Herd Dynamics

It has been an interesting week so far here at the Circle CD Ranch.

Last Saturday morning, Melissa and I turned Ace and Sonny, our two geldings, out with the mare herd. Sonny was gelded in May 2006 and has never run with mares except during breeding season and certainly never with another male horse - be it gelded or not.

It was funny to watch them. At first they all mixed and mingled but soon Sonny started to weed out who he wanted to watch. Ace tried but wasn't having much luck.

By supper time, Ace had Lucky to himself at the back of the pasture and Sonny had everyone else bunched at the house end of the pasture (which by the way is around 15 acres in size or so). by the end of the day, however, Sonny had everyone. And was keeping a very close eye on Ace.

On Sunday morning, everyone was "almost" together...at least at one end of the pasture with Sonny ensuring that Ace kept his distance. And that distance really isn't all the great - probably about 50 feet between Sonny and Ace with Sonny around 15 feet from the girls.

On Sunday night, all were still in close proximaty of each other but Sonny still won't let Ace join the girls. He is not being nasty about it but is definately not allowing Ace to join the herd. And he will sure lose weight as he spends most of his time standing and staring at Ace instead of eating like everyone else.

I am actually quite happy with how it has gone so far considering ALL the girls, except for Paris, have come into heat really quick with the boys out there. While Sonny is still doing his talking and strutting, I have yet to see any evidence of him trying to mount anyone. Thank goodness.

On Monday morning, I noticed that Lucky, being all of 31, is sure giving Sonny a run for his sanity. She is constantly not where he wants her to be. She really wants to be with Ace as Ace and her have been best buds since Ace was 2. LOL And Sonny is not happy with that.

She is keeping herself at a minimum of 300 yards from the other mares so that Sonny has to be constantly vigilant that Ace doesn't get near Lucky or the other mares. That poor black beast is going to worn to a nub or will just give up and let Ace join the group. LOL

Since then, I have noticed that the groups have relaxed a little bit. Sonny is not so stressed that Lucky is not wanting to be with him and the other girls. She is quite content to be with Ace.

They still haven't intermingled the two groups but they are getting there. I hope it continues. LOL

TTFN

Carrie