Moving up

When Little Love first arrived at her current barn, she kept a very low profile when it came to interacting with her herd mates.  She was cautious and careful.  She spent hours merely studying the other horses, watching what they were doing, quickly moving out of the way when they approached her with their ears pinned back.  She took every precaution to make sure she did not get into a confrontation.  She seemed like she was a follower, yet when you saw her interacting with the other horses, you never had the sense of submission from her part.  Was she really at the bottom of the pecking order or was she merely waiting for her turn? 

Today I spent some time observing the herd with a friend of mine (we have had some visitors this week, but I'll have to write about that later, once I process my thoughts).  I haven't had much time to do that lately, but as soon as I stood there for a while, it was obvious that something had changed in Little Love's attitude.  The main difference is with her relationship with Manta.  Where before she used to move out of Manta's way - although halfheartedly with her ears pinned back - she now barely acknowledged Manta's presence.  When Little Love walked to the water source and Manta made a mean face as if to say "Don't you dare come here!", Little Love walked right past her and drank out of the bucket without batting an eye.  Manta threatened her again, but just one look from Lilo stopped her antics.  She watched Lilo drink and walk away without interfering.  Ten minutes later, Lilo circled around Manta, tossing her head back and ears against her neck.  Manta backed away, obviously unhappy, but letting Little Love chase her away quite easily.  This seemed to upset Kira who showed up with her mane flying around fiercely. She tried to chase Lilo away from the herd and Little Love moved, but making a point of doing it very slowly.  Impatient, Kira turned around and kicked at Little Love, trying to push her away from the rest of the horses.  Little Love whirled around and kicked back - hard.  Both horses moved away from each other after this, so neither really lost face, but it all left me wondering if Little Love has finally decided to take her real spot in the social hierarchy.  I have never seen her challenge Kira like that before.

I feel that this herd, although at most times seemingly tranquil, has something cooking under the surface.  Perhaps that is the reason Little Love is not gaining weight nor is she going into heat like usual.  Perhaps she is still unsure of her place in the herd.  Or she knows exactly where she stands, she just has to make sure everyone else knows this, too.  She is not rushing out there in the middle of the herd to claim her space with kicks and bites, but rather is working her strategy the way she always does it - slowly but surely. 

Peace?

This morning when I got to the barn, the barn owner was already there brushing Kira in the cross ties.  We were waiting for both Metku's and Manta's owners to get there so we could try the four horses together outside.  I took Little Love into the aisle as well, just to take a closer look at her hooves and hair.  I haven't cross tied her since we started our new life together and believe I may have promised her to never do it again, if possible.  Lilo used to hate cross ties, but since Kira was in the aisle, too, I figured it was worth a try. 

She still hates them (and can you blame her?).  The moment I started brushing her, she pinned her ears back and even lifted her left hind, threatening to kick.  I believe she was saying: "I thought we had a deal about this??!!!"  Which of course we did.  I undid her head and let her stand in the aisle loose.  Which was a tad challenging since Kira was right there in front of us and there was all kinds of other interesting stuff to explore.  But luckily we are at a barn where people are not freaked out by loose horses :-)  And I have a little more patience than I used to have. 

When the other two owners showed up, we put the horses out.  To be on the safe side, we first let the three black mares (Kira, Lilo and Metku) go out again together.  They had already bonded yesterday and there were no problems with these three together.  Of course, the fact that Kira was in full blown heat might have aided this "union", at moments she was almost affectionate (and other moments not!).  Looks like Lilo is getting into heat as well...



Lilo on the left, always careful.  Kira in the front, peeing (she is in heat, after all) and Metku in the back, just happy to be part of the gang :-)

  Then we brought Manta out.  On Saturday when she entered the big paddock, she attacked Metku and after that everyone else.  What would happen this time?  I think everyone at our barn had had a serious talk with the bay mare, including all the horses.  And on top of that she had been separated from the herd for two days, so we were hoping she had gotten the message; if she wanted to be part of the herd, she needed to behave. 

I'll let the pictures do the talking...



Meeting, one of many




Synchronizing (the brown horse is Lilo, she just rolled!)



Kira and Manta saying hello to Metku (without trying to kill her!)



It was interesting to watch Little Love's part in all this.  She seems to be the complete opposite of Metku, who wants to make contact, who begs to be in the middle of things, who seeks the others.  Little Love will hang out on the outskirts as an observer; she is the shy kid on the block who never confronts anyone, yet will stand up for herself if she gets cornered.  She doesn't want to cause any drama and always approaches every situation cautiously.  Since Kira and Manta have always been very tight, it is obvious that if Lilo wants a true friend, it has to be Metku.  It was quite moving to see her attempt friendship with the big Friesian mare.Her "Spanish Riding School" antics have now been replaced with curiosity and careful kindness.  It reminded me of the way she approaches unknown humans - not much different!  Metku is the perfect partner for the introvert Lilo; out going, "talkative" (I've never heard a mare make so much noise!) and down to earth. I took several pictures of the two, but for some reason unknown to me, I can't get them to post correctly.  But here is one anyways (sideways, more like), just because.

I cant' tell you what a relief it was to see all the mares getting along.  The fact that three of them are in heat might have something to do with it (Manta is in heat as well).  Maybe the "happy family" will be broken in about three days when they all snap out of it?  We'll see...

Herd dynamics part 2

I went to the barn this morning to help the barn owner deal with the four mares.  When I got there, she was sitting in the tack room, thinking.  Apparently she had been thinking all night :-)  I asked her how Kira's leg was doing and she said it was alright (thank goodness for that!) She said she wanted to put Kira out with Metku first, and let the two of them sort it out.  Then we would bring in Little Love and see how that worked out.  Then, after all the drama (if there was any) had quieted down, we would bring out Manta and put her in a pen next to the paddock.  If this did not work out for any reason, we would re-assess and make a new plan.  Play musical horses and paddocks.  Whatever it took.

Sounded like a good plan to me. 

We put Kira out with Metku.  Metku was extremely eager to make friends with Kira, who had a whole other opinion about that.  She pinned her ears back, gesturing for Metku to move "the heck out of there".  Metku didn't move.  She is either really really dense and doesn't "get it" OR this is her strategy: "I don't care what you do, I won't move."  So, Kira turned around and double barreled Metku into the chest. 

"Oh, you want me to MOVE?"  Metku said and slowly moved away. 

Three seconds later she was back in the same spot, asking to get her ass kicked - again.  And sure enough, Kira turned around with her hooves flying through the air.  This time they hit Metku on the side, since she actually had tried to move (she is really overweight and not the fastest horse on the block).  The barn owner and I were watching this, hoping Metku would get Kira's message fast or we would have to go save her from getting completely beat up.  Luckily the second kick was enough to snap Metku out of her act and from then on she would move out of Kira's way from just a pinning of the ears or a threatening head toss.  We watched the two horses for 30 minutes and when we were sure they had an understanding, we brought Lilo in. 

Lilo was sooooo happy to get to be with Kira.  She obviously sees Kira as the boss and follows her with no questions asked.  Part of her distress yesterday had obviously been due the fact that Kira had to be isolated because of the injury, which left the herd with no leader.  Without Kira Little Love was lost and confused. 
Today Kira let Lilo get fairly close to her, but made sure she also kept her distance.  Little Love was very polite, as usual, following the lead mare's every cue.  It was amazing to watch the way they synchronized all their movements. 

Metku (this, by the way, means "trick" or "prank" in English...) was really excited and tried to join the two mares who were trotting around.  Little Love stayed in the background as Kira asserted herself and chased Metku away, over and over again.  Lilo's behavior, of course, was correct; she should let Kira deal with Metku, at least in the beginning.  This is what went horribly wrong in the herd yesterday when Manta decided to butt in and chase everyone away from Kira.  So in a way, she took over Kira's job, which in turn really upset Kira. 

After about a half an hour of this dance between the three horses, Lilo started making contact with Metku as well.  She would trot past her, with her neck arched.  Then she would stop and do her "Spanish Riding School" act with little rears and kicks accompanied with screams.  I had my camera with me, but every time I got ready to take a picture, the two horses stopped.  I wasn't obviously fast enough.  Here is what I managed to capture, which is not much. 

Once the three horses had reached some sort of peace = Lilo and Kira were moving around mostly as a pair and Metku was finally politely waiting to be invited to join them, we brough Manta out to a fenced area adjacent to the bigger paddock.  She was not happy.  She lunged at the fence, screaming and baring her teeth every time Lilo or Metku as much as flicked an ear towards her.  Kira came by to say hello, but then walked away as if to say "can't do anything for you, sorry."  Soon Manta realized that Kira was right; there was nothing she could do.  She found some left over hay from yesterday and settled down to eat.  She was definitely less stressed out now that she knew she couldn't go sort things out between all the horses or keep watch over Kira.  Which is a good thing.  All the horses were quite tired from yesterday's rally and needed to relax. 

After a while Little Love wandered over to Manta and at first Manta chased her away from the fence line, but soon chilled out and let her come by.  They even stood side by side for a while.  It didn't happen as easily for Metku, though.  Every time the Friesian mare as much as took three steps towards Manta, she attacked from the other side of the fence.  But, Metku was relentless.  At steady intervals, she kept trying to make contact with Manta.  After about two hours of seemingly zero progress, Manta finally gave in and came to the fence with her ears forward. I believe this may be the first time altogether that Manta touched Metku other than to bite or to kick.  For twenty seconds the two horses pressed their noses together as if they were locked into a kiss.  Then they both screamed at the exact same time and separated.  Following this interaction Manta still chased Metku away from the fence, but not as furiously as before.  Something had changed. 

To get an idea of how the horses are set up at the moment, here is a picture.  You can (if you look closely) see Manta on the very right in her own separate area.  Metku is on the front left, hanging out on her own and Kira is eating on the far left.  Little Love, who can't relax and has to watch the situation and every horse closely, is in the middle.  This is how the horses spent most of their time this morning when I was there.  The barn owner said she was going to keep the horses this way for at least another day, perhaps two, depending how Manta behaved.  She is definitely the key figure in this whole equation.  If only she would get over her co-depency with Kira and let Kira be the leader (or perhaps Kira needs to be a stronger leader?). 

Infiltrator

With her persistence and "passive manipulation" Little Love seems to have gained some sort of status in the herd.  She is no longer standing alone further away, but is most of the time hanging on the "edges" of the group.  When Manta tries to chase her, Lilo takes two half-hearted steps and then turns to look at Manta with her ears pinned back.  Even when she gets pushed out by Kira, Lilo doesn't go as far as she used to.  When the other horses put pressure on her, she moves, but she doesn't really move away, but rather walks around, to get into a better position.  I guess you could say that she is "making the impression of moving" rather than actually doing it :-)

Here Little Love is thinking about getting into the "sweet spot".  She is no longer under "her tree", but a lot closer.  Manta is still making sure she is between Lilo and Kira.

The two horses are obviously allowing Little Love to come much closer to the cover than before.

Here Little Love is in the background.  She does this "infiltration" in such a subtle way that sometimes it really takes a while for the other two to even realize she is there.  Or perhaps they no longer care?  Today when I was watching the herd for a while, it was mostly Manta who tried to chase Little Love away.  Emphasis on the word "try" as it looks like Little Love is not really allowing Manta to chase her.  And rather than chasing Lilo away, Kira would chase Manta, who would then take it off on Lilo.  In a week the fourth horse, a Friesan mare, will arrive.  That will shuffle up the pack all over again.  It will be very interesting to see that! 

I took Little Love out for a little walk today.  I wanted to see what would happen if we walked down the forest path without another horse.  It didn't go that well.  Ten points for Little Love for the effort though!  To get on the path you have to walk in between these big, black garbage cans and green mailboxes.  She did that part fine, but once we were surrounded by trees, she panicked.  She started running, wanting to race through the forest rather than walk through it.  She nearly stepped on me and I ended up in the bush, getting partly dragged.   I had to really assert myself to get her to stop.  Once I got her attention (by swinging the rope around in front of her face, but before that I had to pull on her hard one time... not something I do lightly), I turned her around.  We managed to get out of the scary forest at a walk, sort of.  So, our very first forest walk was about 20 yards long (well, 40, if you count the way back). 

Once Lilo was on the road, her panic went from a 70 to about a 40.  We walked down the hill, but I could feel her anxiety starting to rise again, so I turned her back home.  I stopped her several time on our way back and at first she wasn't really listening to my voice, but after about three stops, she started to calm down.  This "stopping drill" seems to help her self-regulate her anxiety.  Years ago, when I first met her, her anxiety would go from 0 to 100 in a second and once it did, there was nothing, absolutely nothing, that would bring it down apart from putting her in her stall.  And even in the stall it would take a while.  So, if she "lost it" during a trail ride, you just had to somehow hold on to her and get her home (preferably not at a canter). 

Now her anxiety can get quite high, but she can manage it and actually lower it without going home immediately.  Certain familiar things, like stopping and backing up gently, may help her regulate the emotions.  I often have treats in my pocket (I did today) and when she stops from my voice cue only, I say "Good Girl" and then give her a treat.  Eating a treat and the familiar pattern (cue to stop, stopping, "good girl"(conditioned secondary reinforcer), treat, walking again) sooths her and soon I notice her breathing get calmer.  By the time we got to the barn today, she was at a 10 on her anxiety scale so I stopped on the road and waited.  She spun around me a few times, obviosly thinking of her friends in the paddock; she couldn't see them, but she could hear them calling to her.  I focused on my breathing and a minute later she started grazing. 

I am so proud of her and happy she can manage to go from a 70 (out of a 100) panic attack to 0 within just ten minutes.  And all this while walking down the road "alone" (no other horses).  Each time we manage this, it is a testimonial of our trust.  I think it has changed her life in more ways I could ever imagine.  She is no longer immediately afraid of new things, but will rather "wait and see", or even investigate.  I think a big part of being able to do that, is being able to deal with your emotions, whatever they are.  

I will be going to Switzerland tomorrow for four days to finalize packing the house and meeting up with our movers.  My friend Melissa is going to visit Little Love and start her own journey with my wise mare.  I can't wait to hear what she has to say about the connection she builds with Little Love, I have a strong feeling that those two will be great together.  I have no doubt that Little Love has a few lessons in store for my dearest friend :-)    I'll keep you posted!

PS. Here are two pictures from Germany, from the barn that was built into a II WW bunker.  I was finally able to get them off my camera and onto the computer.  Just thought you might be interested in seeing them, since it was a pretty special place!




The "aisle" of bunkers



Bunker no 227, Little Love's home for two weeks

   

Sneaky Girl

Today I spent some time watching the horses interact in the paddock.  There is a wooden structure at the bottom of the paddock which acts as a cover from sun and rain.  The horses seem to find the spot right under it and beside it the best and most coveted place to be.  When Kira and Manta are down in the pasture, Little Love immediately parks herself under the pine trees, her bottom half under the canopy.  Needless to say, when Kira and Manta show up, they hog the "sweet spot" leaving Little Love to settle for another patch of shade under single pine tree on the left, some twenty feet away. 

This was exactly the case today, too.  After walking Little Love down the road (it was awful, the horse flies were crazy aggressive) and letting her graze for an hour while visiting with some people, I put her into the paddock.  Seeing that Manta and Kira were up in the paddock area, she walked over to "her" pine tree.  But she was watching the two horses.  At first I thought it was a longing look, but when I saw her meander towards the shelter, I realized she had been plotting something. 

Little Love made a circle, walking around the paddock until she came to the wooden shelter.  Without looking at the two horses dozing in the shade, she passed under the cover.  She never stopped, she never acknowledged Kira or Manta; she simply brushed by quietly.  When she was already walking away from the two horses, Kira pinned her ears back, screamed and kicked out.  Little Love kept moving back towards her tree, in no way disturbed by Kira's tantrum.  She stopped under "her" tree and turned to look at her two herd mates.  She waited two minutes.  Then she walked towards the wooden cover again, this time approaching it from the other side.  Right when she was underneath it, only a few feet away from Manta and Kira, she stopped to scratch her face (as if it needed scratching, to me this looked like a ploy).  The scratching lasted only three seconds and Kira didn't react to it, but Manta took the bate.  She lunged towards Little Love, trying to pass in between her and Kira.  This upset Kira, who considers herself the "boss" and thinks Manta has no place telling Little Love off, since that's her job.  Both horses "chased" Little Love off, who had turned around and was heading towards "her" tree.  But Manta and Kira wouldn't let her stop there and chased her even further.   When Little Love kept moving away, Manta and Kira settled under "her" tree, staring her down. 

And what did Little Love do?  She calmly walked over to the "sweet spot" under the cover.  It took about five minutes before the two horses realized what she had done.  Of course, once it dawned on them that they had been robbed of their "sweet spot", they chased Lilo off.  Little Love slowly walked to "her" tree and stopped to watch Kira and Manta.  It wasn't long that she started her rounds again, brushing by close enough to get their attention, but never too close to seem confrontational.  It didn't take but two minutes and the two horses had moved away from the "sweet spot" again and Little Love had it to herself. 

It was incredible to watch this interaction take place over and over again.  It was so systematic, yet subtle.  Silently, in her own passive way, Little Love was asserting herself and frankly she seemed to be getting what she wanted, even if it was for just a short while at a time.  It was absolutely intriguing to watch her bate the two horses and then get pushed away.  If you only saw it happen once, you would have felt bad for her, being pushed around like that.  But having seen Little Love work the situation over and over again I could see that there was something else entirely going on between the three mares.  Little Love was calm, never taking even a trot step when the two horses told her to move (yet always politely moving away), and somehow she always ended up in the coveted "sweet spot" - time after time. 

Sneaky, I would say, extremely sneaky :-)

Day 16

Today for the first time in at least 9 years (and maybe longer), Little Love went out in the pasture with another horse.  At her previous home, she would go out with other horses, but each horse was in its own individual paddock with an electric fence in between.  Sometimes the barn worker would forget to put the electricity on right away, and the horses would immediately use the opportunity to socialize.  But those moments were rare. 

Becky was eager to put the two horses out together already earlier, but I felt that Little Love had not quite adjusted to her new environment and it would have been too much to throw yet another "unfamiliar" thing at her - so we waited.  But yesterday when I put the horses out separately in the two paddocks side by side, I could tell from their behavior that they were ready to be together.

And they were.  We put them out in the morning, and as you can see from the first picture, it was quite cold even though there is still no snow on the ground. The horses sort of sniffed and then Little Love did her "mare squeel" which made Col move away politely but swiftly.  And that was that.  It got a lot warmer with the sun out and I realized that blanketing Lilo had been a little excessive (I don't believe in blankets, but she has had one all winter until now, so I worry that I shouldn't just take it off cold turkey...).  She rolled the second I took it off and then her and Col had a little canter, until they settled down to graze. 

It felt good to see Lilo with another horse at last.  It also felt good to know that she remembers/knows how to do that as sometimes horses that have not had the opportunity to learn this at a young age, can struggle with it later in life.  In any case, horses are meant to be together and although Little Love and Col are just a herd of two, it is still a herd.   With him she can relearn social skills (if needed) and perhaps some day she can be part of a bigger group of horses.