Would you agree with this ?

[ms]

Basically the situation is ;
I have to bring in 4 horses at night, they are in a sparse winter paddock and are given ample haylage in the morning, but they are all 'live to eat' types, so its all gone by bringing in time and they're anticipating being fed, which doesn't help the situation.

-horse 1 is alpha mare, no-one messes with her, she stands by the gate so shes first in and the others accept this.
-horse 2 is alpha mares gelding pair bond, they've been together for 10 years , semi-retired and hes always been 2nd in command to her, and 2nd to come in untill...
-horse 3 who has been with the group for 3 years as a youngster; matures and decides hes moving up the pecking order; fed on readigrass as cannot tolerate anything else,has had some slight squabbles with no 2 initially but no 2 now accepts his lower position in the herd.
-horse 4 has been with the others for 4 months, is bottom of the pecking order, and gets very stressed if left alone or anticipates being left alone ( even if its just for a few minutes )Currently being hacked out twice a week and fed alpha a, sugar beet and mixed flakes .(is a hardy native type)

So I bring in horse no1, no problem.
By the time I've got back to the paddock(about 2 mins) horse no 4 is galloping about madly, setting off no 2 who can be a bit of a giddy knickers anyhow but has been fine untill no 4s feed was upped. No 3 has been content to hold his new position at the gate, but gets caught up in the sillyness, as hes only rising 6.

I'm faced with trying to bring in 3 well hyped up and upset horses , through a narrow inwards opening L shaped gate, and its an utter nightmare, the 3 left behind after tha alpha mare comes in are all fighting and kicking due to no 3's actions.

Had a word with YO over this, and shes told the owner of no 4 that she will be feeding her horse for the next 2 weeks as she feels is necessary for the safety of the other horses and the people handling them ie happy hoof and low sugar sugar beet as she is in low work and is a good doer.

She also suggested that the mare was fed hay in the morning due to the increased calorific value of haylage .
Have tried putting out haylage prior to bringing them in, but they only snatch mouthfulls in between argueing !

[shandypants]

Is there no way you could bring in 2 at a time so you bring in 1&2 together then 3&4 together so none are left on there own??

[thelwall78]

ooh gosh I don't know - I'm no help at all, except to say please wear your riding hat and make sure someone knows what time you should be back in case one of them knocks you over. I used to be confident about going into a field of horses to catch one of them till I got properly flattened going in to get one who was one of two left to come in and now I'm a right old nervous nelly.

Echo shandypants - can you bring two at once? Or how far is it to the stables, could you open the gate and let them bring themselves in?

[jen1]

sound not too disimular to my lot, i would leave the alpha mare till last to sort out any squabbles start at the bottom of the pecking order and work up the 2 highest will sort out what needs to be done, i have 10 to bring in on my own usually as a herd but if they have an off day i usually get one of a pair bond in and leave my monarch mare till last

[KateD]

I was also going to suggest chasing alpha mare away and maybe bringing in no 4 first? Obviously keeping as safe as poss!

[Deleted]

If you are going to give the pairs idea a go, I'd think about 1&4 first, then 2&3. It sounds like the middle 2 would be the ones who would be most likely to stay happily together and would probably lead well together, whereas if you leave 3&4 till the end 4 would be too much of a handful to lead with another.

It's good to hear that your YO is being helpful on this. We so often hear complaints about YO's, it helps balance the picture to know there are considerate and helpful ones too!

[joto]

i'd give them more haylage so they arnt hungry when you go to get them in, this will help, and bring them in in pairs.