Another try

Have you ever seen a horse who won't compete for food? Baasha is a horse who finds it better to stand back and wait until everyone's done, and then eat what is left, even when there are extra piles or extra room at the feeder. Food has never been a priority for Baasha. I remember Petra saying, "Oh you have to grab Baasha and PULL him over to the food and show him he can eat" and I thought, "That's why he's so thin, he isn't pulled to the food often enough by someone. " (*roll eyes*)

We've got this Icelandic pony here and she is low ranking as they promised, and has never made a face at Baasha, but it doesn't matter to him, he relinquishes food out of habit. I think the pony mare is surprised by her new powers to move bigger horses around. But I don't see her abusing this, she just walks over amicably and Baasha departs.

Will he figure it out, will this change? Time will tell - but how much time do I give it before I'm just fattening a neigbhor's pony and my horse starts to drop weight?

I won't even go to the shared shelter idea - our new run-in is closed for business until the two of them reach an understanding.

"Where am I?" she frantically explored the perimeter, something Baasha never did. (When Baasha first arrived here, he lay down and went to sleep on the grass.)





"Don't leave me!"





There are two other piles of hay but he watched her eat instead.





The best thing so far, which is unbelievable - when I give them each a bucket of beet pulp, she won't steal his after she's done. She stands there and stares at him but she won't take it. This is her lifetime habit of being low ranking, I suppose.





It's difficult for me to not know how this will work out. Will she figure out she can steal his mashes or will he figure out he doesn't have to give it to her?





This is why most people separate their senior horses at feeding times, or use nose bags. But here it's not just about food, it's about sharing a shelter and we did not build a shelter for a companion horse's exclusive use. We bought it specifically for two horses to use, understanding that they'd have to be good friends in order to share. I've seen Baasha share with horsey friends, so I know it's possible.



Since she kicked the crap out of him when they first met yesterday, he's too intimidated to be in closed spaces or even narrow areas with her. (It was really awful to see, he tried to defend himself and slipped and fell down and she ended up on top of him and he couldn't get up.) I would have returned her right then except that I believe she was being defensive of her space, not outright attacking him. Baasha just wants to be friends and his friendliness was too much for her.

ACK, while I was typing this I went out to take the horses to pasture. Since I'm afraid she'll founder on our grass, I separated them on different sections of the field. It took her 10 seconds to decide she'd rather be with Baasha and she just blasted through our fence. I guess she has so much hair electric fence doesn't bother her. (Ronny the Shetland colt used his thick fur to blast through fences, there was no containing him but he never went far. The neighbors all had individual complaints about finding him in their gardens. Oh dear Ronny, the last horse Baasha was ever the boss of!)

I guess the fact that I would not be able to separate her if I need to is relevant. I see a long walk home in our future. (I walked her here.)