Horses not getting on - any advice pls??

aaudley01

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Hi,

I have a 15hh mare that was out with a dartmoor pony as a companion. They were together about 6 weeks before a livery was introduced (16hh mare).

They have been together nearly 2 weeks and we are still not able to have them in adjacent patches in the field as once the squealing starts, the fence is soon pulled over as a lifted leg catches it. So we have to leave a patch in between the two patches for it to be safe.

I have tried having one in the menage with the other in the field which was a lot better but the squealing and kicking still continues. A rail was broken in half from one kicking out so I am not keen to put them together yet.

Does anyone have any tips on why they are taking so long to settle or what else I can try? I am starting to wonder whether they will ever get on and when things will stop getting damaged! I thought I would only have this problem if the livery was a gelding.

Many thanks :0)
 
Sometimes as awful as it is horses need to sort their difference out. Its the way mine have always been, by seperating them each time they are 'meeting' each other nature isn't taking its course so they re start at the beginning each time to work out their 'pecking order' - who is the boss.

Obviously sometimes this just isn't feeasble due to risk of injury etc. And if one of them can be particullary nasty its not worth it.
 
Have you actually turned them out together? Now that they've done all their sniffing and squealing over the fence, they'll probably settle quite quickly.
 
No not yet as I am scared that one will get injured and I am trying to avoid that happening. They both have back shoes and seem to both want to be top dog. Although, the new horse gives up every so often, but my mare was still squealing when they weren't in touching distance!
 
I moved little coblet to a new yard on saturday, put him in the paddock next to the field, lots of noise, kicking through the fence etc, i let it all settle down, waited around for a few hours all was quiet, i left , came back 30 mins later and coblet is in field with the others happily grazing. The dominant mare snapped the fence in two so mine decided to go join them
blush.gif
 
When we first tried them either side of the electric fence I came home to it on the floor but they were still on their respective sides. The new mare loves the little pony but it is taking a lot longer with my mare. If only they would all get on it would make my life so much easier! We have hacked out together once and it was fine so I can't understand why this is still going on?
 
I'm having a similar problem at the minute

i put my mare in with a friends horse when she moved him up 2 my yard cause he didn't like being alone and they have always got on and ridden out together etc so they hit it off from day one. I've now got a 3yo cob and hes such a softy so while they are both being silly he hasn't got a clue what to do, they have been able to get used to each other over the fence so i just bit the bullet and chucked him in they are still not the best of friends but the field is big enough for them to sort out their differences so we will c
 
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