Today seemed as good a day as any to finally try Mimi in with another horse. Up until now Mimi has been next door to other horses but never in with them. One reason was because there was never a herd here we felt was suitable to put her in with, but we think we found a good match for her in Jolie.

Whilst we don’t ever want to see a horse get injured, we felt that due to Mimi’s over-confident behaviour, we needed to put a horse in with her that would be a dominant role model, rather than vice verse. Equines can learn such valuable lessons from other equines and it’s always interesting observing the subtle yet very effective signs they give each other, and how quickly they learn the herd heirarchy.

Up until now Jolie, a gelding,  had been in with 2 mares, who he loved just a little too much! Taking him out of his field and putting him into the field next door with Mimi was always going to be a deep breath moment. The first thing Mimi done was to canter over to Jolie, then turn round and kick out, Jolie returned the greeting leaving Mimi a little gobsmacked! Not to be put off, Mimi tried to assert her authority again. Once again Jolie stood his ground chasing her away from the mares that were now stood at the fence line quietly observing this little comotion. Mimi then spotted me at the fence and came to tell me all about it. Sometimes you have to let horses be horses (or mules) and not get involved in their meeting and greeting sessions as it could be all to easy to get unintentionally in the firing line. It was really interesting watching Mimi doing what seemed like advance and retreat with Jolie, trying to catch his attention to get him to follow her and be friends.

Mimi is smart and quick thinking and soon worked out that there needed to be several metres distance between the two of them at this stage! She spent the afternoon following him around the field…at a distance…in the hope that he would eventually be her new friend. Hopefully the distance between them over the next few days will decrease as they become more comfortable about letting the other into their personal space.

Don’t forget that Mimi is still looking for that special forever home ,her details can be found on the home page of our website.