Horse Tales

I haven't given an update as to how Major is doing integrating into the herd. I'm happy to report that everyone seems to be getting along happily. 

Now...

It wasn't quite so happy at first. While only Java appeared slightly aggressive towards him, for the most part the other horses just ignored him. And he ignored them, often just choosing to stand behind the barn just looking unhappy. And to top it off, Emmy and Java seemed bizarrely tied together, especially for two horses who had just tolerated each other previously. It didn't seem to be a good state of affairs for any of them. P. and I talked about it and we came up with a plan. 

I closed the gate between the pastures which creates two separate ones. Into one pasture (the one without the barn) went Major and Emmy, while nto the other went Java and Vienna. Emmy had never been aggressive towards Major and Vienna and Java used to hang out together before Java decided she couldn't leave Emmy's side. 

It took Major and Emmy a couple of hours to make friends and start grazing next to each other. Vienna was fine because she'd been ignored by the big horses for a couple of weeks already. Java briefly lost her mind and trotted up and down the fence line, bug was not in total distress because she would stop to eat. Day two had Emmy and Major sticking together right away and Java remembering Vienna existed. By day three I was able to lead Major and Emmy together to the pasture without any problems. 

So all back together they went. But then I saw the old behaviors beginning again, so we went back to square one, but this time with different partners: Java with Major and Emmy with Vienna. This particular pairing made no one happy, not even Vienna. In the end, though, they sorted themselves out and learned to make friends. 

Now? 

The last difficulty to sort out is that this is a herd in search of a leader. Bristol's place has been very hard to fill and often it seems they are all looking around waiting for the horse that is going to tell them what to do. I can tell that Java, Major, and Vienna have elected Emmy for the role, but she has yet to figure that out. 

It's a work in progress, but things are much better than a couple of weeks ago. And, Major has stopped his depressed standing behind the barn, which makes me very, very happy.