New Horse

The new horse is in the paddock. Ferro is his name. He arrived yesterday. Today we'll see how meeting the other horses goes. We divide the paddock in 2 smaller parts. We: Helen, Ferro's young owner and me. Helen is 16 years, Ferro is 4 years old. The two geldings are very friendly with each other. We take away the dividing wire. They start trotting together and seem to like each other. Then we put Ivy into the paddock. Ivy is the beautiful young Frisian mare. She's Theo's best friend, I think. And a very attractive young mare. Letting her into the paddock where the two geldings are, changes all of the dynamics. Theo starts defending her with all his power. There seems nothing that has to be defended, since Ferro doesn't try anything, but Theo has made up his mind. He protects Ivy and chases Ferro away. Even when he doesn't approach. After 15 minutes Theo is sweating and Ferro looks where he can escape from Theo. We take Ivy out, but that doesn't "help". The subject of protection is in the other field now, but Theo still thinks he has to be boss in the paddock. Finally I take Theo to the field where Ivy is. Ferro has to get used to the herd, but it looks quite serious how Theo's behaviour developed. So we decide to put them apart now, and put them together soon, another day. Seeing Theo's impressive power and speed is a wonderful thing. He's kind of exploding and it looks great. He speeds, turns, twists. When I take him out of the paddock, he's breathing heavily. Gentle Theo is a Mighty Defender of Ivy. The pictures below are before we put Ivy in the paddock...