I watched something this weekend that was very interesting. I got to watch herd dynamics in action. I have three horses that I call my old folks and they are 30 something, 29 and 21. The lead mare is the 30 something Arab, Sally. She is gentle but firm when dealing with her herd. Smokey and Gypsy are very docile and pal around together. Sally moves them around when the mood strikes her and they are very obedient.

On Thursday evening I brought a 4th horse into my small herd of old folks and the fun began! Tawny is her name and she is my friend's horse that I am taking care of. All my horses are very familiar with her and have been around and pastured with her off and on for 4 years. She is about 17 and not a real pushy horse but keeps trying to challenge for a higher standing on a regular basis. The horse she was pastured with is dominant so she was kept under control by him.

The usual sniffing, snorting and other antics proceeded with all the fanfare of equine introductions on Thursday evening. Even though they know each other they still go through these introductions and I enjoy watching them work things out.

The interesting thing about this was that the next morning I noticed that Tawny was pushing and chasing Sally around and wasn't being very nice about it. She had her ears all the way back, nose stuck out and just short of baring her teeth. She had never pushed Sally before so I was wondering what was going on. I had to work that day and was expecting company before I got home so my mind was elsewhere and I forgot about it.

I figured out Saturday morning that Tawny was taking the rest of Sally's food. She gets more oats than the others because some of her teeth are missing. With just the other two, she has no problem because they wouldn't even think of trying to get her food! I stood by Sally and kept Tawny from stealing her oats. Tawny was challenging me constantly and wasn't willing to take no for an answer. This puzzled me and I had to be vigilant so Sally could eat.

On Sunday morning, after standing beside Sally fending off Tawny for three feedings, I got to watch something quite amazing. Smokey and Gypsy were in the far corner of the pasture in the 'morning nap' spot and sally was following Tawny to the opposite corner. When I looked up again Tawny was standing in that corner watching Sally walk back to Smokey and Gypsy. She stopped about 20 feet from them and turned around to watch Tawny. At that time, I was still not sure what was going on and went about getting ready to go outside. I glanced out the window again and saw Tawny hesitantly take a step towards Sally. Sally laid her ears back and Tawny stopped.

Tawny was still standing in the corner 15 minutes later when we went out to get the horses for our ride. The other two were laying down napping and Sally was still watching Tawny. I sent my company over to Smokey and Gypsy to put their halters on and I headed for Tawny. Sally headed for Tawny ahead of me and I watched with amazement as Sally walked up to Tawny and touched her on the nose. Sally walked away and Tawny stepped towards me and I haltered her.

After that, Tawny did not get pushy with Sally even though I still had to guard her at feeding time. I had just witnessed what I had read about. The lead mare had punished the disrespectful herdmate and banished her from the herd for awhile. She released her by touching her on the nose.

Tawny was only over for the weekend riding and went home Tuesday evening. Everything is back to normal for Sally and her very obedient herd!