Incompatible Horses: Bickering Minis

Do your have any recommendations on how to handle two incompatible Miniature Horses?
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Q. Within the past three weeks we have purchased our second Miniature Horse, a 10-year-old mare in foal. When the mare arrived at our farm, we assumed that she would be a good companion for our two-year-old Miniature mare. We also expected that there would be some adjustments for all of us. We have them pastured together with separate, but side-by-side run-in stalls. They are fed separately, each is given separate exercise with the other watching, and each is given an extreme amount of love and attention.

We thought that the two of them were adjusting.  We are aware that the dominant mare sometimes needs time to get established, but they still seem to be at war. Mostly it is the younger who continually gets bitten and kicked. Is this perhaps because the older is pregnant? What do you suggest at this point? Separate them? We don’t want this trauma to harm the younger horse or put the pregnant one in such a turmoil that she is in jeopardy of losing the foal. Many people have advised us to let them work it out. Others recommend separation. Please respond with your recommendations.

Sharon


A. The conflicting suggestions are not unusual and actually quite understandable. It’s always difficult with these regrouping incompatibilities to know how long to ride out the bickering, when to try again if conditions change, or when to give up. I can give you yet a third reasonable suggestion to consider. Sometimes it works well to put the two battlers in side-by-side paddocks with plenty of space in each side.  This will enable one or both to stay away from the fence line. It will also allow them to make peace and buddy up along the line. Sometimes two animals that have been unfriendly seem to work things out through the fence without any injury. You’ll get an idea from the time they spend near each other when it might be right to try to open the gate.  When you allow them together again, hopefully the peace will continue. Occasionally, one will start provoking the other’s wrath again

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Written by:

Sue M. McDonnell, PhD, is a certified applied animal behaviorist and the founding head of the equine behavior program at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine. She is also the author of numerous books and articles about horse behavior and management.

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