Introducing a new horse to the herd?

[3P.C.O.]

We have a new boarder at our barn that brought 2 new horses. A mare and a gelding. The owner had said they had only had them for about 2 months before coming here. He also mentioned that the gelding was stalled up his whole life and has not been in a pasture or herd situation ever (interesting). He also said that before bringing them to this barn, his gelding kept getting into it with another gelding at a different barn (also interesting). Before the 2 new horses the herd consist of 4 geldings and 1 mare. One of the geldings is my horse he is also the leader of the pack. My horse has been there for 3 years now with horses coming and going with no problems what so ever. Everyone gets along. Now this new pair of horses come in and the mare gets acclimated just fine my horse pretty much claims her and she follows him everywhere or they graze with good distances between them. Well after the first few days they let the mare and gelding out into the field and left them over night. The next day the owner of the 2 newbies get a call saying the gelding went through the fence and is in someone else's pasture and is limping pretty bad. No one witnessed what happened, but came to the conclusion that my horse and another gelding pinned him in a corner and he decided to go through the fence. He hurt his pastern pretty bad and ended up healing in the barn for a good month. In the meantime the mare was already integrated with everyone else. Now he is all healed up and they decide to reintroduce him to the herd. They put him out and watched him for a while and he stayed away from the mare that he came with. (Oh that's one thing I forgot to mention, was that the gelding was really fond of the mare that my horse has now made his mare.) Anyways after watching the gelding graze for a while a good distance from the herd the owners left. Well they get another call that he went through the fence again. This time the BO says he saw what happened and that my horse chased him and corned him again and the gelding went through the fence again. I love where I board been here for years, but the BO is really less then reputable and kind of all over the place. So anyways now my horse is being labeled as a mean killer horse "that must have been cut late or has an over load of testosterone or whatever." And the BO is upset over his fences being broken of course. And that second time he went through the fence all the horses followed and the BO called the owner of the gelding and not me at all AND he BO had the owner of the gelding put MY horse up in his stall and no one even told me a thing. I didn't get to give him hay or water. I had to hear it from a friend/fellow boarder who was just as outraged as me. And it is upsetting to me because there has been zero problems before and now. My horse gets along with every other horse in that pasture. The problem I am seeing is every time they put him out and something happens they separate them and then its like they have to start all over again. Granted the horse does keep plowing through fences which CAN'T keep happening, but I am feeling singled out all of the sudden over these brand new boarders. My horse is the leader he has to establish that he is dominant and the gelding has to accept it. But no one (the owner and the BO) will let it get to that point. I think it is very telling that the owner said the horse has had zero herd interaction before he got him, and that he was getting into fights at a different place before he brought him here. (Also the BO is not as inquisitive to know those 2 facts about this new gelding, but I do mean to tell him about them) The fact that they keep insisting its his testosterone or he was cut wrong or cut late is really getting on my nerves. If it were to come down to it people have said the BO would choose 2 horses over 1 horse (me). Meaning Money. My friend at the barn has 2 horses there and she has made it clear to me that she would go if I was told to go. That if that happens she doesn't want to pay board to someone who can just turn on a longtime reputable boarder. I love that she said she is a good friend. I would never hold her to it this place is a good place I would hate to leave! What is your thoughts on this whole thing.

The one thing I just can't shake from my mind is that my horse gets along with every other horse that is there or has been there!
The fencing is board fencing though it is not in anyway new. Thanks for the responses I guess there is not much to do except explain best I can to the BO about all the facts. Or move. It is so hard to deal with ignorance.

 

[MD325]

If your horse has never caused problems before the new horse got there, I would suggest that they put their horses in a different pasture.

 

[noway]

Where I board, whenever there are new horses introduced, they are put into a separate pasture so that the other horses can get to know them over the fence. It works great this way. The BO needs to be more proactive. Broken fences happen. My daughter's pony has done this more than once. Our BO fixes it and doesn't complain about it because that is part of the responsibility of owning a barn. You should have an honest talk with him. Sometimes people start rumors and complain about other horses because they just like the drama. I've been in that situation, so I can sympathize with you. I took my horses and left that situation and came to the place I'm at now. My horses and my family are happier for it.

My best advice is to stand up for yourself in a calm authoritive way. They should understand that this stuff happening is common herd dynamics and it will end when the other horse realizes who is boss (your horse). Good luck...and don't put up with the BS.

 

[ladystang]

slowly and under control
supervision is mandatory

 

[Wasabi]

there's a mare involved.

your horse is dominant over her and the gelding she came with used to be dominant over her. your horse knows this and therefore...it's like a stallion protecting his herd....the mare is 'his' herd and he's going to protect her from the other 'stallion'....

doesn't matter that everyone is gelded. geldings are still horses and horses have natural instincts from years and years ingrained in them.

anytime there's a mare involved, the 'violence' is bound to be more than just a chase around.

doesn't have anything to do with your horse being cut late or whatever stupid reason people try to give you.

he's a boy and the mare is a girl and the other horse is a boy. that's all that matters to the horses.

that said....what to do?

it's a tough one. because this is a business. and the barn owner doesn't owe you seniority. some bo's do out of respect for the boarders who've been there the longest....but that's more of a favor than something that's 'supposed' to be.

you're pretty much at the mercy of the barn owner. this is what sucks big time about being just a boarder and not a barn owner. you're stuck with whatever the barn owner decides.

frankly, it sounds like there's not enough room for so many horses. sometimes 5 acres is fine for 5 horses, but sometimes it's not.

the fencing sounds pretty weak and flimsy. it should be at least 6 feet tall no climb fencing horse fence.....not something that is so easy for a horse to blow through 2 times.

the problem is....that horse now has an escape route....he knows he can break through the fence. so, he may just keep doing that.

unless the pasture can be divided, my best advice would be to have another place in mind before another horse gets seriously injured. it's not worth it. what if next time it's your horse that gets seriously hurt because of lousy fencing?

the fence should be very strong at a boarding place, but not all places are.

find another place and be glad that your friend is willing to stick with you.