New horse in established herd

[KimC]

Hi all
Just found this site and just bought new horse after a 20 year break!! Could do with a bit of advice though as all my previous horsy knowledge is a bit rusty. I have a 4 1/2 year old cob gelding who has been grazing with 8 others for about a week. All was fine to start with, usual boisterous behaviour. But yesterday I had to segregate him as he was bitten quite badly and kicked several times by one or more of the other horses. At the moment he is split off from them by an electric fence, though I don't know how long to keep them apart or what else to do. The established herd is mixed mares/geldings and I do realise that there has to be a pecking order. Any one any suggestions?:(

[katieB]

I could be wrong but Im sure I read somewhere that its best to leave the horse where it is to establish the pecking order. A few bites and kicks are necessary to do this - the lead horse has to let your horse know whos the boss. Although I would draw a line if the bullying doesnt let up or gets worse but ive never known a horse to have to be moved out of a field permanently because of this. My horse is arriving tommorow so hopefully she will fit in ok!

[galadriel]

The traditional method of introducing a new horse to an established herd is this:

Section off an area where you can put the new horse, so he can interact across the fenceline with the herd. He'll get to know them without much possibility for damage to himself or the herd--unless someone is really aggressive and he is aggressive back, in which case they can still do damage to each other. It's not common.

After about a week, the herd and the new horse should be fairly well relaxed with respect to each other; neither horses in the herd nor the new horse should be charging the fence or making any sort of major display across the fence. If it takes longer, keep waiting.

Take a middle-ranked horse from the herd, or a horse who doesn't have a good buddy. This should be a fairly agreeable, friendly-to-other-horses horse. (sometimes pairs of horses bond very firmly). Put the herd horse in with the new horse. They will establish dominance between themselves, but it should be without too many sparks. Let them stay together for another week or so, until everyone's pretty calm with the arrangement.

Now return both horses to the herd. The new horse will have a buddy in the form of his temporary companion, and he'll have a starting point for his place in the herd heirarchy. In addition, the other horses will be more familiar with the new horse after seeing him just across the fence during all this time.

It's time-consuming, but it is generally fairly safe. And if two horses are not going to get along, after about two weeks they will likely still be at it across the fence--you'll be warned not to put them together.

[KimC]

Thanks a lots folks.
I'm going to try Galadriels method. Watch this space!!
Byee Kim:)