This message is from: Amy Goodloe [EMAIL PROTECTED]
At 11:57 AM -0400 5/19/05, Cynthia Madden wrote:
I have been places where the facilities allowed for a horse to be
quarantined for a week or so and if you don't know the kind of
facility your horse came from it can be a good idea. (Strange horses
bringing in strangles, etc).
We keep all new horses in quarantine for one to two weeks, depending
on where they're coming from. I've had horses come off the shipping
van with various things, usually shipping fever, and have had horses
come in from other barns that brought flu or strangles. I usually
have at least one pregnant mare so I'm cautious for her sake, but
also because it can be quite a pain to treat a large herd of horses
for any kind of contagious illness. Been there, done that, and have
the bleach-stained clothing to show for it!
I just bought two new Fjord mares and am planning to introduce them
to the mare pasture over the weekend. They're in quarantine right
now, but my first step will be to put them in the space between
pastures, so they can get acquainted over the fence. In order to
contain the spread of infections we have 30' alleyways between each
pasture, and these also make nice short term turn out areas for new
horses so that I can see how they interact with others. The two new
mares are sisters and get along great with each other, but I think
one of them might be on the bossy side with my other mares, so I'll
just wait and see how it goes.
After they meet over the fence what I'll probably do is remove all
the mares from the mare pasture and turn the new girls out, so they
can check the lay of the land without being on the defensive. Then
I'll add one mare back in at a time, starting with the one that seems
most likely to submit to the bossy mare. The mares currently out on
the mare pasture are all sort of in need of a leader, so they may all
submit to her in no time, but I'm not sure how things will work when
my other Fjord mare (now in a separate paddock raising a baby) goes
back out into the herd, because she's pretty bossy herself. And she
doesn't back down from a fight. So I'll have to go through a similar
process when she's ready to go out with her baby, starting with
removing everyone from the mare pasture and then putting them back in
order of most submissive to least and see how it goes.
With as many soundness problems as I'm dealing with in different
horses, I would hate to risk another injury as mares try to work out
the pecking order, so I hope everything goes smoothly! I strongly
prefer the idea of having my horses live together on a large pasture
full time, but with each new soundness problem I encounter I start to
question this arrangement. If I had it to build this place all over
again, I would build a number of smaller paddocks (like maybe
150'x250') instead of just a few large pastures, although I do love
looking out the kitchen window to see a herd of mares running up the
hill or grazing peacefully together.
--Amy
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Camairyn Farm ~*~ Loveland, CO
http://www.goodhorse.com/camairyn
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