How horses react to each other

holeymoley

holeymoley

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Just a musing really . My gelding is a very easy going chap who gets on with everyone really , be it equine or human. His stable is situated on the yard in a way that other horses have to go by his door to get to arena / field etc.

At first this worried me as Iwas concerned incase he'd start pulling faces or trying to bite over the door as they went by , purely as it would be his 'space'. Thankfully he's not in the slightest bit bothered which is fab. That is until one certain gelding goes through! With every other horse , mare or gelding, from 11hh to 16hh, he will just have his head over the door or he'll sniff at them going by. With this gelding , who is a rather chunky chap, he absolutely hates! He never actually makes contact but he does put his ears flat back and bears his teeth. He's never 'met' the gelding as in totally separate fields, so not sure why the dislike.

Its funny as there's a mare next door who pulls faces at everyone going by , yet if I walk my gelding by she's not bothered in the slightest! Again, my boy and her haven't ever interacted as in different fields .

Pointless post really but I just find them really interesting to watch and try to figure out their personalities and things. The only thing I can imagine that's happened between the other gelding is that he's tried to steal his food while going by :p
 
It could be that he has met this gelding before, elsewhere. Or that he reminds him of another horse that he did not get on with in the past.
 
I find it amazing that they just seem to literally make up their minds in seconds as to whether they are going to get on or not.
 
Ah that's a really good point. I've had him since he was a youngster so will have a think over the last 9 years to see if there's any I remember before that. He's a rather unique looking chap though as he's a fjord. Perhaps it's the mane!
 
My mare pulls faces at every horse that walks by her stable. I would say it's a mare thing but... my other veteran mare doesn't do it :D
In the field she's different - very polite to everyone and very much at the bottom of the pecking order. However, one day last summer a new mare was put into the paddock next to her. She went over and they sniffed before both squealing. Then my girl ran off and totally stressed herself out over this new mare - I have never seen such an extreme reaction - walking the fence line, calling - by the time I got to her she was white over with sweat :(

Long story short - they eventually had to go into the same field but they never got on. My mare came in with injuries most days and I was about to request a field change but the other mare was then sold on. Peace returned :)

No idea why she didn't like her but, she decided instantly that she hated her.
 
My horse loves interacting with others. If you take him up to the horsewalker he always has his ears forward as the others go round and pass him before I find a space to put him on. They fly at him through the bars of the horsewalker but he never reacts, he just looks really suprised and affronted! Its so sad.

Then a few months ago he stopped to talk to a horse over the stable door. I am all for doing this, letting them have a look at each other but a lot of people don't like it as they squeal. It is just part of horse behaviour and something I never care about. But this time the horse lunged at Bailey and squealed really loud. Bailey stamped his foot down so (and I still don't know why) I shouted at him. He flew backwards and started shaking really badly, it was a really weird reaction.

Then the other day the same thing happened again. I was cross with him as he'd pulled me over to the horse (he can be quite bolshy at times) and nearly pulled me off my feet. Again, ears forward just to say 'hello' to the horse and it flew at him. I shouted at him for yanking me, and again he went all queerr, his eyes went really large like in shock, and he started shaking again.

Now I do shout at him from time to time but he never reacts like this normally only these two times I've mentioned. Someone said it was due to adrenalin, but its a very weird reaction nevertheless!
 
Dont shout at him. You have aloowed him to go and speak to these horses in the past, and then when he does it and you dont want it he gets a yank ??
 
putasocinit said:
Dont shout at him. You have aloowed him to go and speak to these horses in the past, and then when he does it and you dont want it he gets a yank ??
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If he pulls me off my feet in order to do so then I don't find that acceptable behaviour tbh especially as I am constantly reinforcing this
 
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