Okay, so it is only day 2. BUT...she is not liking the field one tiny bit.
Bit of background to the mare's social issues! -
When I got her as a 2 year old she had always been tethered so didn't really know what to do with other horses when she went into a field.
We have been at our old yard 8 years. When we first got there it was just her and my Dartmoor and 2 others, one chilled gelding and one dominant mare. But the one mare on her own was okay, and they all figured out there place quickly and since then and for the last 8 years, even though she has always been at the bottom of the hierarchy, she has only had new horses come in one at a time every now and again when liveries change.
Also, 5 years ago she got a very bad kick, her body reacted badly and developed a giant abscess and ended up with no flesh in a big triangle from her hock to her stifle going back around towards her tail. Since then she has been especially panicky if another horse comes into her space.
SO - new yard -
Put her out yesterday when I got there with two other mares. It is separate fields for mares and geldings here. The yard owner very kindly kept in the two most dominant mares, but still, the ones that were out chased her around the field. DHorse was desperately just trying to get off into a corner on her own, but then the other two would gallop over, as horses do when a new one comes along, but the poor mare would jut squeal and dash off, not in a fun way, in a scared horse way :(
Today the yard owner put her out before the others so she got a bit of time on her own and so the others were coming to to her being there rather than her going out where they were.
When I got to the yard this afternoon she was grazing away from the other three (a 15 acre field so plenty of space!), but as soon as I called her over the other three went for her. It was quite nasty. DHorse was trying to get to me, the others were going flat out at her, and I was trying to get between DHorse and the others for fear of another nasty kick (Which was really stupid because I was nearly the one on the receiving end of a nasty kick!).
Finally got out of the field, the mare was boiling hot and covered in sweat, they obviously hadn't only just been chasing her by the state she was in :(
Gave her a long groom and took her for a walk to try and calm her down but she stayed all on edge. On our little walk about we saw on tiny little old pony in one of the fields and she was scared of that, squealing and trying to turn and run!
There are other fields she could go in, but all the liveries use this field and the gelding field, the other fields all have the yard owner's horses, I am wary of being a new person coming to the yard and making up my own rules! Also I don't know really at what stage it would be reasonable to think this field really won't work. I know two days is far too soon, but it really isn't looking good and I am so worried about injury. A couple of weeks at least would really be good, but what if she gets injured in that time. Also the yard owner said that the mares she has on livery atm are the most dominant bunch she has ever had, and have all lived together for a while, so seemingly don't take well to newcomers :( Poor mare.
Other than that, I like the yard. The other liveries seem nice, some very gorgeous horses, good riding on her land, and electricity, running water and a concrete yard rather than mud which are all real novelties to me!
Sorry for very long post! 
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The tack room
DHorse not too happy in her new yard :(
ManateeEquineOhara · 08/02/2011 21:21
No way really of making a separate area without electric fencing, which I don't have, and putting up electric fencing and sectioning off parts to myself when I have just arrived would be making me into the kind of livery that I really don't want to be!
I agree though that the ideal would be for her to be next to them for a while.
Yes, she is in at night, and some of the other mares can see her from their stables and hopefully see she is just a shy little thing who just wants to eat!
We've got pylons running across our back garden. I was really worried at first and wanted to move as soon as the lease was up, but then I got to know the neighbours and realised they are mostly elderly and have lived here for donkeys years. Apart from the usual dodgy knees etc they seem to be a pretty healthy bunch! They've all brought their familes up here too so we decided to take the chance and in the six years since then we've been given no reason to suppose the pylons are causing any problems. So stop googling right now.
Btw we didn't see the pylons when we looked at the house as it was pitch dark at the time and we didn't go out into the back garden. In case you are wondering why we moved here in the first place!
So glad everything seems to be settling down. You certainly are not stupid for being worried. I'm totally paranoid about putting my horse in with others since my old pony had his hock broken when someone put another one in with him without asking me, so I totally sympathise! That said, I realise it isn't a common occurance and people put horses in new fields every day with no problems at all. I might have to do it myself soon as I'm thinking of moving dhorse to a big yard for the summer so I will be the one on here panicking.
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