Re: RC: fighting horses

["Carolyn Burgess" <carolyn_burgess@hotmail.com>]

Marlene:

I have two geldings and a mare turned out together.  The Paint (a pain in my 
#%$) and the Arabian play together, but sometimes the Paint gets rough.  I 
have found the Arabians neck ripped and bleeding. I am always afraid that I 
will find him dead because the Paint got his jugular and he bled to death.  
What I found that reduces the injuries is to turn them out without halters.  
When they play, the halter gives them something to grab and they grab the 
skin inadvertently, at least the way it appears.

Carolyn


>From: Marlene Moss <marlene.moss@wcom.com>
>Reply-To: marlene.moss@wcom.com
>To: ridecamp@endurance.net
>Subject: RC:  fighting horses
>Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2001 10:36:17 -0700
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>Hi,
>I have 4 horses which we currently split up 2 in each pasture.  In the
>summer, we usually put all 4 together in the biggest pasture.  The horses
>are:  a 4 yr old gelding who is an annoying little pest, 7 yr old mustang,
>who will play but gets tired of it, a 7 yr old gelding who also like to
>play, but isn't quite the pest that the 4 yr old is, and a 9 yr old mare,
>who's mostly the boss and just ignores the rest.
>
>The problem is the geldings - they play pretty rough, on their hind legs a
>lot.  The 4 yr old is very mouthy and bites at anything that moves.  When
>the mustang finally gets annoyed, he goes for the throat.  Both of the 
>other
>geldings have very nasty wounds on their necks.
>
>This makes me very nervous - afraid that the mustang could potentially kill
>the other 2.  Right now I have the mustang and mare together and the other 
>2
>can play all they want.  But this isn't the best arrangement based upon
>feeding needs and other things.  Plus, we soon plan on putting all 4
>together.
>
>How much should I worry about this?  It doesn't seem like the 4 yr old is
>learning anything from the abuse he gets back - he didn't learn much about
>herd behavior when he was young - lived in a stall for 2 years.  I'd like
>him to learn to behave - but I don't want to risk his life. We've had a few
>sales and purchases over the last year, so I'm not sure what the real long
>term dynamic of these 4 will be.  (I've had the pest and the mare for 3 
>yrs,
>the other 2 about 3-6 months).
>
>What do you think?  Am I worrying too much?  Should I put them together and
>hope the youngster figures it out before he's dead?  Should I keep them
>separate at all costs?  Things are somewhat better with all 4 together - 
>the
>brat can spread out his play targets!  Maybe I should get one of those
>throatlatch sweat things to protect him!!!
>
>Thanks for any advice.
>Marlene
>
>
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