Horses accepting new horse

[nijinsky]

Sorry this is a long one.

Any advice here gratefully appreciated.

My new mare came on Sunday. Very chilled & has settled in no problems at all. She is on her own in 1 paddock. Had other 2 in adjacent paddock. Pony wanted to welcome her but old horse wasn't letting her, kept herding her away & older horse was getting very stressy. So have now seperated pony & old horse by halving their paddock. Now all 3 can touch, groom, argue, kiss - whatever they want. Old horse though is still very clingy to pony (who up until now couldn't care a sh*t about her).

Getting in new horse no problems, the other 2 don't seem bothered. Had to get old horse in for farrier last night, got nearly to stables & she took off back to field & pony. Had to get pony in too. Don't really want to be having to do that everytime. So, to sum up situation, old horse not really having anything to do with new horse, and is being extremely clingy to pony.

Is having 3 mares not a good idea?

Can having 3 mares work?

All 3 now are calm & happily grazing, not much squealing anymore. It's just getting one of the older horses away from each other that's causing the problems.

I have an option of sending pony to my neighbours as she has a shetland that pony could be company for but will my old horse go absolutely mental if I try & take her away. With pony away will old horse have no choice but to bond with new one. Or am I making the situation worse as if I have just the 2 again is old horse gonna create if I take new horse out?

I know this probably doesn't sound like much of a dilemma but I just don't know what's the right thing to do to keep them all happy, the thought of any of them being unhappy is horrible. OH is getting arsy as getting new horse should have been fun & I'm doing nothing but worrying. Or should I take the attitude, look you lot, you're all well cared for, loved, nice home, cut me some slack & you have to fit in to my way of doing things. Or am I just worrying unnecessarily.

 

[ruscara]

All I can say is that my horse's field companions changed quite a lot all at once a few weeks ago, and he became very dependent upon one horse that he'd not been particularly friendly with before all the changes. And there was fighting between him and the new ones as well. I was extremely anxious and upset.
However, a couple of weeks down the line, and they have all pretty much settled down. No more fighting, and the dependence has ceased.

So, I wouldn't be worrying so much. I expect you will find that it will all sort itself out and they will all become friends. Just give it a bit longer

 

[TiaPony]

We've got 4 mares turned out together - they are a bit grumpy with eachother at times but the 9/10 times when I go to bring mine in, they are a settled grazing herd. I'd put the new horse in with the oldy first - stay and watch and see if she will accept her. Then introduce the -by the sounds of it friendly- pony to the equation. It might not work but normally it just takes a while for the heirachy to be re-established.
Good luck

xx

 

[nijinsky]

Thank you - I think I just need some comforting advice & to know that I'm doing the right/wrong thing for all of them. I love my old mare so much, I hate the thought of her being stressed, so secretly I think she's the one I'm worrying about most, although I've done nothing but stress all week. Hopefully things will turn out ok.

 

[oliviacharley]

my old mare did this with my young gelding when I got my pony back from loan. Although my old pony luck had always been in with the pony garbo for over 10years she just didnt seem to reakonise her and did her up most to protect the young lad charly. She was not particularly nice to garbo and they squealed, luck chased her off etc...in the end after an hour or so they seemed to settle fine but due to me trying to selling garbo after a couple of days being in the field I moved her into a field next to them separtely. She didnt look like she had really had a good time in there with them anyhow as she was always miles apart but im sure over time they would all just carry on like a herd.
Im sure all will be fine. Ive never had trouble with mares being in together before.