Those of us who are able to keep our animals at home know that they are aware of how things go. The moment you add a new person to replace you things go downhill fast.
Spring does funny things to our horses , especially when you have mares in the mix.
The horses definitely know. Even if the sitter is totally experienced and competent, she is different, and this can impact herd dynamics in a major way. As a former BM, I’ve seen it plenty- horses acting totally out of character, both to humans and other horses, when their routine gets shaken up or they have new handlers. I once had to leave a barn because the manager didn’t get along with my horse and his behavior rapidly deteriorated (only with her). If I hadn’t seen it, I wouldn’t have believed it, but it came at a time when I was injured and not out to the barn frequently, and she became his primary handler. Typically a bottom-of-the-pecking-order, submissive type, he displayed aggressive and dangerous behavior that has never appeared before or since (owned him for 12 years). It was just a bad fit.
I wouldn’t think too much of the sitter’s snark. Yes, it’s rude and unprofessional, but she was probably very stressed about the situation, and frustrated that all of these problems were occurring out of the blue. I’ve done a fair amount of farm-sitting and it is a lot of pressure, even without issues or injuries. That doesn’t excuse her attitude, of course, but I would guess underneath that, she feels guilty about what happened- even though it doesn’t sound like it was her fault.
I think that the herd absolutely can behave differently with different humans. I keep my pony at a co-op barn. When one particular person shows up on her night to feed, they all start whinnying & running around like crazy…because her response is to bring them in right away because of the fuss. On the other hand, when my car pulls in, they look up and then go on about their business because they know that no amount of complaining is going to speed up my dinner schedule 
Good observations everyone. I smiled as I moved the horses around today by pointing. I guess they do know me.
To the sitter’s credit, when I left I had both interior paddock gates open (two open off one) so all five horses were together. I figured that was the easiest (ha).
I don’t even pay attention to hierarchy when I’m feeding hay (I did not ask the sitter to feed grain, figuring they could go without for 10 days without shriveling away). If I toss a pile to Spot A first and low ranking horses are there, they are moved away by high ranking horses and go to Spot B to wait. If the high ranking horses were already at Spot A, they eat, while the others adjust. There are just three groups within the 5 since the top two (draftie mares) are best buddies and eat together, and the bottom two (young geldings, of the meek variety) are best buddies and eat together. Who knew so much could go on to mess that up. Perhaps I need a camera with audio. “Filbert, you know your place, get there!”
Anyway, she knew that I felt they could all be together. So she wasn’t putting any horses together that hadn’t already been that way.
[QUOTE=Sweetums Mom;8669932]
There’s no doubt in my mind that the sitter was the main problem, intentional or not. The horses are used to your routine and your body language. My very experienced friend/trainer/boarder house/barn sits for me when I’m away and even though she’s seen me do the feeding routine hundreds of times, she still does it a little differently and the process doesn’t go as smooth.
Slightly off topic…I love reading about other’s herd hierarchy situations and watching my little group. I spend a lot of time on my back patio sipping adult beverages watching all of the nuances and behaviors.[/QUOTE]
Totally agree - i used to know which staff member fed my last horse at the barn i boarded at by his behaviour towards me when i would handle him (he was a dominant type that if given an inch tried to take it a mile).
Sweetums Mom - i also love herd watching the dynamics fascinate me. I currently have 5 on my place. They are either all together or the old skinnier 2 together and the 3 fatties together. My mare (other 4 are boarders) is very much the leader - they all generally follow her, she protects the herd etc. But while she is the biggest and calmest she is also the bottom of the food pecking order. One of the geldings bosses the others around and think himself the boss yet they all follow my mares lead
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