On Sunday, we moved Pistol and Lucy in with the boys for the duration of the project. All the horses know each other so we had hopes that it would go smoothly.
Lucy immediately got to work establishing her alpha role. Tex took some convincing. She kicked at him, landing a solid strike on his thigh. He managed to nail her square on her butt.
They raced around for awhile and then Tex ceded the ranking. The rest of that day he was an official outcast, and not allowed to be part of the herd.
Next Lucy went after Flash, who has always been alpha -- with every horse we've owned. He did not give an inch. We moved him to the round pen before things got ugly but not before Lucy kicked him as well. Flash is very arthritic and all the running around was not good for him -- and we knew that he wasn't going to easily or willingly give up the alpha role. He is very content in the roundpen where it is cool and shady, not many flies, and he can hang his head out the window and watch the herd without moving his aching joints.
By Monday, peace reigned. By that afternoon, Lucy had allowed Tex back into her herd and they have been grazing peacefully side-by-side ever since.
In the middle of the sorting out, I had to remove Tex's fly mask. We have been sweating in the 90s and flies are out in full force so they need the masks during the day. We take them off in the evening. Tex wouldn't let Brett near him so he held Lucy while I approached Tex. He circled at first,
But then he came straight to me.
He was worried about Lucy, but he came and he stayed and he was calm about his fly mask. I didn't work with him more than that. Lucy is very jealous of attention that goes to any horse but her and I didn't want to make life difficult for Tex. When Lucy goes back to her own pasture in a few days, I will resume working with Tex.
They go back today, if I get enough energy to finish the fence in this heat.
ReplyDeleteI think that might actually be a good dynamic--good cop, bad cop!
ReplyDeleteIt's always interesting to watch the interaction when the whole herd is together. But they always seem to sort it out among themselves. I think it's great progress with Tex that he came to you to remove his mask.
ReplyDeleteThose mares sure can be ugly when they want to be. *sigh* I hate it when they go at each other, but they have to sort things out for themselves. Glad you moved Flash to a private space so he could just relax without the drama. I think Tex is really starting to trust you, especially with the concerns of Lucy in the picture. Good stuff!! Oh, your Brett certainly is a handy guy! :)
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