Why is my horse a bully?

[doodilah]

Hi, I'd really like some opinions / horse physcology knowledge regarding the behaviour of my mare. She is a 10 year old Irish sport horse that is very sensitive and intelligent and can be sharp at times. She is kept at DIY livery and lives out all year which suits her best.

Last year she was in a field with just one other horse, an icelandic and they got on just fine although my mare was the boss, then another new icelandic joined them. The 2 icelandics became best buddies and my mare was ignored so she started chasing and biting them both and rugs were ripped. We hoped this would settle down but it didn't improve so my mare had to be removed and kept on her own in the paddock next door.

During the autumn and winter my mare then moved back in with another older mare who was in-charge and they got on great and all was quiet. The icelandics were in the paddock next door and everyone was happy. My mare will happily hack, travel and go out and about with the icelandics, it's just in the field that she is a bully.

Over Christmas we were due to move the mares to another field and we thought we'd try putting them all back in together particularly as the older mare was the herd leader above my horse. It was all going OK although my mare still made faces at the icelandics and occassionally chased them but not as severly as before. That was until today when I discovered that she has bitten and ripped one of their rugs so is going to have to be moved and the mare herd split in two again.

I'd just like to try and understand why she is behaving in this way. Is it because she felt that her original friend was taken away when the new icelandic arrived? Does anyone have any ideas or has had similar experiences? My mare is a lovely horse, she has a bit of attitude occassionally but I just wish she was a nicer herd companion.

[rifruffian]

Often we humans just don't understand the herd dynamics; provided there's nothing life-threatening going on, I don't think too much about it.
In our herd of four geldings, random biting interaction is the norm, they all have a go at each other now and again. The fact that a rug has got ripped is extraneous, irrelevant, random, almost a non event.......that's horses.

[penny70]

I agree with rifruffian - It's just how it is.
If there were no rugs involved, the hair would protect the horse and no money would be wasted on new rugs.
In fact, I can't quite understand why an Icelandic pony is wearing a rug in the first place tbh.

[ladynowak]

Jan 23, 2013 22:54:18 GMT 1 penny70 said:

I agree with rifruffian - It's just how it is.
If there were no rugs involved, the hair would protect the horse and no money would be wasted on new rugs.
In fact, I can't quite understand why an Icelandic pony is wearing a rug in the first place tbh.

Sounds perfectly normal behaviour to me, it's just a shame rugs are expensive and easily ripped!

I can see why people rug theirs after looking at my mums ,once skewbald, pony this winter. The days of him being mainly daz white seem a thing of distant memories. I couldn't afford to keep them all in rugs with all the rough and tumble squabbling and playing they do!

[jen1]

Your mare to me sounds like she is throwing her toys out of the pram because she lacks confidence feels insecure, like most creatures who throw their weight about enough people will stand to attention but generally want to leave them alone, its a bit like a self fulfilling prophecy, often I take it there is a lack of leadership and stable herd structure, ive had herds for many a year, if there all kept together and no horses permanatly leave's or new ones added thing's stay settled they all know who they are and there roles, ive seen it take 2 years with the same horses for them to reconfigure after loosing the matriarch mare in the herd, herd dynamics is delicate at best, but even harder on liveries where nothing stays the same, it would be easy to blame poor weaning on your mare from where I sit and imagine whats going on, I suspect she's either has loved and lost a pair bond, or never loved at all , so to speak you often find a gelding of the same insecurity rate would be good company once they come to a mutual agreement, and that is what im sure it would be .your mare would lead or follow, choosing wisely is a whole new ball game, my herd would sort her out in a
jiffy consists of 3 main passive leaders not to be trifled with, nd the rest just follow

[jen1]

Mta, she only wanted her freind back, so based on that id say she is a leader but not really upto the job or doing it passively or effectively

[specialized]

Herd dynamics are very subtle to us but very obvious to the horse and if you keep changing a settled dynamic you are asking for challenges and a bit of in-fighting until they get themselves settled. Generally as long as the field is big enough to avoid getting cornered too easily they will sort themselves given time. It does not sound like yours is a bully, she is just trying to protect her status while the 'pecking order' is sorted.