New horse - introducing?

Question

I have just gotten a rescue / companion horse to keep my boy company and get some love. I've had Beau (AQH) about 7 months, alone, and he is not responding the way I had imagined. Lady (new horse) is a total love but he chases after her and tries to bite. He especially gets irritated when she's anywhere near me. Is this just normal behavior and will it sort itself out? Beau is normally great w/ other horses. Lady has arthritis and I don't want her to be injured.

Thanks!

Answer 1

I got anew horse- fancy and put her in with my 2 gelding- domino and snowball

Well we put them in together--watched for a few hours and went to dinner. When we came back, the geldings were still chasing her around and what not. We just ended up dividing the pasture in half. That solved everything and all were happy--plus they could visit each other over the fence---

we didnt have the gelding much longer after that, but im sure if we did, we would end up removing the fence and see how they got along after that.

Answer 2

As said above me....they are just deciding who's going to be the boss...or the dominant one! I have four horses ( 5 before that) and i dealt with this very problem with each one (w/ exception of my mare...who the others immediately noticed as the queen :) But its completely normal...with my yearlings i seperate them at first and slowly introduce them, never leaving them out at night when i cant check on them though! Pretty soon they'll work things out and love each other...it'll be okay! :) Good luck!

Answer 3

Ive heard of stuff like this happening a lot. Maybe hes jealous, he was so used to being the only guy, and maybe he feels threatened by her? Just try to make it positive for both of them when there together, give them both lots of attention. Or you could seperate them and put them in pastures side by side.  

Answer 4

they r just deciding their pecking order it should end in a few weeks

Answer 5

This is very normal behavior between horses.  Horses are natural herd animals and there is always a dominant one in the group.  Even if he has been alone until now, he still has that natural instinct.  He's trying to show the new horse that he is dominant.  Give it about a week or two before the social hierarchy works itself out.

If you're worried about your new horse getting hurt keep them in separate pastures that allow them to still smell each other.  Put them together for maybe an hour while you're there to watch and then separate them again.  Do that until they seem to get along.

I've introduced many new horses throughout the years.  I usually keep them in an area where they can smell each other and see each other the first day.  After the first day I leave them all together to work out the hierarchy.  The horses sometimes get small bite marks but nothing major.

Answer 6

They do have to establish a pecking order...

What happens too, is that you MAY be paying more attention to the new horse.  If he is the dominant one...he see's this as her moving into HIS alpha position.  He will punish her for it.

You can either separate them and get introduction through a fence for a week or two.  Or be prepared to move him away if he is being aggressive towards her while you are petting him or her.

If he is the dominant...you need to see and speak and pet him FIRST.  Anything else threatens his dominance in his mind.  And he will punish the horse that HE sees as being out of line.

It usually does sort itself out in a couple of weeks.  But if he's really hurting her or running her...you should separate and try again with supervised introductions for limited times...until they can get along.