Our 39 yo blind pony (mare) Honey seemed lonely. She is exremely well mannered and calm. I spoke with the woman we rescued her from and she said she loved the boys. I found a 20 yo gelding mini pony Christopher with wonderful manners and the rescue brought him up yesterday.
When she gets close to him he will back up and kick her. When they meet nose to nose he screams, nips and twirls around and kicks the heck out of her.

This morning I noticed he has started to herds her; he will walk along side until he gets to her head then walks towards her, she will turn away but if she doesn't move fast enough he moves in nips and kicks. Sometimes he herds her right into the fence.

She is part Appy so is twice his size but he has taken to pushing her around. She is totally blind and sometimes doesn't see him.

My one and only concern was that I ended up with something that would "beat" her up, well I think we may have that situation. She already can't live without him, when she can't smelll him close she goes searching for him and geeze if she doesn't see him and gets to close he kicks her.

Now what, my husband says it's only been 1 day to let it go 1 week. Will he calm down? Do you think he will hurt her, when he kicks she knows enough to pick her head up but sometimes he gets her right in the legs? The person that brought him up said she will be able to hand it and things should calm down.

Can anyone give me advice as to what I should do? Does anyone know why Honey would be so attached so soon?

Thanks for any advice
Lee Ann

If it's only been one day, in my experience, it was a mistake putting them in the paddock together. Whenever we introduce a new horse to our herd, we put them both in a stall with a halfwall, let them meet and greet over that. It lets out the initial "i'm boss and you're submissive" drama, and once they settle down, we divide the field and let them out in the different parts. There, they have more contact, but still can't do too much harm. Once they've settled down, then we introduce eachother without the fence. It's a slow way to wean them into it.

The gelding's an alpha, like my dad's horse King. He'll assert himself until he's sure Honey won't give it back and learns her place. Honey's submissive, and needs to be lead by a leader, so that's why she's so attatched already.

well the mini pony might feel threatend by honey because she is bigger, you got to look at it as if you where Christopher your mini pony what would your 1st reactions to honey be, a bigger horse, you could:

run and dont go near her, be friends, or fight for domination ect.
Christopher sounds like he is scared or dosent like other horses around him.

well if you keep them together and your mini pony keeps attacking honey, she could end up being scared of every horse she meets, so i would only let them close when they are in the stable next to each other.

i hope you find something out in the end

Gallopinghooves, Well, I'm convinced you're right. That only makes sense, I thought the rescurer we got him from would have known. Last night it only got worse, I sat for and observed them together and it only took me a few moments to take action, I saw him sneak up on her and then run along side and give her a kick. Then he would walk up behind her barely touching her tail and just stand there, Honey wouldn't move a muscle. Then he quietly walked up on the side of her and bit her in the neck, THAT WAS IT FOR ME. We had to make the yard smaller but we put a fence between them. Now they touch each other through the fence, when she can find him, and there is no tension. It's funny that when Honey can't smell him close she starts yelling for him. Of course he could care less. When they were together I thought if she would just wack him one of push him a little he would calm done but Honey is so gentle she just wouldn't assert herself.

Otherwise he is a sweetheart. He is gentle, loves to be brushed, spoken to, comes when called, just an all around good guy. My husband and I are going to walk them side by side in the open pasture, "like dogs" then slowly introduce them again. I have my fingers crossed.

I know it would have turned out differently if Honey could see.

thanks for all your help
Lee Ann

your welcome. i hope they will get along soon they seem like lovely horses and i would love to meet them

That sounds like a good idea, and I'm glad they're getting along better. My two boys, King and Chief, had to be seperated. They got along fine for the first few months, but recently, King's been bullying Chief a lot more, so Chief's been losing weight and he's getting scarred up. Now that they've been seperated, Chief's started packing on the pounds, and it's overall a safer environment. Some horses just don't get along together, it's like people.
Good luck and glad to be of any help!