Re: What's your horses rank in the herd?

Danser is the leader, no one even tries to challange her as she just has to look at them to put them back in their place. Next is Charlie, then Wish then bottom of the herd is Sky, she is just so meek and mild and wants to be everyones friend. I can't believe how quickly Danser has accepted her into the herd.

Re: What's your horses rank in the herd?

According to my OH, the pecking order in our house is as follows:- Alistair (OH), Blair, Sammy, Zara, and then me!  Horse wise Blair is definitely in charge and they sort of share responsibility for Zara.  When she arrived she was only 4 months old and Sammy went all gooey with her,  he just kept looking at her with big eyes and then looking at us as though to say "is that for me, oh thank you".  I was initially nervous of turning her out with any of them so she went out just with Sammy at first and he really looked after her - if she wandered off from his side he went looking for her and told her off, he was like a surrogate mum!  A few days later I put Blair in with them and he was also besotted, Sammy was looking after her and Blair was playing with her as mentally they're about the same age, so she loves them both but she does still do what they tell her.  Sometimes though I see her trying to exert a bit of influence but she's always put right back in her place, nicely though.

Re: What's your horses rank in the herd?

Interesting Topic Char.

Bootz first went in with the herd in January after his gelding op. There are currently 10 in the field 2 mares and the rest geldings.   I thought he would be an outsider but quickly settled in without any skirmishes, lots of playing tho being just two at the time.  We thought he was quite low down the pecking order until recently when the herd leader ( a lovely Fjord mare called Daphne) came into season usually she is inseperable from one of the other geldings but shunned him and was following Bootz round ad stood shoutig for him when I took him out of the field. 

There were also 3 new horses added to the herd this week,  the first day Bootz was chasing them away from the rest of the herd and when i took him out of the field another took over what he was doing,  It would appear he is higher up the rankings than we thought.

Re: What's your horses rank in the herd?

Only got the 2 so H is boss, then Manny, but Manny's boss of the chickens - caught him chasing them the other day !

Re: What's your horses rank in the herd?

my 2 are in a mixed herd of 10, difficult to tell exact possition! my mare used to always be top mare when at my old place with a few other mares, but now she isnt. have one very dominant mare, one very passive mare and mine who is a flirt who all the boys like, but 3 of them are protective of her, wont let the new gelding near! my boy likes both the mares, but isnt top dog, only when it comes to food and then he can chase anyone off! so think they are both in the middle, as not the most dominant or the weakest. the herd has one outsider who is a bit of a loner, but they are a pretty close nit bunch.

recently pigs have moved in just across the river from our field, apparently the dominant mare spotted them and went and bought one horse at a time to see them before chasing them off!

i like watching them interact, but also interesting how they are with me- i can get near all the horses, but my 2 will be over protective of me and will sometimes get jelous and chase the others off! mostly because they know im there dinner giver and dont want to share! i can also feed mine in the field and if im there the more dominant horses wont get near as they know i wont let them, the top mare and gelding will even graze right near by