The Importance of a Companion

I think, if you have one horse and there aren't any horses in their field with them they will become isolated and lose their spark. Horses work in a herd pattern, they are rarely on their own. We had Melody on her own and she seemed quite quiet, and she never was, she was a bit more lost than usual. We have had Blue on his own, but he was mourning so it was hard to tell if he was more isolated because he was pining or because he was alone.

Horses rely on each other in danger and safety, the herd rota in Shannon and Blue's case is actually quite unique in the sense that Blue acts like the big man all the time but Shannon is a bit more in tune to what is going on around them and will react first if there is "trouble". In the wild ponies have "bands" within their herds which consist of one stallion, foals and younger horses and several mares, one of the mares being the lead mare, who is the dominant in the group. This lead mare is Shannon ("She is usually one of the more mature animals, responsible for the overall safety of the herd, familiar with the terrain and resources available") and Blue is a "younger" horse who is a bit boisterous. There are three other ponies which live nearby which form the herd, creating another band, one stallion and two mares, the "stallion" is actually gelded but he is still the leader of the entire herd. 

Although we didn't go down this route after Melody died, when looking for a new companion I think re-homing a companion is a good idea because, it is charitable, you will gain a new pony at small expense, if anything were to happen with your horse and you no longer needed a companion then they can be re-homed by someone else. However their are cons, one is that the charity will usually come an inspect you and require you to have a shelter in your field, with the ponies left to their own devices a lot of the time we didn't want to get inspected etc and not be here. Also we genuinely wanted to get our own pony and do whatever we pleased about it all without an owner or charity looking over our shoulders. 

Having a companion who can load is also helpful for bad loaders as you can take them away with you to make sure that the ponies will get in the trailer or box. We did this with several of ours but if you can't take them with you it's quite hard to make it work that way. I would suggest using the companion if you can to show the other how to do something, for example Blue doesn't get what lunging is, so before or after I have tried with him, I get Shannon and try with her, this means he sees what it is all about and she also gets some time with me. 

Anyhoo, I am off to spend some time with the birthday boy, Blue and give him a huge carrot. Love you all, adios :)