what makes horses want to be friends with each other?

[*millie*]

I hope this makes sense lol, i couldnt think how to word the question.

What is it that makes one horse want to be friends with another?

In Pride's field most of the horses split off into pairs and stay together all day. My old loan pony and his friend were totally inseperable (loan pony would jump stable door from standstill to get to his friend). One horse on my yard HATES other horses, will bite/kick/charge other horses, all except one gelding who he will happily groom and be near.

What qualities do horses look for in friends?

Hope that made some sort of sense to you

[CurlyWurlyRach]

i get what you mean.
i think its like with people really, maybe they just get on with certain horses.
Curly looks for a horse that is dominant as she is happily bottom of the pecking order and runs and hides if another horse look at her funny
so she gets on well with the alpha mare onnce shes realised that curly is no threat.
(Curly is so shy that her and the alpha are now alone in their own field)

[lamprellsarah]

i think a lot of the time it has to do with what they are like themsleves.

i mean all the horses want to be friends with the top mare because they can pull themselves up the ranking themsleves if they are friends with them.

the grumpy horse at our stables likes the bad girls, the big and nasty she is to people/ other horses the better. He dropped his old GF for the new 16hh mean chesnut mare.

my mare loves to play and generally be very affectionate so her BF is a small gelding (but stallion acting) who gives her lots of attention. She does like a closely knit herd and therefore will always keep close to the mares too.

the old pony of the yard gets very attached to what ever other horse his owner has.

the geldings definatly don't get on with each other and some of the geldings don't even like some of the mares as they like to protect their girl. the girls mix much more happily

they are paired off at our yard there are fewer geldings, but the ones there are, are all paried off to mares.

[funkyfilly_sos]

It makes sense to me. I've been wondering that myself aswell but I asked around and got some answers (dunno whether they are totally correct though)

I've been told that horses depend very much on smell when they 'choose' their friends so if a horse doesn't smell right to another horse he wont like him, but another horse might. (I think this is ment to be talking about natuaral smell, not 'I haven't been washed for years' smell)

Plus I've been told some horse just like each other because of they do. They just enjoy that horse's company and not the other one's.
I've also been told that in the wild there is a higherarcy (however you spell it?? ) which means there is a leader and it sort of goes down from there. So a horse may have certain pals because of where they are in the heards higherarcy.

Mind you, didn't really answer the question when I asked about it to my 'knowledgeable' friends just confused me. Sorry if I confused you and I'd appreciate anyone telling me wheather I was right or wrong?

[Scarlett 001]

In the past few months, Skeetey has become particularly good friends with a horse called Dale - they just stand together all the time, play with the jolly ball and play in general.

Dale was "top horse" in the gelding paddock of about 10 horses. When Skeeter was first introduced, he was testing the waters trying to be top horse. On Day #1 in the field, he threatened to kick Dale, and Dale (a huge clydes/tb x) just stood there as if to say "who the heck are you" and Skeetey diplomatically left it alone. They've always gotten along fine, but now about a year later they have become totally close to one another - always standing with one another just chilling out! Dale is probably top horse still, and Skeetey is pretty darn high up - I think they respect each other, and yet can still have a laugh together too (or a good time, since horses don't laugh!).

This is Dale on that very first day he met Skeeter, checking out the pesky new boy in turnout! Dale is the guy in the front of the piccy staring at Skeeter.

[Sarah1710]

Originally Posted by lamprellsarah

the geldings definatly don't get on with each other and some of the geldings don't even like some of the mares as they like to protect their girl. the girls mix much more happily

It is the opposite scenario on our yard ATM. The three geldings keep themselves to themselves and are quite happy in each other's company, grazing and playing together, yet the mares regularly kick, bite, shred each other's rugs, fight at the gate, etc, etc. One mare came in with a lovely bald patch above her eye yesterday where one of the other mares had bitten her and refused to let go.

Flyer is a 14hh Welsh D, and he is always with either Tiny (a 17.2hh Clydesdale who follows him everywhere), or Peanut (the YO's shetland) who he has great fun playing with. Out of 6 mares, there is only one he will graze with or even stand by.

[eml]

I love watching herd dynamics.

We separate ours into ponies and horses except for a few 'problems'. So each field has mixed geldings and mares. They tend to split into subherds, we have more mares than geldings so each gelding seems to have their own gang in the pony field. The overall boss however is a mare. There are several pair bonded ponies some of whom even share a partially divided stable (low wall betweeen them)

The horses are far more independent and have freindships without the close bond and often can be at opposite ends of the field. However when it comes to going in they do show pair behaviour.


Generally friends are

1. similar size
2. similar age
3. generally work together
4. close in the herd hierarchy

[Cupcake]

I've always wondered this as well. Unfortunately my mare is extremely moody and choosy of her friends. She can be very aggressive to other horses who like to challenge her. She's happy if she's the dominant mare. Luckily it is just her and cupcake in the paddock atm. Skye's taken a shine to cupcake, i think because of her size, very tiny, and because she's not going to challenge her at all. They've become firm friends, to the extent that skye doesn't kick her when they're together, sounds strange but this is the opposite of what would normally happen.

[Bronya]

Horses that have spent a lot of time alone together always seem to form an attachment, regardless of personality. My two did, and it stuck. Sunny annoys Mysti like crazy most of the time - she's immature, and frightened of things. Yet Mysti let her have some of her dinner tonight, seeing as Sunny didn't have any. If Sunny's truly scared, Mysti will let her barge into her and all sorts. If she isn't, she gets short shrift. They defend each other too, and look out for one another like family really. Once Sunny had obviously been too annoying and no one would graze with her. Mysti let it go for about a day, then reluctantly left her friends to graze with Sunny - sort of, friends are good, but you've got to look after family. I think they know they'll stay together as they're both mine, so feel it's worth making the effort with each other.