purplefdu
02-15-08, 12:38 PM
I've known horses that were turned out with everything from goats to chickens and everything in between. It ever occurred to me this was weird until I rode a horse that would freak out over a chicken (oh the irony). Does your horse associate well with other species?
flatback_frannie
02-25-08, 12:20 AM
LOL! Chickens, really? That's a hoot. Frannie is boarded at a "small farm" currently, which really means there's a group of horses (6 being boarded), a couple goats, and a mess of barn cats. I think they have chickens, but they aren't where the horses and goats are. Frannie seems indifferent to both the goats and the cats.
My dog loves my horse. The horse tolerates the dog, I think. They'll play tag the odd time and it surprises me how gentle and cautious a large animal like a horse can be. There has never been an accident.
dappled_rider
02-26-08, 11:47 PM
My neighbors dogs come along for most rides that are on her land. The horses seem to have a live and let live attitude towards them, but the dogs seem to really like the horses (though maybe it's because they know they're going out for a run wiht the horse)
MorganManiac
03-03-08, 08:24 PM
I have two Morgans and one golden Lab. You'd think the three of them grew up together even though they've only been together for a few months. When I inherited my grandma's small farm (and the horses), my dog Bear naturally moved with me.
I was apprehensive to let them get too close to each other at first but to my surprise, they act like they are all the same kind of animal! Bear runs around the pasture with them and they even race. It's a riot to watch. I know Bear had never seen horses before but I don't know about the horses since they were about a year old when my grandma got them. I know she never had dogs but maybe before the horses were around them.
HairyHorse
03-04-08, 01:54 AM
I have heard of plenty of real companionship with other equines, like goats and donkeys but never really with anything else. It was always just tolerance as someone else said.
I haven't experienced any of it myself.