Need reassurance - New horse owner

[Mittenkitten]

Hello I have owned my horse for 6 months and I took quite a few years off owning a horse … she’s been perfect in every way … very calm and level headed and just enjoyable to be around.

Until last night … I was at the barn grazing her like I always do and the barn has one foal that was recently weaned well they took the foal out and were leading it around … my mare got super interested as did all the other horses as the foal was whining some so other horses ran up from the pasture - it didn’t feel it would end well so I decided to walk my mare to her stall as she was still really excited but was good. Got her in the stall and she seemed to settle down but was still excited but then they walked the baby again by her Dutch window she then spun around and started rearing and whining some… she has never cared about other horses so this was new and now has me super worried… she settled back down in like 5 min and went back to happily munching on her hay but was super odd for her as she has never gotten like that about anything.

She has never had a foal herself. Tell me it was just a fluke thing and a lot of horses get excited in those moments and it’s no big deal she is just being a horse. She may be in heat so maybe a driver but it’s really hard to tell with her as she doesn’t show sign of heat ever I mostly can tell just cause her hind socks are dirtier.

[BrownDerby]

It sounds like she’s never seen a foal before. Some horses are very frightened the first time they see a foal, a pony, or even a toddler. The first time a horse sees another horse hitched to a carriage can be interesting too; or the first time they see a horse wearing a blanket. It sounds like she settled down fine.

[Mittenkitten]

Thanks I felt she seen the foal with the mom before they were weaned but maybe didn’t put two and two together and all the excitement around with the other horses running and the whining maybe was just enough to send her into a panic or extreme excitement…

Funny she has seen carriage horses and while super interested never gets upset about them… a lot of Amish are by my current farm so she sees them and watches always but again never acts upset like she did last night that’s why I was like oh no what is happening! Thanks again for the reassurance!

[2DogsFarm]

Normal horse behavior, nothing to stress over.
All horses - mares & geldings - show interest in foals.

I used to board next to a breeding farm & turnout had a fenceline that paralleled theirs - separated by a very wide alley.
When mares & foals were turned out in that field, my gelding would run the fenceline calling, tail flagged.
Mares ignored him

I took him to an Eventing clinic once & parked my trailer by an empty field.
When it was time to leave, that field had mares & foals in it.
My guy refused to load, stood staring at the mares & babies…
I had to move my trailer so he couldn’t see them before he’d get on

You’re fortunate to have Amish buggies visible.
I used to do a show - H/J - where they had a carriage class on Sunday mornings.
I couldn’t warm up on Sundays, if my horse saw those Horse-Chasing monstrosities he’d lose his marbles.

[FjordBCRF]

I’ll preface this with I am not a baby person, they are terrifying to me! This reminds me when there is a new baby anywhere and all the baby people oooh and ahhh and want to hold the baby. This is the horsey version!

[JB]

Very normal!

When my foal was born here, my steady eddy WB gelding who didn’t get worked up about much, lost it to the point HE, not my mare, had to be sedated LOL

So yes, very normal, and the fact that she settled pretty quickly, is a good sign She may behave that way another couple of times as the foal is moved around here and there, but since she settled quickly, it’s not likely to be anything as dramatic as those times.

[Renn_aissance]

Since you’re looking for reassurance I’ll pile in to agree with the rest.

Some horses do this about foals. Some horses do this about donkeys. Some horses do this about dogs. Some horses do this about their fellow horses who have (gasp) spots.

She went back to eating her hay. This is good. She may do the same thing the next time she sees a foal. Eventually she’ll get over the shock.

[Mittenkitten]

Thank you all for making me feel better!! I hope it was just a fluke and my normal horse will be back!!

I think I worry it’s a sign of herdboundness even though she never acted that way about another horse and this baby was never out with her and more than likely won’t be. But I really do not want a herdbound horse lol - I know I know it’s their nature! Thanks again!

[FjordBCRF]

@Renn_aissance

Some horses do this about their fellow horses who have ( gasp ) spots.

We were at a 2 day clinic this spring and one of the horses there was simply fascinated at my fjord. He STARED for both days…it was so funny.

[Posting_Trot]

I boarded my previous horse at a barn where the owner had a breeding stallion (TB) and also had mares who foaled there and were raised through weaning. My mare was completely fine with all of it until weaning.

The calling of the foals for their mothers (most of whom seemed to be quite happy to be done with the foals by then!) drove my mare wild, literally. She’d never had a foal herself, but clearly hearing the foals’ almost constant whinnying really triggered strong feelings in her.

So, your horse is showing totally normal behavior. Potentially annoying, but normal.

[endlessclimb]

It’s not a “fluke.” Your mare is behaving normally. Make sure you’ve got a decent handle on her on the ground. I think it’s funny when the barn explodes in sound and interest when the babies are out. Like everyone is celebrating the new arrival.

I took my mare to a Hanoverian inspection last year. A large part of that is mares and foals. She was absolutely fascinated with all the babies coming in to be cleaned up and braided, and seemed sad she didn’t get a “stall friend” to spend the night with.

[JB]

@Renn_aissance

Some horses do this about foals. Some horses do this about donkeys. Some horses do this about dogs. Some horses do this about their fellow horses who have ( gasp ) spots.

The real JB would lose his mind over small gray (white) ponies. Not other colors, not bigger grays. Small gray ponies

[goodhors]

Baby horse crying is SUPPOSED to trigger reactions from adult horses. Baby may be in danger, need protecting. We keep horses in groups, with the weaned baby among them. If baby cries, the older horses race over to it and surround him, then they look for the reason he cried. Seen it happen multiple times here, seems to be a bone deep response, this need to respond to frightened baby horse crying.

His mother is never in his horse group, so she is not among the protectors. She is kept apart for about a year, or until the colt baby is gelded as a yearling. We do gradual separation weaning from dam, foal never gets excited while being apart with his “other big friends”. Separations get longer, stalled apart overnight without fuss, until he never goes back in with her again.

Mare reaction sounds normal in a situation where many other horses also were quite excited, running about, noisy and baby crying loudly. She may need more exposure to excited horses, be allowed to settle, learn to not react so strongly. You can’t always put them away in situations, so learning to LOOK hard, yet stand when asked, is good training for both of you. She sounds like a nice horse, just needs to learn to not react so much. Her confidence in you staying CALM, giving reasonable commands, helping her stay calm, should improve with your time together.

[Mittenkitten]

She actually was super well behaved in hand I just got a little more nervous with all the commotion and felt it was better to take my nervous energy out … she got more excited after I had put her in the stall when the baby came walking back thru behind her - that’s when she spun around and reared a few times calling… the baby then was walked in-front of her stall and she arched her neck to try to smell it from her yoke and maybe whinnied a time or two and watch the baby walk back to its stall then started eating - the excitement was maybe 7-8 minutes total from start to finish I.e. the foal walking outside while we were grazing until foal was back in the stall.

Hopefully just excitement all around and I will try to do better next time just caught me off guard cause she is normally a pretty relaxed horse - I.e. horses running in pastures straight at her when I have her on the lead never flinched etc … so I was just caught off guard.

[Renn_aissance]

@JB

The real JB would lose his mind over small gray (white) ponies. Not other colors, not bigger grays. Small gray ponies

That’s rational. The closer they are to the ground, the closer they are to hell. He knew he was seeing demons.

The first horse I leased was petrified of cows and generalized that to pintos. The poor pinto pony who was turned out in his field! My horse was the herd boss and the pony had no friends until joined by a fellow exile.

[JB]

@Mittenkitten

Hopefully just excitement all around and I will try to do better next time just caught me off guard cause she is normally a pretty relaxed horse - I.e. horses running in pastures straight at her when I have her on the lead never flinched etc … so I was just caught off guard.

I think we’ve alllll been caught off guard in situations where the horse has never “misbehaved”, and suddenly does for whatever reason. It just takes experience in general, and learning to pay closer attention to your horse specifically for the early warning signs, however subtle they are, to immediately get into Ready Mode in case something does happen. And then it takes a few times of that before you can go into Ready Mode without inadvertently signaling to your horse “oh crap, my human is on alert, danger danger!” LOL

@Renn_aissance

That’s rational. The closer they are to the ground, the closer they are to hell. He knew he was seeing demons.

[chestnutmarebeware]

I had a horse that was terrified of minis. He thought they were demons of the underworld, and I can’t say he was wrong!

[Posting_Trot]

My current horse is scared of minis and of a Landseer (aka “pinto”) Newfoundland who lives down the road who, to be honest, is as big as any mini.

And my horse also loves gray ponies!

[SuzieQNutter]

Don’t worry. Your horse is normal.

You did the right thing by putting her away.

Just for your information, horses do not whine. Did you mean whinney? Mares neigh, scream, whinney or nicker.

And you can change the word baby to foal.

You might want to take some lessons in groundwork so you know what to do next time.

[FjordBCRF]

@JB

think we’ve alllll been caught off guard in situations where the horse has never “misbehaved”, and suddenly does for whatever reason. It just takes experience in general, and learning to pay closer attention to your horse specifically for the early warning signs, however subtle they are, to immediately get into Ready Mode in case something does happen.

My normally very mild mannered guy has had two instances of “out of character”. The first was after a horse in the barn was put down. It was shortly after I got him and he didn’t get super worked up, but he was unsettled and searching.

The second time, one of the minis that we pass on the trails had passed away in the field and the owner had a tarp over him. She gave me the heads up and even though he couldn’t see it was the mini he absolutely knew and was ready to get the heck out of dodge. He settled quickly, but boy do they know.

He’s not seen a baby baby though, I’d love to see his thoughts!