Are some horses ok with being seperate from the rest?
My friend's horse is a bit... not very friendly with other horses she's lovely but gets awfully grumpy with other equines (although strangely she's always been fine with Loki) but had settled really well in her new field with her two companions.
Unfortunately she has had to be moved - not my friend's choice - for reasons best not put on a public forum and is now a paddock away from her field mates, they can't touch but can see each other.
She seems pretty relaxed and happy with her new digs, it has after all got a surplus of grass but I'm wondering if this relaxation might be short lived.
Normally I would say no horse sthould be alone and it would be cruel to do this to them but she actually seems more settled than usual TBH.
So do some horses actually prefer to be apart from other horses?
A friend's horse seemed to positively hate others in his patch. Was fine either with or without them in sight, so long as ther was a fence between them!
It sounds like your friend's horse is of a similar mindset.
My horse lives on individual turnout, she has horses either side but none in her paddock.
I have never had a happier more relaxed horse, and I would never put her back in a herd!! she used to fight all the time and was just stressed out, now if she wants to be friendly she'll graze by the fence with one of the others, if she doesn't she disappears off down the end right in the middle of the field and ignores them completely!
Little Fuzzy (RIP) was exactly the same & lived happily on her own for many years with friends over the fence but not in her paddock.
She was happy to be a mum too with 4 foals over the years, but again had enough of them by mid August so we always had to wean them early.
Oddly enough in later years (aged from about 24/5) she was happy to go in with 1 bigger mare for 50% of the time & didn't cause a problem then
An old anglo I rode for years would put up with others in his field, and was a lovely old soul, but generally thought that he was much more important than anyone else! In his twilight years he was happiest in, only wanted to be out for an hour a day, spent the rest in his stable in teh barn alone. He made it very clear that was how he liked it!
My first horse loved her own space and hated to share. She didn't mind if she could touch others or not. As long as she could see others she was fine.
She didn't get on field sharing & was usually bullied (by smaller horses!)
Like LF when she was in her early 20's she did accept my 4yo Pip and they loved sharing. But if she was back in a field on her own as long as she could see Pip she was fine
she's lovely but gets awfully grumpy with other equines (although strangely she's always been fine with Loki) but had settled really well in her new field with her two companions.
but I'm wondering if this relaxation might be short lived.
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