fighting minis

[kazmama]

We bought 3 female minis in April and don't have much experience with them. I never even had a dog!! So anyway, yesterday 2 of our minis really got into it. They were bucking one another for about 10 minutes. My six year old was horrified. We distracted them and took them out for a while but later started to do some bucking toward one another. Is this normal? Is there anything we should or could be doing? Why are they doing this?

 

[chandab]

It might just be normal herd dynamics at work, they need a pecking order and it can look really bad at time, usually if this is what it is, it settles down pretty quickly. What age are your girls? and, which one is showing most of the aggression? Knowng this might also explain what's going on.

 

[PaintMeFancy]

Is there food present with they are doing this? One or both could be food aggressive... do you feed them separate or together

Or they could be trying to figure out their herd status and it isn't being settled quickly if they are both use to being top dog in pasture (assuming they came from different herds) - one could be continually trying to challenge the other to be top dog

If they aren't use to pasture and use to be alone they could be territorial

This may go away on its own, it may never go away

Are there other aggressive behaviors during the day? Do they ever relax and feel comfy enough to lay down (all of them individually and not just when the other is down)

Sounds like you need to do some research on horse behavior so you can understand what is going on with your herd and what is normal and what needs intervention - mares I find are more aggressive with their herd behaviors - the only real concern IMO is to ensure none of them get hurt - minor stuff will happen --- but you don't want something major or permanent to happen if they continue overly agressively

Any way to take a video - sometimes different behaviors can be picked up in a video that a novice eye can't see

there are so many different things this could be

 

[kay56649]

Yes I agree with PaintMeFancy! You have to look at everything around them and see if there is a significant problem you can fix

Yes I agree with PaintMeFancy! You have to look at everything around them and see if there is a significant problem you can fix

 

[AnnaC]

How much space do they have - do you have pasture or are they on a dry lot? Did they all come from the same place? Are they all the same age? Could you also give us an idea of their daily routine - time in, time out, feed (how often and what you are feeding), hay, worming pogramme and lastly what do you do with them exercise wise/

Sorry for the amount of questions, but more info is needed so we can hopefully help you.

I see this is your first post here on LB so just wanted to say WELCOME!!

 

[PaintMeFancy]

If they haven't been together until you got them just make sure it is herd dynamics and not one being overly aggressive