn’t be a good idea to try and school etc until I have got over it a bit.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Just to put a slightly different spin on horses grazing with sheep - We had 4 horses and 6 sheep grazing together, although the horses had to be separated into 2 pairs because of fighting between the 2 heavier ones.
One day I watched one of the older ewes (pets who now are 13 yrs old) walk up to a heavy mare and headbutt her. The mare looked astounded and stepped back!
I must admit that I had just watched the mare fix her eye on the ewe and wondered if I was going to have to step in to rescue the ewe. As it was I left them to it. We now only have 2 horses but the sheep still graze with them without incident.

 

[honetpot]

It’s not your fault and it’s not the horse’s fault either. Animals can do things that we as humans find appalling. They are only domesticated up to a point. All you can do is try and make sure it doesn’t ever happen again, and try to forgive yourself and the horse too. Very sorry for you, that must have been awful to witness.

Completely this.
Horses do not see things as we do, the positioning of their eye's means that something their eyes can let their brain process, and is in the wrong place, like the paper bag in the hedge, they either run from it or stamp on it. I have a feral pony, my dog is one field is seen as a threat, and he will try and strike out and stomp on it, in the home paddock the pony will ignore him, or at the most give chase. I think this is because in the home paddock he is seen more often and there are other visual ques, that the dog is not a threat,
Try not to dwell on it, the horse was just doing what came natural to it, if your husband has livestock he should know that cute little lamb could grow in to a ram that could take you off your feet with one headbutt. I used to have one that would creep up behind you, no matter how far away you were as soon as you turned your back. I bought it a bell, so I got some warning.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

When I first started offering livery 30yrs ago this summer we had a horse at that time (our first-ever livery!) who in spite of the owner's assurances to the contrary, attacked sheep.

He would chase after them and try to bite them, and then start striking out at them with his forelegs.

He did it one day and I saw him do it; it was horrific. Horse got hold of sheep at the back of its neck with its teeth and then proceeded to start kicking the sh!te out of the poor thing and trampling it. Owner happened to have just rocked-up at the yard exactly when it was happening and actually SAW him doing it! She finally started to believe me when I said look sorry but your horse is attacking sheep! He was a quirky horse, always was very riggy.

Luckily we had another paddock we could move hers and my old lad to across the road (they were pairbonded). Sheep was actually OK once it had got over the shock.

That's the only one we've ever had that tried to actually kill a sheep. But it can happen. The other thing that occurred when our old dog got very frail (and we think her sight was failing too) was that one of my horses at that time got very funny around her - he'd put his head down and was giving out some very funny vibes towards the dog whereas previously all the horses had been quite OK with the dogs running around. We didn't let poor old dog out in the field after that as we feared for her safety and she certainly wouldn't have been quick enough to get away if something had happened; but it was funny that the whole dynamic had suddenly changed for some reason.

 

[SantaVera]

I once owned a lamb killing shtland. he was kind and mild in all other ways and taught our children to ride, we put him in the small paddock with the ewes abnd lambs. he flattened hisa ears and charged a lamb picked it up ashook it and killed it. we removed him sharpish. it was very unexpected.

 

[Goldenstar]

My Shetland killed sheep even adult ones .
I had a horse who killed rabbits .
I am sorry it happened .

 

[exracehorse]

I put up a post last summer about my young mare who had decided to stamp and kill any of the free range chickens that dared to enter her field (the response I had from a few keyboard trolls was unbelievable). So yes …. They can be very field protective. And have no idea of their strength.

 

[I'm Dun]

My old gelding killed a baby goat. It was deliberate. Yet he's then gone on to live with sheep happily. My other young gelding killed a chicken, although that wasn't as deliberate. Just a young horse who didn't realise chickens could be squashed that easily

 

[Red-1]

My heart horse, Jay Man, would stomp rats and birds. Had a fearsome kill rate. The rats I didn't mind, the birds I felt sorry for.

I stopped feeding him in the field.

 

[littleshetland]

My boy chases the chickens out of his paddock...ears pinned back, teeth gnashing.

 

[Nasicus]

Think OH is calming down a bit. There is no point punishing the horses, and they ran off when I gave a blood curdling scream as it happened and they disappeared. It all got a bit „saving private Ryan“ then, obviously I won’t go into details about the injuries. OH realised how upset I was eventually as I rarely cry or be upset but I have been very distressed.

Glad your OH is starting to see sense. Suspect he was looking to place blame when the reality is it's his 'fault' for putting the animals in a situation where that could occur. Fault in quotes because it's not really anyone's fault, just one of those awful things that can happen out of the blue. One of my previous mares decided one day that she didn't like the dog anymore and tried to cave his head in. Thankfully the dog had enough brains to say 'eff that' and would stay outside the fence of his own accord whenever the horses were out from then on.

 

[scruffyponies]

Our shetland deliberately killed a chicken once. The chicken in question was something of a family favourite and we were quite upset by it.

One of the biggest mistakes I ever made was assuming because my herd were OK with my dog, they would be fine with a new dog. 15wk old puppy was run down by my Welsh A, who I really believe was going to kill it until he was right over it and realised it was small and harmless (pup rolled over, terrified). The pony, to his credit, pulled off his strike and simply prodded the puppy with his hoof like they do if you leave a rug on the ground, then gave it a sniff and walked off.

 

[Antw23uk]

Decision made, I've been umming and ahhing about adding a few sheep to graze the paddocks but reading this and the replies, now I wont. My gut instinct is saying no so that's the final nail for me.

I'm sorry this happened to you, it must have been horrific all round. I would be rehoming the sheep, I'd NEVER want to risk that again.

 

[Horseysheepy]

We never mix my horses with the sheep. We put sheep fencing up to stop them pushing through horses electric fencing where my playful young geldings would have a party with them.

We never take up the offer of grazing our tupps where there's horses either, as people tend to get fed up of their antics and want them off after a few days!.