Flo is Boss Mare, Floss is a follower and always Bottom Pony (except when the herd was one gelding and several mares, when Floss was allowed to be Bottom Mare But Still Above The Gelding. When it was just her and him, she was Bottom Pony to him - except if she was cycling of course.)
Anyhoo, I always put hay out in at least 3 piles, far apart, so that not-Floss can only realistically guard 2 piles and there's always a pile Floss can munch at.
Except today, Floss turned away from the second heap I threw over and went back to the first. Flo's ears went back at Floss, but Floss had spotted that our tiny polled Shetland tup Nigel was munching alongside Flo, and Flo was grudgingly letting him. Floss just positioned herself with Nigel in the middle, and peaceful hay sharing ensued.
I've noticed before that Nigel's legendary work ethic seems to cross species... Notably when he took time out of his busy life to beat up the enormous uncastrated boars when we brought them through that field on their way to the abattoir. Anyone else with testosterone not to be tolerated, clearly, whether they weigh 4 times what he does or not.
Anyway, here's a pic of the Little Big Man with his harem of mares at feeding time
Topic: Herd dynamics : 2 mares and a tiny tup (Read 21949 times)
