- Apr 18, 2008
- 61
- 1
- 39
I witnessed an interesting situation this morning while out graining our 3 horses. We have a old gielding, a 10-12 year old morgan mare and her 3 year old filly. The girls are always glued to each other all the time. It always seemed our older morgan mare was always the dominant, "in charge" horse of the 3. She'll "move along" the gielding when he's in her way but never tries to kick or hurt him. He picks on the filly and she steers clear of his way. Well this morning, after I had put out the grain in their individual bowls, I noticed the filly was trying to prevent her mother from eating...she would run at her, pin her ears and even turned, backed up and kicked her hard a couple times. The mare allowed this and didn't respond back but to run away. I moved the bowls much further apart...still the filly was doing this. Eventually they both settled down and were able to eat from their own bowls. But I found it very interesting. I always thought it was an older mare that was dominant in a herd. And is it normal for a young horse to act that way towards it's own mother? Is there an explanation for this behavior?
