War or Peace?

Today we executed Part 1 of my Cunning Plan to wean Lilja.

After feeding Brá and Lilja their buckets of hardfeed, plus one for Hetja in the hope it would mellow her slightly, we put headcollars on the ladies and led them over to the Minion field.

Theory:  If the Icelandics are not on their home turf, they might be slightly nicer to the Minions on their’s.

We were quickly seen and the little ones came rushing over to say hello to the newcomers.

First contact.

And then the big ones ran away.

And were swiftly followed by the Welcome Committee.

A small battle instigated by Hetja.  I am sure she said “none shall speak to my daughter”.

Brá was less confrontational.

Again, Hetja gathered her troops and left.

Vitamin decided to go over as she had always been a keen fan of these two pregnant mares but in a next-door-neighbour-over-the-fence sort of way.

Hetja was having none of it.

The support group turned up for Vitamin

And then they all ran away together.

Another battle started.

And everyone scattered while Lilja bunny-hopped hopefully.

Not to be deterred, little Fivla left the Minion herd and went over by herself to say hello.

The others were right behind her, just rather far away, probably hiding.

The Icelandics were rolling, which is a good sign – they were relaxing and wanted to acquire the herd/field smell.

A bit of chasing, but nothing too aggressive now.

And we left them either eating or watching.

I went back a few hours later just to check everyone was ok, and saw that Brá was now more with the Minion herd while Hetja and Lilja were standing on their own.  Hopefully, they will sort themselves out in the next few days and then we will let them into the green grass field for a few weeks.  After that, when Lilja is fully integrated with the Minion herd, we will take Brá and Hetja out when she is not looking.

Well that is the plan anyway.

3 thoughts on “War or Peace?

  1. Terri

    Herd dynamics never cease to amaze me. You pay such careful attention to the welfare of each individual member of the herd and how he/she integrates with the others. Here’s hoping The Plan works.
    PS Hope your back is better. The last photo yesterday had me smiling from here to Shetland!

    Reply
  2. Sherry Walter

    Always dislike new introductions ever since the old gelding drove the new gelding right through the fence. Bent a steel fence post right over, fortunately no injuries and they ended up best of friends (eventually-ha). It was a long time ago and still makes me shudder.

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