Introducing a horse to another horse is a gradual process that begins with placing the friendlier or older horse in the pasture, leading the new horse into the pasture and letting the two animals get acquainted for a short length of time. Safely couple horses together, making sure to stay out of any conflicts that may arise, with important information from a farm manager in this free video on caring for horses.
In introducing a horse to another horse, it is very important to evaluate the horse that you know or that you are familiar with attitude with the new horse. Here at Palmetto Arabians we have a gelding named Jack and he befriends well he does not befriend but he tolerates pretty much all the horses, and we usually use Jack so we can get to know what the other horse's personality is. Most commonly we put horses together by their age and then by their sex. So it is very important to pick a pair that you are going to introduce or a group of horses based on their attitude and what you know about their history. When we join the two horses together usually we will have Jack free and loose so he is able to move around and we will walk the new horse into the pasture with him and let them smell each other and see how the horse reacts, the new horse you usually hold onto during this in case he is aggressive, and usually with mares this is never a problem but commonly we put Jack with a new yearling stud colt or two years stud colt and we want to be sure that that he is not going to hurt Jack. Once that has kind of gone over and Jack has moved on we release the horse and we will evaluate them and usually there is maybe a few kicks and squeals, horses establish pecking orders very quickly in all herds and this usually is to assist in that. So Jack does not really get aggressive but he squeals really loud and he kicks at great distances as warnings so to let the young horse know that he is in charge of the pecking order. If you have a problem with horses that you have joined together, this is this can be a real serious problem, do not suggest getting in the middle of it, let them separate, once they are separated then try to get one of them out as soon as possible but do not suggest getting in the middle of it maybe squirting them with water, but just like dogs these animals can be very violent if they are if they are fighting and i would not suggest getting in the middle of it.
Specialty: Horse Health
