serious question do you think horses can sense when another has a prob

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babymare

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Ok this is a serious question as I have seen a sweet change to my mare over last 6 months.

Baby is part of a lovely mixed herd of arond 11 mares and geldings of mixed heights/ages - she is slowly losing her sight (3/4 blind in left and partially sighted in right shes 12) but - I have always sat and just watched the herd - the herd as changed towards her in such a sweet way. When you turn her out - either in morning or after being ridden - the whole herd will stop and call to her as if to say "yoo hoo baby were here". Little leo (cheeky gorgeous childs pony) will leave the herd come down to baby wait whilst she rolls or scratches bum on gate then off they toddle to herd. We had a bloshy rude 4yr clydesdale in field and one day he would not stop pestering baby even though she was striking at him and back kicking. My big lad trotted in between them lunged at clyde and turn bum on him till clydes turned and walked away then went back to grazing. when they have thier silly half hour baby is always in middle of herd and she is never alone always one or 2 of herd very close to her side when grazing. Lots of other things and other ppl have witnessed this ( lol one grl was nearly in tears telling me how sweet it was). So do you think the herd can sense baby has sight problem and looking out for her - I do and well to be honest I just love seeing it - your thoughts?
 
Yes they can, but do keep an eye as when they can also get to a stage where they start to outcast the not so fit or well, to a degree where the pecking order is very agaist and even can start to gang up on them - its a herd thing!!

Its really lovely though when you see another stand up for the one that isn't so good, long may it last!
 
Icon agree with you about pecking order etc and alwys watching how the herd is - YO is good and will vet new owners and only will put well mannered sweet new horses in herd and always explains to new ppl about baby - all owners in field are lovely with her and shes loved to bits by all on yard
 
We lost our 45 year old about 2 and a bit weeks ago and believe it or not, she was the real queen of the herd, she was always last in and the next up in the pecking order got very agressive with her (a 21 year old TBXID who has been at the bottom due to illness in the past). But if she went out of sight of the rest for any reason, they all went mad!!

They always seem to know and the youngsters can be worst at seeking out the weaker ones, whereas my oldies son (failing sight never stops at 27) would always intervene if his mum (the 45 year old) was in danger!!
 
45ys old - oh what a damn great life she had with you. I hope to have my baby for so many yrs but sadly vet reckons that in 3yrs her sight will have gone completly. Whilst she is happy with quality of life she isnt going anywhere other than here with me but we dont know how she will cope( bit of stress head because of her life before I bought here) once completly blind. Only time will tell an I just soak up every day with her.
 
My answer would be yes, went to get 2 cobs in one night in the dark, and they both would come to the whistle, one came down but not the other, was pitch black and couldn't see the other cob, but the one that came down kept running back up the field, and he led us to the other who was stuck in sheep wire, and was refusing to move until we got her untangled, managed to untangle her without her damageing herself. And I have also heard of horses leading part sighted horses before.
 
Our gelding is going blind and has EMS, so where Mistletoe was his mum, she was also his sight, she was very deaf though (he made up for this). He is struggling and because of the grass being a problem for him, he is spending alot of time in with our 7 month old foal who has had colic surgery and is on box rest. He has latched on to her and if she goes out of range he gets upset (he always had a problem if Mistletoe went out of range) she's not bothered too much but when you bring her back she goes straight to him almost like a reassurance and she is on box rest next to him so you sometimes see them nose each other or they mumble at each other - although if he goes out our 3 year old seems to pick up the mantle!!

Yes 45 was good, I only had the privelege of 24 years though, I've had her son for 25 and she wasn't meant to live that long as she gave us some big frights on the way - don't write off not having sight, incredibly they are very resourceful and quickfire has given a really good example of this!
 
We had a small herd of 4. 3 of them had been together a long time and the 4th was a lovely natured, very caring Clydesdale. In bad weather the 3 younger ones would pack round the oldest to shelter her, rather than pushing her out to the edge of the shelter, as you might expect.
When the Clydie became ill (although we didn't know that she was ill at that time), the cob, who had never had a special friend and could only rarely be seen grooming another horse over a wall, started to groom her. We assume that she was offering her comfort.
 
hey icon baby is written off yet lol we - my daughter and me - still ride her be it in school on vets advise for safety. She still goes beautifully having trust in daughter and me though over bends due to no sight in lower eyes. Ppl are truelly amazed when they see her ridden for first time that she has bad sight - shes straight responsive and so so enjoys being ridden and schooled. We are going to try some gymkanna games with her just for fun and bit variety he he he he
 
You may find she goes through some rough days as if her sight is deteriorating, Mistral certainly has and its trust that will get her through this. I am quiet around my horses and sometimes still forget to talk to him, particulary on his right side. I hope it all goes well and she gives you many happy years :)
 
Pearlsasinger is my sister, as well as the two instances she mentioned, we also at one point had a welsh A, a welshDx, and an Appy. The WelshDx and the Appy were best friends, however the WelshDx cut her leg quite badly,the Appy would have nothing to do with her. We were concerned that the one with the cut leg was pushing the little Welsh A around, so took the little one out of the field for a rest. When we put the pony back in the field with the others she marched up to the front of the one with the bad leg and set off round the field! She glared at us, just as if she was saying, "That leg will stiffen up if she stands still!"
 
of course they do, they are herd animals and they do look out for each other, even when we have had to say goodbye to a sick horse, they all know and they stop munching and its as if they pay their last respects. xxx
 
yes they do. a few years ago my mare got stuck in the fencing. the field they are in is 12 acre and it was winter so was dark when the horses were due to come in. we let the horses down a few at a time and put away in the stables but this night two were missing (mine and yard owners highland). i set off across the field armed with a torch to try and find them. half way across the field heard a whinny and i found them. my mare was stuck in the fence and the highland stood at her side. they must have been there some time and there were quite a few poos from both of them.
best thing about it the highland was at the top of the pecking order at the time and used to chase my mare about, but he stuck with her the day she got in trouble (i think he was keeping the other horses away). and even though all the other horses were going in to there stables for the night and it was pitch black he never left her side bless him
 
When one of our 'herd' broke his leg in the field, the others huddled around him, as if to protect him.... it was that that first alerted me that something was wrong.... the 'body language' was all wrong and off-kilter. :(
 
A few years ago my mare was turned out with an Arab mare and tb gelding who both bullied her quite badly. She was always wary of coming past them to come to me when I went to catch her, but would move around them, or wait for me to go to her and then happily walk on with me. One evening I went to catch her and she point blank refused to come to me so I went to her, put the headcollar on and went to walk off. She took 2 steps and stopped dead. Asked her to walk on again and still wouldn't move. Looked round to see what was the matter and noticed blood on the ground. Automatic thought was it was her so looked her over and couldn't find anything, so looked at the tb as he was next to her and found a huge gash to the back of his right pastern. The moment I'd seen it, corrie moved forwards.
I honestly believe that Corrie knew there was a problem with the tb and was determined to let it be known as she has never done anything like that since.
 
I think some horses do, my mare was once seen racing up the field(not like her, she is not a fast mover)to boot a tb gelding that was giving her shetland buddy a hard time.She also got very upset when a mare she had grazed with,but was not fond of was pts,although none of the rest of the herd seemed upset she didnt stop calling to the poor girl.
 
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