Posessive, jealous horse, over its owner? Really?

Caol Ila

Caol Ila

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I did not think horses did this. A friend at the yard has been on holiday for about two weeks and I have been riding her horse. At first, I rode hers first and mine second, while the horses were still on turn-out. My horse, who's usually pretty placid in her field, ran around like a maniac. After about two days of this, I decided to ride my horse first and friend's horse second. The timing works out that the horses have been brought into their stalls when I got round to riding my friend's horse. When I finish the ride and brought the horse into the barn, my mare sticks her head out of her stall and makes the nasty, eye-rolling face. She normally ignores others when they lead their horses into the barn.

Friend's horse has now been coming to the fence to see me when I walk past, even if I am getting my horse first (out of a neighbouring, but different field; they are not turned out together). My horse, who normally does not come to the gate and makes you hike out to get her wherever she is grazing, will suddenly appear at the gate, looking imperious, if I stop to pet friend's horse.

I didn't think their brains were this advanced, or that she cared this much!
 
Aww! I would take it as a sign of love! When I'm with mine, she puts her ears back at others and has stood in front of my between others before, I know it's not pot luck she stood there, I am convinced she genuinely stepped between us so that the others couldn't get my attention!
 
I think horse feel something which we call jealousy. Our pony certainly makes her disapproval known if I fuss another before her, or if she thinks I will bring another in before her amongst other things. Seems like shes jealous but might just be a pecking order thing?
 
Just love this post - the idea of the imperious look - and now you know how to save yourself walking the fields in winter to catch her O.P.!
 
I'll never forget the time when I was wondering round doing a general field tidy when the mare my old ex-racer was with decided to take a funny moment and start charging round - she was a bit of a cow and definitely the field boss. She kept galloping round, clearly upset by something and she often came far too close for comfort.

My TB galloped over full tilt and slid to a stop next to me. Everytime the mare came close he would do a tight circle and stop her getting to me even though he was scared of her too!

I really think he was looking out for me that day.
 
Yep, I have to have my two on separate parts of the yard when in (2yo out for winter) as if they can see with the other all hell breaks loose!
Nightmare!
 
Our Old Appy was like this, she had decided that although sister and I shared the horses, that I belonged more to her than to any other horse. I once made the mistake of riding Dad's welsh A in the field, within eyesight of the Old Appy :eek: When I put the pony mare back in the field, the Old Appy grabbed her by the neck and dragged her up the fence line! We managed to get her off the pony, but it was a nasty experience (for the poor pony as well). She behaved very badly if Sis rode OA and I rode the Welsh Dx, although she behaved perfectly well for sis if I wasn't riding anything else. Oddly she was not at all jealous when we got the Current Ridden Appy, although she had been retired for over 12 months at that point. I think some of them can and do, have very strong feelings about 'their' person.
 
I also think most animals are capable of jealousy. I can't even stroke my other cat without the other one getting sulky and storming off while giving me the ole' stinkeye!
 
I've had a similar experience!! I work with dressage horses and some problematic horses, I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to work with one horse that had been trained to advanced level (he had a lot of baggage) he had been passed from home to home and was petrified of whips after going through a show jumping home. I did a lot of work with him and we gained each others trust. He's a very one to one horse and I don't think he's ever got a bond with any body in the past. I then started working with his field friend and it may sound weird but he would no longer look at me and seemed to have no recognition of me!

Since then I've used my days off to spend time with just him. He's no longer scared of whips and he's starting to trust other people as well as still having a great bond with me! I'm hoping to start competing him soon. he last competed in 2007 so this will be such a big step!

I believe that's proof that they do get jealous!!!
 
my tb can be like this - if he is my only horse then its the hiking to the top of the field to find him,hard to catch ,generally a bit aloof - If I have a project in to bring on etc - he tunrs intot he most easy to catch,loving and affectionate horse going - very odd
 
Janee said:
I think horse feel something which we call jealousy. Our pony certainly makes her disapproval known if I fuss another before her, or if she thinks I will bring another in before her amongst other things. Seems like shes jealous but might just be a pecking order thing?
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Quite possibly, if they consider you a resource, e.g. a vending machine that the other horse is hogging, or the source of other nice things. Which is interesting because it would imply that "making a fuss" is viewed as a rewarding activity.

I've seen something that looks like jealousy in a group of mares pastured out with a stallion. One particular mare couldn't abide the stallion courting another mare that was in season, even if she wasn't herself, and would attempt to keep them separated by driving the stallion away aggressively. You could see her keeping her beady eye on the stallion the whole time and would react instantly to an sign of movement of the stallion towards another mare. A couple of times I caught her in order to give the stallion a chance to do the deed. The expression on her face was priceless - pure green livid.
 
I met my husband when I was 17 and had my Welsh D

The horse used to chase my husband off when he visited, I once found my husband on top of an unlit bonfire with the horse prowling round it in circles!

So yes I do think they get jealous and/or protective
 
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Smokey has to see Al before anyone else does, he gets really grumpy and pulls horrible faces at his poor field mate if he doesn't get to her first! She only gives Reg treats (and Smokes and Reg don't share a field) so it's not a food thing... Think it's a "Smokey's a cheeky little monster who always has to be first" thing!
 
Oh yes there is definitely jealousy amongst my gang.
The young TB will chase away the old boy, following me & standing in a 'she's MINE' manner when I'm poo picking etc.

The old lad has got an amazing bond with my eldest son. When he was a toddler, old boy was out in a field with another horse. They were a pair bond & got on beautifully. One day I had given my boy his feed. Toddler, who was outside the field, started banging on the gate so field mate came over to investigate (he wasn't being fed). My old boy came charging over chasing his field mate off & attacking him really aggressively, it was quite scary to see. Once field mate had run off, Old boy stood at the gate quite blatantly guarding the toddler & refusing to leave him to go back to his feed.
It was really sweet.
 
I'm looking after another horse at the moment, mine positively quivers with indignation if he's brought in first, even though she's 3 fields away. She prowls up and down the fenceline and won't look at me when I get her in.
 
I had a friend's unbroken Section D overwinter with us as companion to my late TB/section D dressage horse. They got on fine.

Friend wanted to sell her lad as a 3 yo in the spring, found a buyer and a vetting was arranged. My horse was put in his stable whilst all the usual examinations were carried out on the youngster, I was doing all the handling including lunging him for the first time, all in sight of my lad.

Youngster passed fine, so turned the two of them back out together before inviting vet and prospective purchaser in for a cup of tea. Cue my horse to set to and proceed to try and murder the youngster for having been the centre of attention without authorisation! Vet and prospective purchaser were watching open mouthed and horrified whilst I managed to grab my horse and shut him in again. Youngster had to undergo a mini re vetting to show he was unscathed! Nerve wracking and also very embarrassing.

He was also pretty jealous of me with my other horse. All was well as long as he was caught and worked first, it could never be the other way around.
 
My boy circles me if im in the field he wont let anything else near me... Its cute but also a tad annoying if ive been sent to catch mothers pony (he sees my mum and wont be caught... Cheeky thing!). But of course i cant catch him cuz mine wont let him anywhere near me!!
 
If looks could kill I'd be dead! My Sec D gets extremely jealous and sulks with it!
I think they feel many emotions as all animals do. Embarrassment being another. If he does something boystrous that backfires or you laugh at him he hates it, doesn't know where to look. My old collie used to if she passed wind, you'd almost think she was blushing :o
 
My boy gets very cross if we turn up to our trainers yard and she has other clients there with their horses. He is most indignant and prances around like a stallion. My trainer thinks it is hilarious as he also likes to do something really embarrassing and show me up. It's like he sees that as his second home and no other horses should be allowed, although he is fine with her own horses.
 
My old mare used to get the hump big time!
I used to give her a few weeks off over the summer as I had a weekend/evening job at a cricket ground,as well as my full time job. Despite going to see her every day she would stop speaking to me, I couldn't even catch her, if I wanted to get hold of her somebody else would have to catch her for me, it was only me that she got the hump with. As soon as I started working her again I could catch her!
 
My TB gets jealous if I spend too much time with OH's horse, he also gets a grump on if he's not patted or fed first! He's always been like this, thankfully the worst he does is sulk and ignore me....
 
My lad is so clingy it's unreal. If I leave him tied up and walk into the tack room, on emerging I get at least a nicker if not a fullblown whinny. If I leave him to go and say groom/ tack up/ put travel boots on my yo's horse to give her a hand he goes ballistic, swinging around, striking the ground, neighing, doing little rears and crossing his jaw and rolling his eyes. Had a new dentist the other day that I was holding horses for - he couldn't believe how upset Geoff was getting that I was giving him not attention and we were all speaking to his friends instead!!
 
They get used to it. My mare was evil when I first got my youngster a yr a go. Now they love each other. I was so worried for the first few months I mentioned it to the vet. She was biting him for no reason. Running at him. Kicking him. She's always been good with other horses so must have been jealousy
 
Mine drives off horses if they approach me in the field, if I leave him tied up with someone else he stares in the direction I have gone until I get back and he very pointedly moved in between me and the yard owner when she stopped for a quick chat and turned his head away from her. A farrier said he's a mummys boy lol.
 
My first horse was like this. He used to get grumpy if I talked to other people, let alone other horses! If I handled another horse in the field he would charge over, and if I rode anything else he would stand next to the arena staring. He never actually did anything though, just pulled faces, and I allowed it because he had been knocked around a bit before I had him, and he was a very insecure animal.
 
It's a no brainer for me. In the wild, horses lead extremely social lives with many interactions that we only hope to understand :) I do believe that it's this interaction that enables them to be domesticated and allows us to work with them so successfully. I don't believe they regard us as other horses at all, at the risk of repeating myself - they're not that stupid. Some bonds between different species are stronger, especially with domesticated animals.
 
My riding horse never needs anyone until I pet the pony or show him affection the riding horse it straight over in trot(canter would be too much effort) or if in stables he puts his ears back and snaps his teeth toward the pony. Never bothered with me in the field until pony came along. I don't treat them or do anything different.
 
Mine has always been a bit possessive of me in the field, nothing major just pushing others off which I tell her is not necessary, we can share. However there was a day last winter I remember, I was stroking a horse in front of her stable and she was stropping about a bit, then once she got to the field she really went for the poor boy! (he's a bit dim) and the next morning to come in, he was closer to me than she was so she chased him off, teeth into him and everything
 
My 3 will all vie for my attention and see each other off to be the one who gets it....Their particular herd dynamic is very strong as all of them have lived out 24/7 since birth, and their behaviours around this appear to be very much of their herd hierarchy.
I suppose our human interaction with them sometimes heightens their need to maintain a pecking order....one of the many things I love about hanging out with them, having the chance to observe them...fascinating.
 
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