Your Horses' Relatives & Their Social Groups

[Jill]

For those of you who have horses who are related to one another fairly closely, do you find that they seem to enjoy each other's company over that of non-relatives?

I don't have a big enough group to test it and really see, but of what I do have, mares and their offspring spend a lot of time together which isn't surprising (talking about grown offspring -- Lou/Skipper & Firefly/Morningstar), a gelding of mine spends tons of time playing with another gelding who is his son (Derby & Skipper), aunt plays with nephew frequently (Khaki & Skipper), and uncle and nephew play together a lot as well (Bacardi & DunIT).

It's not that they do not also enjoy other horses, but they spend a lot of time with each other. I thought of asking when I looked out my bedroom window to see Khaki, Derby & Skipper standing together like they're shooting the breeze.

What about your horses?

 

[Lisa-Ruff N Tuff Minis]

My horses tend to have there "cliques" even though they are all turned out togther all day.

I have a 2 yr ld and a 3 yr old full brother and sister they went out to CA for about 8 months and came back when they came back there dam who is our boss mare and a grumpy one (and is almost totally blind) went crazy checking them out and "guarding them" from the herd as if they were little foals again. She has since given up the motherly behavior to her son but her daughter and her are very close

 

[hhpminis]

You know I have always thought this was kinda silly but they actually seem to know a horse that is close to them, even if they are not on the farm for awhile.

I have one client that I juggle her horses here quite a bit for different reasons, training, breeding etc. When one of her horses comes to the farm, the other horses from her farm tend to buddy up right away with them.

Kinda odd and I have often wondered if they know.

 

[kaykay]

yes definitely yes! i find the whole thing fascinating. I have dancer, who had tiny and then diva which is full sister to tiny. the three hang together all the time. Really funny to watch. tiny is going to foal this year so be interesting to see if her foal follows the pattern

 

[Irish Hills Farm]

I would say absolutely yes. I have Blue & Sassy who are both Lazy N Redboy granddaughters. Blue is the floater of the farm, she'll hang with anyone, doesn't care but I do see her with Sassy a lot more than anyone else.

Now what I find really interesting is Jinx and his son Manny. Jinx is stalled next to Manny and Lucy and checks on them all the time. He talks to Manny a lot. I've picked Manny up a few times and have held him up so Jinx can talk to him, and Jinx just talks this soft little nicker and goes nose to nose. And when Jinx is in his pasture, Manny (who is very independent) will go on over to his dad for a visit. My dad even asked if I thought Jinx knows that Manny is his son and I said I believe so.

 

[Jill]

Sheryl --

That is so much how I remember it when Skipper was a foal. I also thought from the beginning that Derby knew he was his son!

I think there is a way they sense horses that are closely related to themselves. Maybe a smell? Don't know what it is but they do seem to know -- even with horses like Khaki and Derby who are half siblings but never met until they were fairly mature.

One of my mares has a full sister at my former trainer's and those two would be at the trainer's farm or my mare would be with her former owner. They were together at one point at their breeder's farm. They've had periods where they were together, then separated by miles, and then together again. They LOVE each other so much and are about joined at the hip when they've been at the same farm (they are not together at the same farm now as Goldie lives at home).

ALSO, this is different but I do know that if you have horses who are friends and separate them (like send one to another farm), when they are reunited even if it is YEARS later, they will rejoice and show obvious elation at being reunited. It can make you cry but in a good way!

Jill

 

[RockRiverTiff]

Our hierarchy shifted this year and we now have a mini mafia. Initially the mare herd was ruled by a mother/daughter. We retired one and sold the other, and for years after there were two unrelated alpha mares; this year we sold one and retired the other (again) to pasture with the other seniors. The broodmare herd now has three sisters (born here) and two outside mares, and whereas the sisters, as the youngest, were the bottom before, they're the bosses now. They move as one, and like Jill's I see them "whispering" in the pasture all the time. It's the opposite with the stallions though--most of them pasture together in the winter, but I have had trouble with father/son pairs.

 

[Suzie]

Another thing is "best friend's foals". I have two mares that are best of friends. One had a foal in the spring. She and her best buddy guarded that filly together. Then I moved the filly to wean her to the foaling pasture and moved the friend too, since she was due to foal. The friend mare instantly took on the role of MOM and guarded this filly from all the rest. Fascinating to me. We took to calling her Aunt Fannie because of her protective mode.

And yes, horses do recognize other horses from way back. You can see two that have been apart for a couple years recognize each other!

 

[Irish Hills Farm]

Jill, this is the first time I have seen a stallion carry on like Jinx does over a foal. It is the neatest thing. Maybe it is a smell. Who knows.

Have you seen any of the documentaries on elephants? Those are cool. In one documentary two female elephants who had been in the same herd in the wild, were both captured and seperated. I think they both went to zoos or something, don't remember. Anyway, those two were seperated for 25 years and were reunioned at a retirement home for elephants. You should've seen them. They ran to each other, held trunks, etc. It was very very cool.

 

[Tapestry Minis]

I do notice the same thing. One of the mares I have named Fanci, had a filly in 05 and a colt in 06 and I still have both of them. When I let them all out together along with the other mares the three of them pow wow and hang together running and playing. It's the funniest thing I've ever seen.

Now I've been having to keep the filly and colt separate from mom as the colt was back to sneaking drinks from mom again. So she'll stand at the fence line and watch them play in their paddock.

She is also very concerned when any of them even the other mares are taken out of the heard if I'm grooming one. She's a very good matriarch and mom

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[Lewella]

I think they know and I do think smell may have something to do with it. I have three core "family groups" in my herd right now and the herd tends to split into 3 different groups based on bloodlines when they are turned out on the big 40 acre pasture.

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Here's my example of two ponies *knowing* each other even though there is no way they should have known each other:

I bought Silk as a weanling. At the time her dam was in foal with Omega and he was born several months later. I bought Omega as a long yearling. When I put Omega in the herd Silk was the first one to greet him and they instantly bonded! They are full siblings who had never met before but you would never have guessed it by the way the behaved. :new_shocked: I can stall them together, they will eat together with no fuss. It's just an amazing example of what this thread is all about!

 

[Songcatcher]

This is my limited experience in this matter. I have two mares who are half sisters (same mother). They are quite close, but I attribute it mainly to them being raised together rather than them knowing they are related. I usually buy two mares in a relatively close time frame. I have other mares that were brought into the herd at about the same time (from different locations and totally unrelated) who seem to have developed as close a bond as the sisters have. I have two "pairs" of mares in addition to the sisters who seem very close.

Edited to add: When I have bought a mare to add to the herd and not another mare in a close time frame, that mare has never developed as close a relationship with the others.

 

[marion 59]

Here is my story:

Last year a tiny,about 2 week old colt, slipped thru the stallpanels and ended up with the whole group of other mares.

His mom, still in her stall couldn't help him.....it was his 1year older sister which managed him safely into a corner and protected him furiously

 

[Bess Kelly]

I have several who are related. Several years back when I weaned a filly by removing her dam, she was left with a couple other mares who had been pasture mates. One was her grand dam. From the birth to today, her grand dam shows preference, protection and guidance. This same mare (the grandma) many years ago, was watched taking her 3 day old son to the fenceline to meet his sire -- first day out in the field! It was obvious as they were in the field for about an hour and she keep all else away (other mares/foals) and when she saw the stallion, she called to him and herded the little one to the fence far across the pasture. They all stood there, nose to nose, and after a few minutes she escorted the foal away very quietly.

This same filly was stalled next to her sire when she was weaned until a yearling. They talked and nosed one another very lovingly, no overt action, talked every evening at being brought in, etc. I figured it was "dad's" turn to babysit for a while!! He did a great job

: To this day, he stops any "stallion show" if they meet at a fence, as soon as he is close enough to smell her and not just see another horse.

I've sold and repurchased some. What a reunion when they came "home" to their other friends, even though it had been several years. They obviously knew one another.

It makes you feel badly when a foal leaves, actually. I talk to the mares before and tell them what's happening and why, etc., and then talk to the foals and mares together.

There is just no doubt in my mind that they know and remember others

AND PEOPLE!!!!!

 

[Jill]

Have you seen any of the documentaries on elephants? Those are cool. In one documentary two female elephants who had been in the same herd in the wild, were both captured and seperated. I think they both went to zoos or something, don't remember. Anyway, those two were seperated for 25 years and were reunioned at a retirement home for elephants. You should've seen them. They ran to each other, held trunks, etc. It was very very cool.

Good Morning America aired a clip of those elephants and also of a human handler being reunited with some chimpanzees she had cared for years and years ago. The elephants were at first put in side by side stalls. At that point, I do not think the handlers realized they had previously known each other. Over the night (they were on video), the elephants tore down the wall so they could be together!!! Both clips made me cry -- and I mean sob -- it was so touching to see how much emotion the elephants and the chimps have!!!!

Here is my story:

Last year a tiny,about 2 week old colt, slipped thru the stallpanels and ended up with the whole group of other mares.

His mom, still in her stall couldn't help him.....it was his 1year older sister which managed him safely into a corner and protected him furiously

That melts my heart

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