My boiy is being bullied-should I interfere or keep out?

grandmaweloveyou

grandmaweloveyou

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Hi. Upsetting night, just left my new boy in with a bunch of hooligan horses in their new paddock! He has been on his own with me for 10 days and I took the brave (stupid) step to introducing him tonight, I have been up and down the yard like a yo yo and theyre giving him hell, 2 bites on his side already BUT he had been submissive for 3 hours but just kicked out at the instigator so I am very pleased with him. Now, what do I do? Sleep, camp out? remove him? give him a break tomorrow and try again???? HELP.
 
Leave them to it! They sort out the pecking order soon enough. You cannot do anything to stop it. You will probably find that everything has settled tomorrow. I am in the unfortunate position of being the owner of the bully in my herd!! Most embarrassing!!
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Oh god-your poor boy. I would be inclined to leave him out there just because if you keep taking him out and putting him back in again they will probably go for him more-just leave him and it may settle down a little. I know you'll have a sleepless night though-I would too
 
try and leave him in there,they will sort it out there just telling him whos boss then they will settle,if you take him out now they will start again when he goes back,just check on him but leave him for a couple of days with them if you can
 
When we were introducing connie, she was very much gettin into fights etc, we left them to it and surely enough after a few days all was well.

Hope that helps xcharleex
 
Unfortunately I would suggest leaving him to establish his own place in the herd and put up with a night of worry and lack of sleep at home
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If it continues after a week or so I would be inclined to re assess as vets bills are costly but you expect squabbles in the first few days.

Chin up, daunting isn't it
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thanks everyone, now sat in bed with laptop on duvet reading all this to calm myself, my oh was taking the mick out of me this week for getting so hooked on here since last weds but guess what? her laptop is on too haha, how sad we are both on the forum in bed! shout tomorrow if you want an update on how he is getting on. oh and to add insult to injury, pardon the pun, poor thing was sweating like mad when i left him
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just one last thing, promise (for tonight) there are 13 horses in the field, its about 5 acres and the yo is great at rotating them, again theyre moving this week, and were only moved into it a couple of weeks ago, no criticism whatsoever of yard care or management etc, BUT would you be happy with your horse in with that many and again, am I just being too overprotective?
 
13 in 5 acres sounds a bit tight to me, but mine is on my Mum's land, so don't know really?? Would definitely make squabbling more frequent IMO, but still believe they will sort themselves out fairly quickly.
 
You mean he is in a 5 acre pen with 13 horses!!!!!????

Sounds like a bad scenario to me!
I would have had a different ans if I had known that! sorry
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I would never keep that many in a pen that small. I am sorry to say, but your horse will be bit up all the time
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There is just not enough room imo. They should be sectioned off at the very least into groups
 
1. The 13 in five acres does sound a bit crowded, but as long as there's grass they should be ok.
2. At least with that number, he'll be able to find horses he really likes to pair bond/be friends with.
3. In terms of the fighting - I reckon you have two options either a. Leave him to it or b. Separate him and one of the others as a friend by electric fencing within the field, then after a week, put the pair back in.
Don't worry, horses really have no intention of hurting each other - it's in their interests to be part of a large strong herd...it's all threat and posture.
S
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1. The 13 in five acres does sound a bit crowded, but as long as there's grass they should be ok.

S
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I am not trying to sound like a smart Alec, but how would there be any grass with that many horses in that small of an area
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They would have to be turned out for an hour a day to keep any grass I would think. Unless it is super grass!
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all in all I agree that the horse will be fine, but I imagine alot of those horses are covered in bite marks and you may not want him all bit up if you are showing (I would not want mine bit to he(( even if I was not showing.
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) Look at all the others is my suggestion. If they are all beat up and covered in tons of bites there may be a problem, if they are not I am sure all is well amongst them and they will settle in fine
Are there any mares in the group?...I tend to notice mares pick on the geldings the most.

The worst case of a bitten up horse I ever saw was a gelding alone in a pen of 4 mares
 
Ah 13 horses in such a small area is quite a lot. My largest herd is 10 horses and they live in a 10 acre field which works fine. They have plenty of room to run around and there is a lot of grass in there, they also have ad-lib hay so there is never any arguments about food. I know that this herd of mine would be absolutely fine in a far smaller area as they all know each other so well; I'm not sure I'd be happy with my horse boarding under the conditions you mention above though; at least not whilst my horse was the new guy, however so long as he can get away from the bullies then he should be okay and will eventually team up with someone else, so hopefully you have nothing to worry about.

One word of advice though - next time you move a new horse into a field, always do it in the morning
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, then you have all day to keep a close eye on them. Best of luck and hope your lad is fine tomorrow.
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hi. my oh has been down this morning and there is another bite mark but they seem settled and the one that was bullying is now with my one grazing. i am going down in a minute to check but next dilemna, his routine is that he comes in at 8am til 1pm and he thought he was being brought in by oh, do i bring him in or leave him out - I KNOW YOU ALL SUGGESTED LEAVE HIM OUT already but just checking as its his routine. i would have put him out in the day but, he was so so tired this weekend from riding that i didnt think he would cope, and then he was miserable yesterday from being alone (i think) so had to make a tough call. going to speak to yo today about splitting a few up but dont want to be seen as the "nightmare livery"??
 
Hi hope all ok this morning for you. Just an idea for you to consider. Whenever i introduce a new horse into our herd I alway set up a penned off area with electric fence in a field with plenty of grass. That way the horses all graze together and get used to each other for a week or so and then when you let the new horse out of the pen there may be a 5 min kick around but it takes a lot of the excitement away as they have already grazed together. If you think your horse is still in trouble ask the YO if you can pen off an area for a couple of weeks just until he settles and then pop him in the field with 1 other friendly calm horse then introduce them both back in to the herd.
 
ps with regard to the grass, there is lots, there is a rotation of every 2 weeks. the field may be bigger than 5acre but not by much. they are moving again this weekend but trust me, i know its not IDEAL but is there ever a yard within a realistic / usable distance that is perfect?i must start playing the lottery!
 
hi thanks for that, he was in the field adjacent to the others for one week although they couldnt actually reach across to graze together and weve ridden out with a couple of them and stabled him next to another couple of them, obviously we just didnt allow enough time but he really did seem to be getting depressed on his own? its so tough isnt it, cant wait to see him shortly (and sneak him a handful of chaff???)
 
in answer to another post, 3 mares and the rest are geldings. also i should say to any co yardy at my place, your horses are not hooligan horses, its just terrifying to put your baby in with so many - hope ive still got my lovely riding partners!!!
 
how can i take the typo out of the title of this post? was so stressed / tired last night and rushing to type didnt notice the embarrassing mistake! found your replies way more interesting than checking for typos.
 
Not sure what others have said - however I would absolutely not leave him in the field with the others.

Please re-introduce him slowly with one or two horses at a time. Just chucking them in is really asking for trouble.
 
Glad he was fine today
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I imagine it will get better day by day.

Sorry to be smart about there being no grass. I did not know there was more than one field being roatated
 
Couldnt you have introduced them first thing in the morning so you had all day to monitor them?

I would leave them to it but keep a close eye. I would also have put boots on him and also a rug to deflect bites!
 
Personally I just think its horses establishing their natural pecking order. Not all yards have the facilities to introduce horses slowly and I think what you have done so far is fine, even when horses have been introduced to one of two members of a herd, there are usually still problems when they go out in the large group for the first few days.
I agree that a larger field would be better, but as long as there is grass and no places where your horse can be easily trapped by the others things will settle down.
Personally I find my horses are happier in a big mixed sex herd grazing in a large field with natural shelter, but I do realise that not all owners are happy to keep their horses this way and not all yards have the same arrangements.
If you are not happy with your current turnout situation and the other liveries are I would suggest that you move to another yard where the turnout suits your needs better.
 
UPDATE - Seemed more settled this morning, although he has 3 cuts now, 1 is quite nasty - but lunchtime it just seemed like he was having to start all over again, and its not the same ones attacking him. He was so scared to even drink that he kept twitching and jumping whilst daring to brave the water trough. I have to say he is fighting back a bit now - hoping that is a good thing. Needless to say I am going back down after work
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Thanks for listening - I am sure I am just a neurotic mum.
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UPDATE. he was a mess tonight, ive moved him out and in with 2 others after calming him down for an hour and riding him round the fields with 1 other. if i cant keep him out with just the 2 others will have to move yards altho i would rather not as everything else there is perfect and i love the place and the people. thanks for all the pairs of ears.
 
oh! Sorry he is cut
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I think maybe you would be doing the right thing keeping him in with the two. If YO is against it I think I would look for greener pastures too! If the YO is packing that many in already who is to stop them from packing in more????? It just sounds a bad situation to me unless they are all kept seperated into smaller groups. Sorry...but what do I know?

Best of luck
 
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