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| Mare herd. It looks like Tahoe is bowing to Her Highness. |
Skye was alpha in the group of three mares she was with when I bought her, then again lead mare in the Greenway pasture (though secondary to Magic, her big black TWH boyfriend). She was a very good alpha in what we called the Pony Herd, because several of the horses in there were small. The Pony Herd needed a good alpha as Ginger was running the show, and though we all love Ginger, she is a bit of a bully when she is in charge (not that I'm comparing her to Dolores Umbridge, but you get my drift. And if you don't know who Umbridge is, go get out your Harry Potter for Pete's sake).
When Leo was put in the Pony Herd, he and Skye fell in love at first sight. This brought out the bully in Ginger, who had no intention of giving up her second place status, and it brought out an attitude in Skye that I can only describe as "I don't care about nothing but my man." She and Leo became their own herd and the others became their own herd under Ginger's nefarious leadership. This also led to extreme buddy sourness with Ginger and Reebok. At that point, Erin decided that things needed to change, and she separated the herds into geldings and mares. In a smaller mare herd with Ginger, Skye was suddenly beta. I hate to admit it, but it was hard to see her bossed around by Ginger. However, I could tell that Skye was only going to take so much from Ginger, but that Ginger strangely could not see this.
Then Erin moved the small mare herd in with the larger one in the huge pasture. Skye got some scrapes and kicks, and we were all holding our breath hoping Skye would be boss mare, since she is a good one. She is respectful and well-behaved, and neither bullies nor tolerates bullying in her herd. Alas, it appears that the ladies all formed three distinct cliques, and Skye was not the boss of any of them. Ginger still ruled in her little pod.
Enter Caroline, a new palomino mare. Erin introduced Caroline to Symphony first, letting them hang together in the round pen for a day to get to know each other. Then she swapped out Symphony for Skye. Skye instantly became alpha to Caroline, then took that attitude back into the big pasture. I suspected Skye had pushed her way to the top, then confirmed it yesterday at the water trough. Skye took her place, and all the horses, including the leaders of the group, made way for Her Royal Highness to come through. Then they drank in the order she allowed, as she drank first then didn't object when the leaders drank beside her, but she swung her head and flattened her ears at bit at the yearlings and Phoenix (who just turned 3 but has a bit of an alpha personality). Skye also keeps looking back at her herd, feeling responsibility for them. Girlfriend is back on top.
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| No need to curtsy. She's not a very formal monarch. Obviously, since she is sticking her tongue out in this picture. |
But not so fast, that's not all good. Just when Skye and I were very simpatico, all this happens and now she is challenging my authority since she is now remembering she's pretty damn good at being in charge. So, she has been in a bit of bitchy mood (which may have been partially based on being in heat) and not respectful. However, I feel like I have a lot more tools in my arsenal to keep her respectful without being a jerk to her. I just need to remember to apply them in the pasture when I get her.
Nevertheless, I have had very good days with her lately. Saturday I lunged her over the ground poles and groomed her and let her graze nearby while I talked. Yesterday, I tacked her up, lunged her a bit to get her respect back, then took her for a short and lovely trail ride. She really wanted to go back most of the time, but she still listened to me, and I used her energy to my advantage in letting her march forward nicely and use her back over the dead limbs and little ditches.
Plus, I like that my mare is Queen. I just like it.
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