Yesterday I went to visit Prize. She was due to be moved in with some of the other mares after a week of being in a paddock by herself. The farm owners had been warned that although she is sweetness and light herself with people, she is a big bad boss mare in a herd setting and has been known to forcibly take out the current head horse when she moves to a farm. I’m never sure if people will believe me because as I’m telling them this Prize is batting her eyelashes at the owners in a classic “Who? Me?” defense.
But things seemed to be going well because she had been put in with two low status horses instead of the current boss. The owner said Prize loved the one horse because she keeps resting her head on her back. Far be it from me to point out that that is a horse dominance move. It is Prize’s way of enforcing that the other horse is under her control.
I took Prize into the arena to do some ground work. Focus has always been a problem for her. It was worse yesterday because there are lots of mirrors on the walls. They are there for riders to monitor their body position. But Prize was gazing at her reflection. Hopefully she was noting that she is a bit pudgy and resolving to do some extra laps in the pasture….
