Antisocial horse?

[4horses]

Does anyone have an antisocial horse?

I brought home a mustang in January. She likes people and is very friendly towards people she knows. However, she is the most antisocial horse I have ever met towards other horses. If the herd leaves out of sight, she doesn’t even care. If she is with other horses she is a bully. And the others leave a gap around her or avoid her. She really hasn’t integrated the way I had hoped. She and my boss mare both don’t like each other and kick each other - they are now separated. Lots of ears pinned and posturing between them- turning to kick each other… She seems happiest by herself. I really find her behavior a bit odd. I expected a mustang to be more herd oriented and she is a bit of a loner.

She is very friendly towards me- doesn’t like strangers very much yet. Her social awkwardness appears to be towards other horses. Perhaps it’s just her dominant and independent personality? A clash between her and the boss mare? My boss mare has always been a bit reluctant to accept new herd members - some she accepts immediately and some she wants to kill. My boss mare hates riding with horses that jig or act up- she wants everyone to behave properly. The last gelding I had was boss gelding and my boss mare immediately backed down and allowed him to be boss- without even making contact with each other. They never squabbled like this.

I’ve had a mostly all mare herd for years and usually it works… Until it doesn’t. And in this case I think it doesn’t.

[Foxglove]

I have a QH Hancock bred gelding who dislikes people and horses. He really prefers his own company. He’s not aggressive, just gives that “I really don’t like you” look when offered any affection or asked to face the stall door for having his halter put on. As far as I know he was never poorly treated (and certainly not by me). I’ve had him 18 years --never a nicker, a warm look, any sign of affection, even when I’m holding a feed bucket. He’s a great horse --super work ethic. On the other hand, both my Zippo Pine Bar gelding, and my Playboy gelding LOVE me and follow me around like puppies begging for rubs and love.

But it’s been discussed on COTH before --the difference in the Hancock bred QH compared to others --FYI the Hancock mares are fiercely loyal, or so I’m told --never owned one.

[S1969]

I have one. She’s kind of a bully, but luckily the rest of my herd is passive, so it doesn’t result in any fights. They will follow her as their herd boss, but they don’t really socialize together. It’s not uncommon for 4 of them to be together and she is alone. She also really likes people more than horses. And she has some weird body language - she will lay her ears back like a dog when she is happy to see you - which is very odd for a horse. I thought she was pinning her ears at me when I first got her. Maybe the other horses also sense a disconnect between her body language and their expectations.

I have often wondered if she had been an orphan foal or had not lived with other horses much; I don’t know her history, but got her as a 7 year old after another local barn sold her - they had picked her up sight unseen in a rural area, so it wouldn’t be impossible to think that was the case.

[Marla_100]

my first thought when you said “ears back” when she greets you- We have a rescued donkey in my neighborhood who does the ‘ears back’ when he’s very happy to run over and get his carrot.
Very friendly over the fence to people, but seems slightly hostile towards anything coming into or too close to his paddock ( like dogs).
Maybe your mare was raised/babysat by a donkey??

[2DogsFarm]

I had a bred-to-race TB.
Failed his Speed Test, but trainer kept him as a Pony until I bought him as a 6yo.
He traveled with their racers, so never much by himself & I boarded him for the next 15yrs. So he was always part of - at the least - a small herd when turned out.
I brought him & my 2nd horse home, so the “herd” became those 2.
I worried TB would be buddysour if I took the other horse off the property.
Trial by Fire was a weekend horsecamping with horse 2.
Farmsitter reported TB cared not a bit for being Home Alone.
There was a much-sniffing Meet&Greet when I brought 2 back, but TB was fine by himself.
Your mare may be a variation of this.

[cayuse]

One of my minis is antisocial. Can’t be turned out with others as he will attack. It’s not the kind of fight where there’s a kick and some squeals and the hierarchy is figured out, but rather “I’m going to fling you to the ground and maim you” kind of fight. He loves his people but his fellow equines, not so much.

[Horse_Rider]

I assume when you say Mustang you mean a horse that came from somewhere out west, maybe held in the pens for a while? I don’t blame her! Having limited access to basic needs like food and water would leave some lasting changes. My experience with the half dozen or so Mustangs I’ve met is that they tend to be at the top of the pecking order because they actually worry a lot about having access to things. My OTTB was always middle of the pack or at the bottom. He’d never experienced a period of scarcity, so he knew the water or hay or grain or human attention would still be there when he finally made it to the gate.

There was a study that actually seemed to show horses found social interaction stressful and liked some alone time every now and again. Wish I could find the study… It’s been years, but I remember it getting eye rolls because they were acclimating the horses to time in a pen where they could see other horses but had access to food and water. Once acclimated, their cortisol levels fell and everyone was like “obviously!” but to me it wasn’t obvious. Horses are often seen as herd animals that need the safety of a herd and can’t bare to be separated even by a fence. Folks seemed to think the study failed because you needed to put them into a stall to prove separation stressed them. My take away was it turns out that having a bit of separate-but-together alone time ain’t bad once you’re used to it. I very much related!

[Scribbler]

In a lot of ways I’d prefer this to a seriously herd bound horse because my #1 favorite thing is to trail ride alone.

Yes horses are social, but feral horses do t necessarily stay in the same little band forever. If you follow the mustang photography pages they are always commenting on who has turned up with whom each spring. I would read the mare conflict in the OP as a stalemate where neither mare is able to fully assert herself over the other so they keep negotiating. Being in a restricted area makes the fighting more intense. Neither can escape.

[StormyDay]

My gelding stormy isn’t too fond of a lot of horses. He loves his brother and it’s the only horse I’ve ever seen that he actually likes. He and Thistle have a strong bond; but I’m lucky in that it’s a really healthy bond and while they prefer to be with each other they don’t scream and throw a fit when separated. Storm was turned out with many other horses beforehand and never formed a connection.
He tolerated my OTTB.
He thinks mares are boring and downright irritating when they are in heat.
He thinks the mini mule (that all the other horses love) is a pain and I think if he could he would catch her and take a chunk out of her behind.
Any time he has been boarded he has made it clear that horses are to stay away from him at all times, unless it’s his brother.

He loves people though. I have a feeling it’s because people don’t ever try to take his food.

A clients horse lives alone. I mean, completely alone. There aren’t even other horses in the neighborhood. He doesn’t care. Once a week he is walked to a boarding barn to take a lesson from me, and he could not care less about the horses. They all nicker and yell to him, and he thinks the grass is much more interesting.

Strange how some horses just really wouldn’t care if every other horse just disappeared.

[WildGooseChase]

I have an AQHA/FQHR/NFQHA mare who was super anti-social. Pain was a huge factor for her, she didn’t want to interact with horses or humans, she would just internalize, suck back, and shut down. She has arthritis and it wasn’t treated when I first purchased her. I got her on a good pain management program with the vet, changed her diet to be a bit less inflammatory (ie no soy) and she is doing much better. She and my other mare had issues at first (ended with a kick to the face that put my younger mare out for 60 days), but we made some changes, made sure food was not being fought for, and 12 months later, they are pals.

[candyappy]

A horse that loves people and doesn’t care if the other horses are around or not?? I would call that a blessing as you won’t deal with herd bound issues! Don’t question it, just enjoy it.

[eightpondfarm]

Mustangs usually have zero use for horses who are ‘dumb’ to the finer points of equine language. Anti-social behavior could very well just be her frustration with the domestics’ lack of understanding her language skills.

i see my mustangs move in precise unison, like a school of fish, be it in a large pasture or even more remarkable, when in a small corral. I call them my Land Dolphins

I have nine, they come from 5 different herds, hundreds of miles apart and yet, they instantly fell into perfect synchronicity when first put together.

[sweetsalute]

My older mare has never been overly fond of other horses, or people. She had one friend in the paddock when I first got her and cared not for the others. She then lived in a different herd for a few years and whilst she generally hung around the rest, she didn’t have any buddies. Will pin her ears at most horses when they try to say hello. Isn’t terribly fond of people either (unless she thinks you might have food…then she’s your best friend).

She did randomly decide she LOVES my friend’s young gelding, despite him being the pesky type that annoys the living daylights out of every horse. She also prefers the neighbour’s minis to regular sized horses.

I now have a second young mare who loves everyone, people or horse. Old mare didn’t want a bar of her to begin with. Now they seem to be buddies, young one follows her around pretty constantly and she tolerates it.