Re: herd mentality

[Dbeverly4@aol.com]

Hi Ridecampers, I'm the one who started out the herd mentality question.  A
lot of good posts on the subject.  I tried the "horse whisperer" type of
approach and that sort of worked (but only if I was there with a whip in my
hand--once back in the field, wham back at the war).  I've been ponying the
youngster off of the oldster and that works, but again, once back in the field
-- whammo.  An interesting observation I've had in watching my two geldings
duke it out -- they were being territorial, all right -- over me!  when I
removed myself from their line of sight (which was hard to make myself do)
they stopped fighting and started grazing.  They gradually got used to each
other and have stopped the really bad stuff.  I'm not positive really which
approach worked in the end (since I tried them all).  However, not standing
there and watching the show seemed to do the trick.  Interestingly nobody ever
got bloodied, a few surface scratches and that's it.   It really did look like
more serious fighting than I've ever seen, but clearly they didn't intend to
kill each other (it just looked that way!)  They still don't like each other
and look out when I go to get one from the field -- they are both dominant and
I've had to start getting REALLY dominant with them so that nobody gets hurt.
They both treat me with respect, it is just in relationship to each other that
things get gnarly.  So we have achieved a truce, albeit a grudging one!
Anyway, thanks for all the helpful advice!  We're always learning.

Sylvia & Harca and Star who sort of tolerate each other