Managing the pasture bully - horse that kicks first, asks questions later

[connemarafan]

Background is this mare was kept with other mares for the first several years of her life, described as Alpha and would be aggressive but settle down with other less dominant herd mates.

I bought her and she arrived mid February and we kept her separate whilst she was on trial. She ran herself up and seemed very stressed. Tried her with resident mare and gelding, mare can be alpha and gelding is dominant but soft if that makes sense. She kicked the gelding and he was on 3 legs, luckily nothing serious but he is very soft. She has kicked the other mare multiple times since, fast forward to this weekend and the other mare has come in with several bad kicks just above her hocks.

Can anyone offer any suggestions (kick chains, hobbled, hoof boots even a shock collar?! I am desperate at this point!) or is solo turnout out only option? I should add my mare seems afraid and nervous without the others, she will sort of settle if I am around but in a pasture by herself she just paces and is visibly upset and yet she is so aggressive and explosive . The kicking without warning is what I cannot cope with, I wouldn’t forgive myself if she seriously injured one of the other horses.

edited to add she passed a five stage vetting during her trial.
she is currently on a buckeye balancer with harvest salt and 1/4 scoop of beer pulp with molasses.

[quietann]

Mine exhibited similar behavior. She’s definitely a “kick first, ask questions later” mare.

Individual turnout, with over the fence buddies and hay kept away from shared fencelines, makes her happy.

She spent the first 9+ years of her life on the herd she knew from the time she was a few weeks old, but it was a mostly stable set of horses, and there was a good dominant mare in charge.

[BlueDrifter]

In SoCal, solo turnout is the norm, as pastures are few and far between, and horses do fine. Your girl might need more time to settle in without being thrust with others. My mare came from the hauler, put her in her 12x24 pen and she kicked the smithereens aimed at horses on both sides – she had come from a pasture and this was her first confinement. She got over that, but she was a mare, and I always sought the biggest pen with only one neighbor…

[atr]

Solo turnout, I’m afraid. I have one that is apparently fine turned out with others, until he isn’t. He’s a big boy and can inflict some serious and very deliberate damage, so he has earned himself solo turnout with a shared fenceline. Everyone is happier, including him–he can go schmooze with his buddies, but he can get away from them if they start to irritate him.

[Highflyer]

Mine is ok with my other horse, who is both 100% a wimp and smart enough to keep his distance when kicking is imminent. If I need to catch wimpy, I catch the devil pony first and tie him out of the way. When I first got him he was okay living with other boarder horses, but as he finished growing up he’s gotten more and more dominant and did kick his last turnout buddy pretty hard several times (that horse also did not make great choices or learn from his mistakes about crowding him at the gate and running up behind him for no apparent reason, so it was somewhat deserved.) But they are both mine, and it’s my risk to take. In your case, yes, I think I would do solo turnout as well.

[TMares]

I sold mine.

[candyappy]

Some horses just can’t be together. She may be fine with a completely compliant horse but one that will challenge her may always be an issue. Thankfully mine have always gotten along and I had one mare who was so timid she was in her own paddock for 98% of the day so she could feel safe to eat.

If you have the place to keep her separate I would. Maybe over time if they share a fence line things may change and they can go out together.

[trubandloki]

@candyappy

She may be fine with a completely compliant horse

Or not.
I have a mare like the horse described in the OP. Kick first, think later.
Even the totally not confrontational, willing to stand out of the way pony is the target if the mare has decided where the pony is napping off by itself is some how not where the mare wants it to be.

[Posting_Trot]

I would go with solo turnout. Don’t think of it as a punishment, just think of it as a necessity. If she can share a fenceline, then that should mitigate the fact that she’s out alone.

I have a dominant mare similar to one described above–she’s fine with others right up until she isn’t. She’s actually fine with one other horse, a gelding, but he’s crafty and has her figured out. He also often gets used as the “babysitter” with any new horse, so he’s not always available as a buddy for mine.

Solo turnout has become the norm for her.

It sounds as though your horse has already inflicted some damage on the other horses, and if I were their owners, I think I’d be relieved if she were moved to solo turnout.

[CindyCRNA]

My big Holsteiner is fine with another horse being in charge unless he’s with a low horse on the totem pole, then he becomes a bully. He is now in solo turn out. Your obligation is to protect the less dominant horses.

[IndysMom]

Mine as been tried with several companions over the years. He was okay until he wasn’t. Solo is the only safe road so solo it is.

[NancyM]

A friend sent a mare here to board. I knew the mare, she had a history. She was not a big horse, but she was quite dangerous. Kicker, and would take other mares by the neck with her teeth, and “put them on the ground”. But she was OK with geldings or stallions, just hated other mares. So they sent her here with a young gelding, both were cribbers, and they were to live together. The young gelding was supposed to be going back into race training the following spring. But she was horrible to him, bossed him, moved him off the feed, and had him cowering and submissive. This young race prospect was not very happy with himself, any confidence he had was daily removed from him. It wasn’t being helpful to his future career.

I had another gelding boarding here, an older racehorse, who also had a reputation for being dominant. And TOUGH. I put the problematic mare in with him instead, and put the submissive young gelding in with the other, kinder geldings. Things improved for him. The problematic mare met her match, and was “bested” by the dominant gelding who was her new paddock mate. She got some bruises on her, lost some hair in spots. I never really saw what he did to her, but she learned a lesson which she had never before learned in her life. It changed her, improved her manners substantially. She want back to her owner in the spring, and since then, has been fine turned out with other horses, mares or geldings, no longer is dangerous to other horses.

[candyappy]

@trubandloki

Or not.
I have a mare like the horse described in the OP. Kick first, think later.
Even the totally not confrontational, willing to stand out of the way pony is the target if the mare has decided where the pony is napping off by itself is some how not where the mare wants it to be.

That was why I put the " may be" in there. I wouldn’t chance it on any of my horses!

Or like @NancyM said she may be reformed if she is put in with a horse who will put her in her place.

Just depends on the risks you are willing to take.