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RE: [RC] Sorting by colors and/or behavior - heidiI have known people who anthropomorphize with a passion and I usually chalk up the coincidence of their analogies fitting the reality of certain situations to factors of which we humans are not aware, perhaps pheromones or micro movements. Although horses have had thousands of years of domestication, the bottom line is they were, and still react like, prey. Ascribing their behavior to THIS fact makes considerably more sense than that they don't "like" horses of another color... Oh, most definitely. They don't "like" or "dislïke" a color in the sense that we might say, "Oh, blue is my favorite color, and I just look terrible in orange," but rather in the sense that they don't feel as comfortable around the horses of the "strange" color. This reaction may go away if they are around them for a sufficient time to figure out that the cougars aren't leaping on the herd because the odd-colored horse is there. But there are also other phenotypic things that go with color, and I suspect there may be subtle differences as well that we don't even see. Pecking order itself is a survival tool. Wild horses needed a smart alpha mare to lead them away from danger and a strong stallion to defend them. By viewing pecking order as PRIMARILY a survival tool and only secondarily as a social skill, it is easier to see why a horse's standing would rise as its ability to contribute to the herd's survival improved, whether through experience or training. I agree that as a horse learns, he gains confidence but that only accounts for how he feels about himself, not how the herd feels about him. A horse's standing in the herd can increase as he becomes more forceful but it can also rise when he acts smarter. But that is exactly what confidence does--it changes his behavior. It isn't just how he "feels" about himself--it is translated into the very thing you are saying--the acting smarter and more forceful. It is interesting that herds are more calm when #1 is of the "good cop" variety than when s(he) is a bully. Ponies are acknowledged as being more feral (closer to the wild state) than horses. They've been call sneaky, wily, too smart for their own good. If pecking order were always about brute force, they would never be at the top yet hardly any of us hasn't heard of a pasture whose #1 is a little pony. I was blessed with one of those "benevolent dictator" mares for over 20 years. She was my foundation broodmare, and came onto our place as a scrawny, undernourished 2-year-old. Dad had two mares at the time--a big Appy and a big QH, both of which were vigorously jockeying for position as #1. Rishira walked out into the pasture, took about a minute to "clean house," and we never had another argument on the place again, even when she eventually became "queen" over quite a bunch of broodmares. There was peace in the ranks, and nobody fussed or pecked. But what I find even more interesting is that even though she is long gone, there is still relative peace in my broodband--I think they all got used to living that way, and when she died, nobody felt any need to pick on anybody. I can tell you who some of the more alpha mares are out there, but I honestly can't tell you who is "the" boss (close to 30 head out there) because it just isn't that clear-cut. More like some kind of an "alpha committee" of some sort. What I find even more interesting with this group of mares is how well they react as a herd when the need arises. All up and down this valley, the elk literally plague us in the winter--and as I drive up and down the highway, I see elk time and time again in eating with the horses. (That's quite an economic drain, given that there's a herd of about 140 in my neighborhood alone.) I free feed big bales, and was really concerned about that when I first moved back here. But these girls have established a "perimeter" (it isn't the property line, but it is a long way from the big bales) and if the sentry elk cross that imaginary line, all the heads and tails go up and it resembles a cavalry charge. Poor elk are scared spitless of these mares! (They actually ran one dumb young spike bull into my driveway fence winter before this past one, and he got hung up--I had to drag his carcass out of my driveway...) I think the wolves might have a tough time with these ladies... Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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