More Ned Behaviour

Shantara

Shantara

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I'm trying to learn more about Ned's behaviour, documenting everything I can.

Now, can anyone tell me what the snaking of his head/neck means and possibly why he would do it to these 2 ponies? chestnut is a mare, roan is a gelding, both are just over 3yrs. He has been turned out with these 2 before, but not for a little while. He put himself in that field this morning, but I turned him back out in there after our walk and this is when the video takes place.

[youtube]PTYebgjpnQs[/youtube]
 
Showing his dominance over the youngsters when I say move over there I mean it you will do/ go where I say! My older pony does this to my young cob and when reaction is not immediate follows it up with a nip!
 
Wow - Mr Dominant!

He's telling those ponies that he is in charge, and they are to do what he says! Is there a mare out there too - he looks like he may be mkaing sure they don't go near his lady friend. Or he's just running them up and down a bit to assert his authority!!
 
I am top horse, no messin', no fussin', just accept my dominance over you. Also all women in the vicinity are mine, just so as you know. ;)
 
by the look of it hes putting them in their place (below him) and also keeping them away from the other two horses.. by any chance are either of the other horses mares? as that may be one of the reasons :)
 
Head snaking is an extremely aggressive piece of body language. In the wild I believe it's a precursor to a full on 'attack'
In this instance Ned is saying in no uncertain terms, to the other 2 horses
'Stay AWAY from my herd!'
 
There's a mare just over the fence at the other side of the field. She's turned out with a gelding who seems to protect her more like a father than anything else, he doesn't seem sexually attracted to her, even when she's in season, he just wants to keep her safe and with him.

The gelding (black one in the picture) gets REALLY huffy when Ned goes near the fence, but the mare seems to want to be near Ned...and any other male who comes over haha! Poor Blackie, he's always fending them off.

NeddyWalks040_zps828edf34.jpg



ETA: The other 2 are geldings but the black on in his field is quite new, but has settled very very well.


ETA2: Thanks for all the replies!! It's quite funny to read!
 
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Looks like resource guarding to me. Has there been hay fed on the ground?

You don't normally get this sort of behaviour in a much larger field with no hay to protect - horses defend things that are scarce and important to them - so can be space, preferred companions, food - and their human.

In a small space, they will make sure they have the amount of space around them that they feel they need (so some horses who are kept in a lot will start to defend their stable, because they only have a very small amount of personal space and it's very valuable to them - horses who live out in a very large field with only a few companions are much happier to let other horses closer, because space isn't something that they feed is scarce). You find the same thing with food - if the horses live out all the time and are never fed in the field, you don't find them defending specific patches of grass ;), but if hay gets fed, they will try to defend the piles of hay... same with buckets.

Since each horse tends only to have one human (or sometimes maybe two for loan/share horses), the human who brings food is a valuable and scarce resource, and well worth defending from other horses.

Of course, some horses have more motivation to defend things... usually either personality or because they've experienced a shortage before - and they will tend to be the ones who put on the biggest and most visible display.

Mine is just big boss personality - he tells EVERYBODY that the hay is HIS. Once they've all said "yes, Jackson, of course, all the hay is yours", he will then say "Glad you understand. Please, feel free to have some of MY hay". Then all three horses share the same pile of hay (we put out 4 piles for 3, but they always share the same one... Very entertaining to watch ;)
 
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