Since the arrival of Blu we have been very busy, against the daylight hours of work and school runs we have now completed the weaning of Ben and Blanc, introduced Blu to the herd and put closure to the awful sad loss of our beloved Easter, lost due to colic on the 13th November 2015.
Moving forward it was essential to isolate Blu on his arrival, not only ensuring he didn’t develop any health issues but allowing him to recover from his journey and slowly introduce him to our routine, feed / forage and the herd.
Prior to his arrival Ben and Blanc were weaned…..
Taking the weanling’s to another field locally meant they were out of sight and ear shot depending on the direction of the wind. It was unbelievably uncomplicated and stress free….Two’s company as they say!
When the time was right, over a period of a week we put Blu in an adjacent field to the girls, not a lot happened but after a little showing off the novelty wore thin everyone was able to say hello over the fence.
Back in the weanling field we introduced Blu to Ben and Blanc. The three “B’s”, Blu, Ben and Blanc quickly became “three peas in a pod”. They say “threes a crowd” and it was Blu who soon stamped his authority and became “top dog”. Although he is smaller, he is nearly sixteen weeks older than Ben and has the advantage of his developed social skills coming from a larger herd.
After they settled and the pecking order established, it was time to take a walk down the lane to the big field.
Head collars on and off we went…….
Catori, PP and Evee were stabled and the three youngsters were let loose.
No running around as they were content grazing….
Until O’Deer!
This time it was Blanc that “sparked off”, let’s just say they all stretched their legs…… at least Blu realised where his boundary was? Obviously an essential element before being introduced to the rest of the herd.
One lap of the field and they settled and they were all left wondering what was Blanc’s problem?
Until next time the deer appears……..
One thing I am certain about, we don’t introduce a youngster albeit a stranger ie. Blu to an established heard if at ALL possible, limiting the damage of any accidents we introduced one by one. Although long-winded it seems to be the safest way in my opinion. There is no doubt the introduction of a strange horse is an upset for all concerned, I always fear the worse and will ensure to the best of my ability safety comes first. None of the horses have shoes on but a kick in the wrong place can have devastating consequences. The ground is dangerous with surface water making it slippery, running around building up a sweat in the cold weather is not ideal either.
Being a weekend, I had plenty of time to “watch”, early on a wet Saturday morning we introduced Evee to the babies…. Evee is at the bottom of the pecking order amongst Catori and PP, allowing her to show her character with the babies was let’s say “different”. She just stood on her hind legs a few times screaming….No running about just standing tall, making it quite clear she was the boss and it worked. What she didn’t know was it was a temporary position.
When all settled it was PP’s turn to be introduced.
Blu certainly gave the wrong impression to PP, I cannot even suggest what he was thinking but PP was very happy to meet him (maybe she thought it was Easter from a distance) but with one sniff of the new arrival she established her thoughts and chased him off….Blu knows were he stands with PP now!
Again, as the rest of the herd were now bored, they ignored all the goings on and grazed but constantly checked their surroundings. By the time Catori was introduced, the dominant mare that keeps all in order, nobody was bothered. True to form she came into the field showing her dominance, head down, ears back and spinning around but no body was interested, Blu was quick to work this out and one look from Catori established a distance between them.
The horses have redefined their hierarchy, they are well covered for the winter, have thick dirty coats but are safe, happy and relaxed. Our Foundation Appaloosa’s have freedom, they are “friends” and their physical and mental well-being catered for, now we can move “ONWARDS and UPWARDS”.
