This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mary, Ingrid, Brian, and Duane all offered some great ideas about what's going on with Herd Leader Tuopen and new-boy-on-the-block Duncan. I truly appreciate your suggestions and insights.
After pondering what you've said, I think the best thing is to try to wait until Duncan is gelded and thoroughly healed up before trying again to merge everyone into one herd. The vets are coming on Monday to do the dirty deed. Also, I will keep mare Sissel in another enclosure until I'm pretty sure the boys are getting along. I will also keep -us- away from the boys until things (hopefully) have settled down, since I think Tuopen is fairly possessive of His humans as well as of His mare. I was surprised at how well stocky Tuopen was able to keep up with leggy Duncan in a 4-acre pasture, so I will also open the gate between the two pastures during the initial meeting. Duncan will then have about 8 acres in which to escape from Tuopen. I wish I had some "neutral territory" -- hmmmm -- I may be able to borrow the neighbor's hay field for a day. I'll give that some thought. As far as not gelding during fly season, I think the vets around here worry more about the possibility of the flies transferring diseases from one critter to another, rather than the problem of maggots. There's a lot of wildlife such as deer, rabbits, racoons, and coyotes as well as plenty of livestock, so it would be no surprise if a sick or injured animal is within a fly's flying distance of my horses. I'll keep you posted! Thanks again... DeeAnna
