Does/did your horse have a special buddy?

PaulaO
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Does/did your horse have a special buddy?

Postby PaulaO » Thu Dec 03, 2015 5:55 pm

Bob was always a bit of a loner. He got along with almost all the horses, but never had close friend til Admiral came. They were kittycorner across the aisle from each other (in a 4 stall barn--Bob was second on left, Admiral first on right). Sometimes they'd go into the same stall and just eat together. They were side by side in the pasture, even walking in sync. One day Admiral colicked, went to the clinic, and didn't come home. That night Bob walked into Admiral's stall and refused to come out so we left him there to mourn his friend. Bob never had a friend that close again.

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Re: Does/did your horse have a special buddy?

Postby Beorn » Thu Dec 03, 2015 6:41 pm

Gypsy's a bit of a loner, though I think that it's more of a show than any active dislike of being in the herd. The boys tend to gravitate towards her, and she understands her place in the herd quite well - she'll be alpha if pressed, but prefers to play the heavy and back up whatever alpha-mare says. She's seems to tolerate twitty Arabians and crosses best, for reasons only she knows. Her last close companion, Tacoma, was euthanized years ago, and she was a grieving terror afterwards. She still goes out and stands over his grave. Figure when she goes, she'll be buried next to him.

Racetrackreject
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Re: Does/did your horse have a special buddy?

Postby Racetrackreject » Thu Dec 03, 2015 7:41 pm

Basco is a bit of a loner as well. He just does whatever he does and if the other horses follow him that's fine, and if they don't, that's fine too. He did, however; have a close buddy, Snort, an older Appendix QH.

When Basco was first introduced to the herd, he latched onto Snort. He would love and rub all over him and Snort would take it up until a point, then he would bite or kick at B and B would leave him alone for about .5 seconds. As their relationship evolved and Snort's old horse ailments started to come on, Basco became the protector of his buddy. Snort is now gone, but I have noticed that if B sees a chestnut horse with white (like Snort) he will stare at it for a while before moving on.

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Saddlebum
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Re: Does/did your horse have a special buddy?

Postby Saddlebum » Thu Dec 03, 2015 10:33 pm

I've had my horse since he was born 15 yrs. ago. He had a buddy that bullied him a bit so was always on the bottom. Then I boarded for a few years but that ended with just too much drama and he was alone. I then got him a goat. Goat was old and eventually had to be euthanized. This time, I rescued a standard donkey to keep him company. About 6 months later, I called a animal communicator in CA. over the phone for a reading on my horse. Just the two of them here now.

The communicator at one point yelled, "NO GOATS"! HAHAHAHAHA, go figure. This donkey keeps my guy busy playing which he just adores. I love it too -- so fun to watch the little 12.5 hh donk get my 1400#, 17hh gelding down on his knees in play.

Two years ago, a 85 yo friend calls me and asks to board her paso fino here for the winter. I say sure bring him over. We spent a good month trying to acclimate the 3 together but just wouldn't happen. Every time the little paso fino got between my horse and 'his' donkey, the paso fino had to run for this hills or get eaten for lunch.

Horse and donkey are about the same age so I expect to lose my horse before the donk has to go. So sorry for your Bob.

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Re: Does/did your horse have a special buddy?

Postby Hoof'n it » Fri Dec 04, 2015 4:04 am

Yea, after years of horses being in herds and alone and what not, you get used to having loner horses and buddies.

I have 3 or 4 pairs at the moment who are 2 peas in a pod and you will find them attached all the time. If one goes away they are loners until they get back together.
Then you have the very social ones who will be friends with everyone and then you have the loners who just don't mingle at all and will always hang out by themselves in the herd.

I have always found that if you have to put one of a buddied pair down, you have to try and make sure that the other part of the pair sees the deceased buddy, and has their time to mourne over the body.
If it means taking the alive buddy to the vet clinic then I will do it, it's the easiest way for the remaining horse to understand why the buddy will not be coming back.

If I can put the horse down at home and have the buddy standing next to them while it is happening - that is the best possible solution. It's happened before and will no doubt happen again - I have found that the remaining horse will grief less and get on without many issues this way.

gypsy still flies
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Re: Does/did your horse have a special buddy?

Postby gypsy still flies » Fri Dec 04, 2015 9:47 am

Gypsy was a loner and low mare on the totem pole in group turnout. When I moved her to the place with individual paddocks, she got friendly with Mystery until they moved Winston to the paddock on the other side. Gypsy liked Winston better. He taught her how to snorkel in their shared water trough. Then she'd play hard to get. I moved her to a different place 6 years later and she was turned out with wealings, one of whom was Rustle. When her mini herd would join the big herd, the colts would all take off. Gypsy would scream at the top of her lungs, Rustle would come back and escort her to the field and then keep her safe. They were good for each other. She picked Rustle for me. She made a great choice.

Rustle had always been the class clown. When I moved him to his current barn, he became herd boss. Now he rules the farm. He loves Flicka the pony mare, plays with Ranger, protects Monty, told the mini donkey I was Rustle's person and hates Raven.

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Re: Does/did your horse have a special buddy?

Postby khall » Fri Dec 04, 2015 2:12 pm

All of my horses grow up with pasture buddies and I try to rotate when possible. Right now my TO situation is pretty stable and I will not be able to change it any time soon with the horses I have here on the farm at this time. The two geldings I have, my big WB g and boarder older QH g, are the TO buddies for my rising 2 yr old Luso filly. The geldings were a much better option as pasture mates for her than the mares were, go figure. It is a happy little trio with them both willing to play with her but my big guy keeps her in line better than the QH does. I do have one single TO right now because her buddy has been stalled since June with significant laminitic episode. The single is a Perch/TB and she can be nasty with a hard kick, so only my older big mare who is very pasture savvy (the one who foundered) goes out with her. She is just too big to risk my smaller mares with. My other two mares are good buddies, with one being the dominant over the younger mare. I have 7 horses on the farm, 5 are mine. The only two that I cannot TO together are my big guy and his full sister, she hates him and he will not suffer her shenanigans which pisses her off to no end.

Briarwood
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Re: Does/did your horse have a special buddy?

Postby Briarwood » Fri Dec 04, 2015 4:30 pm

My Petunia had a buddy, Tulip - a miniature donkey. They were together for several years before I bought my farm. I convinced the barn owners where I last boarded her that Tulip needed to come with Petunia when Petunia came here. We worked out a deal and they both moved in. Since Petunia was getting up there in age (27) I found another miniature donkey while Petunia was still around. I didn't want to have a lonely Tulip. Little Joe fit right in with the other 2. Joe does like the big girls. He attached to Petunia right away. For a short time after Petunia I had another mare, a 16 hand TBxQHxPerch mare and Joe liked her a lot, too. That mare went back to the original owner and I have since rescued a pony mare. Once again Joe has a slightly bigger than him girlfriend that he follows around. The 2 donkeys do, however, spend time side by side.

Tulip was with Petunia when the vet came that day. That night (really the next morning at 3 AM) I heard a donkey braying and saw Tulip out in the lane that runs along the west side of the house. I went out and called her back into the barn and spent some time with her. A good grooming and some treats seemed to comfort her. She has been the princess of the barn since that time.

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Re: Does/did your horse have a special buddy?

Postby Code3 » Fri Dec 04, 2015 6:11 pm

When I first got Nito a little over two years ago, he joined a herd of three geldings. My OTTB has always been the leader, but in a very quiet way. Monday, the OTTB, had "raised" my one Arab gelding, Ty, who came to live with us when he was 5 months old (he's now 8 years). The other older Arab was a loner except for being friends with Monday. Nito bonded with Monday and went wherever Monday went. I didn't realize how bonded they were until Monday died suddenly of a suspected aneurism. Overnight Nito was frightened of everything. He was a quivering mess of "I can't" and "I'm afraid". His response to each request was an escalating "no!". It has taken a year of slow, patient work to get him back to doing ground work and being ground driven and ridden without resistance or anxiety. He is finally back to being himself again.

Less than a year after losing Monday, I lost my older Arabian as well, so it's just the two young men. They have formed a friendship that didn't exist before, but not like they each had with Monday, who was a dear, special soul.

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Re: Does/did your horse have a special buddy?

Postby Tabby » Fri Dec 04, 2015 10:13 pm

Lovely stories!

At my old barn, my horse's best friend was another OTTB like him, but much older. He was actually somewhat famous as he had once finished 2nd in the Queen's Plate. He was semi-retired, being used as a lesson horse for bigger riders (he was over 17 HH and gentle as the day is long). Anyway, it was autumn and they had been working on a shelter for their turnout as there were a number of outdoor horses and not enough stalls for winter. But an early storm blew through - it was terrible - and they didn't have the roof up yet on the shelter. They didn't have enough stalls for everyone so they doubled up whoever they could. Mostly they put the ponies in together in the bigger stalls. They ended up putting Hooley (the old OTTB) in with my guy because they were such good friends they knew they would get along. It was the cutest thing to see these great big heads sticking out of the same stall (my horse isn't little either at 16.2). I honestly think they could have been permanent roomies because they really did like each other that much. I'm pretty sure my horse wouldn't share well with anybody else before or since just based on his usual demeanor. But Hooley was special.


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