Ugh. We're borrowing a friend's 19 year old paint mare for the summer as a companion for my 2 year old filly, and it has been a slightly disappointing
experience. Instead of getting a nice older mare to keep my baby in her place, we get a passive, aloof mare that gets bossed around by my semi-dominant, smart
filly. If the mare so much as flicked an ear at her and held her ground, my filly would back off. But right from the start, my filly was pushing her off her
food and moving her around. We keep them in a 2 acre pasture all day, and my filly does musical chairs with the very widely placed feed buckets, herds her
around the pasture, and moves her off of grazing spots and the water tub. It's very frustrating. I can't wait to take her back to school with me, where
she's in large pasture with 11 other horses. There, at least, she doesn't get to be alpha and she learns proper manners. The old mare also got kicked a
couple days ago, and her right hind hock is a little swollen with shallow cuts. I keep waiting for the mare to get fed up with her, but she's too saintly
and lets herself get bossed around. Sorry for the rant! Had to let out the frustration.
