Horses, Hierarchy, and Hormones

It’s been a wild spring at my place with horses.  After Ella’s unexpected death, Faraona and Diva were jittery.  Ella had been the leader of the herd and the other two relied on her to keep them safe.  Ella was the one who noticed everything in their environment and made the decision whether they could ignore something or whether they needed to react.  Without her guidance, Faraona and Diva had to decide for themselves.  But where that had been easy for Ella with her natural leader energy, for these two, it was nerve-wracking.  When they were eating their rations from their buckets, they would take a mouthful and then jerk up to look around – to sense if there was any danger lurking.  Clearly, this was a situation that needed to change.  Jittery, jumpy horses are no fun to ride and not very useful as trauma therapists to humans.

But in a way that I can only understand as synchronistic, Ella’s death allowed two new horses to come into my herd.  I had been looking for a pony all winter to replace my dear Holly – with no luck.  The one pony I spent money for a pre-purchase vet exam failed the exam.  Money wasted.  Holly’s breeder, Suzie, was helping me to look for a pony and we had decided to go to a big horse auction that was to be held at the beginning of April, where we knew there would be some pretty good ponies.  But the day after Ella died, Suzie texted me to say that she had found the pony for me on Kijiji in BC.  In fact, Suzie had owned this pony at one time and was eager to see her come to my place.  The decision was made to buy this palomino pony, based on a few videos from the current owner, and Suzie’s whole-hearted endorsement.  She would come by transport from BC in two weeks.

I had been thinking about looking for another riding horse for myself now that Ella was gone, a well-broke trail horse.  So I checked out the auction sale catalogue and saw a little Gypsy Vanner horse that looked promising.  I decided to go try her out at the owner’s place the week before the auction.  This little horse locked eyes on me the moment I got out of the car.  She was the leader of her herd, even though she was smaller than the other horses.  As I approached her in her pen, she showed no fear, just curiosity.  And I had never felt such calm and confident energy in a horse – not even in Ella, who my dressage coach said was the most confident horse she had ever seen.  I thought that this little Gypsy horse had the potential to be a great healer of humans with that energy.  And - she was broke, broke, broke to ride.  Being owned by a teenage girl, they had done everything together.  Herded cattle, done gymkana, gone to the mountains.  The horse was for sale now as the girl was going away to school. 

I went to the auction and waited for lot #165, the Gypsy Vanner.  Horses were selling quite high and I didn’t know if I could afford her.  It would all depend who else was bidding.  In the end, I got her, right at the maximum I had allowed myself to spend.  I took her home that evening and put her in a quarantine pen away from the other horses.  She would need to be isolated for 10 days to ensure that she hadn’t contracted any disease at the auction.  Three days later, the palomino pony, aptly named Honey, came to my house.  All of a sudden, I was back up to four horses.

Integrating new horses into a herd is always full of shenanigans.  They sniff and squeal, kick out and rear.  And with four mares, they also pee – a lot.  Honey started peeing as soon as she came.  It is spring and the horses go into strong heat.  Peeing is a sign of that.  But Honey took peeing to a whole new level.  That got the other horses peeing.  Honey was in a pen by herself but could touch Faraona and Diva.  Soon they were peeing too.  The hormones were contagious.

Into this hormonal mess I needed to integrate Paris, the Gypsy Vanner.  After her quarantine, I put her in a pen adjacent to where Faraona and Diva were.  Honey was in another small pen next to Paris.  Paris and Faraona sniffed each other over the fence and the squealing began.  Mostly Faraona.  After a bit, Paris had enough of that and went to stand close to Honey.  They sniffed and decided they liked each other.  Faraona and Diva were left out.  Poor Diva.  She just had to follow Faraona around, not knowing what to do about these new horses.

What was going to happen when I turned Paris in with Faraona and Diva? Would they accept her as the new leader or would there be fireworks?  Well, what I saw made me laugh.  Faraona, my very dominant, pushy, dressage horse, tried to use her pushing energy to move Paris.  But as she approached Paris, ears pinned and head low, Paris just stood there.  Suddenly, Faraona peeled off sideways, as if she had hit an invisible wall of energy.  She couldn’t get close enough to Paris to push her around.

For days, Faraona tried to figure out how she could move this little horse around.  She simply could not move her or even engage her in horseplay.  But it was a crazy time to be the human, trying to figure out the hierarchy.  Who to catch first?  If I made the wrong choice, there could be fireworks as I tried to take the horse out of the herd.  Soon it became apparent that Paris would be the first to be caught.  And, as she stood tied at the fence waiting for her breakfast, Faraona didn’t dare approach her over the fence.  Paris first, Faraona second, then Diva. 

After having Honey in a small pen watching the antics for a few days, I had to finally let her in the herd.  When I had Holly, the big horses were rather mean to her and readily pushed her around.  Honey was not gentle and meek like Holly.  She stood her own with the big horses and actually became quite the instigator of raucousness.  And she kept peeing and the hormones kept flowing.

Finally, after a few weeks of this craziness, I see a system evolving.  Faraona has adopted Honey as her pony and won’t let the other two horses near her.  Paris and Diva have buddied up as well.  Now, I know the hierarchy and the buddy system, but it was very nerve-wracking while they tried to figure it out.

It reminds me very much of high-school girls.  Hormones and hierarchy.  I have a whole new appreciation for how difficult it must be for a teenage girl to move to a new school and figure out the pecking order and where she fits.

The biggest takeaway from this whole thing, though, is Paris’s energy.  She has already shown herself to be an amazing therapist for humans.  She is so present to the human, totally sees and feels them, and reflects back to the person what is going on inside them.  For people who have never felt seen, never felt heard, she can give them that transformative experience of connection.  I am so excited to be able to help humans with this amazing horse.