# Will other horses kill or bite an injured horse?



## lisaianhughes (Mar 30, 2011)

I found a horse in a field near my house injured. There were about 6 other horses gathered around it and they were nipping at it, one actually put his leg in his mouth and they were nipping at his neck. I had to get a big tree branch to chase the other horses away so I could get to the injured horse. When I was able to get to it, it had a few bite marks on its neck but mostly wet hair. One was actually on its knees, kneeling down to the other horse---I know this horse was old and sick. Have you ever seen anything like this or do you have any idea if they were trying to help it get up or if they were hurting it?


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

Horses CAN go after the older and/or sick animal. One of mine (which is mean in general and always looks for a chance) did it all the time in boarding barn. And you can't really stop it unless separating that horse. 

However I don't quite understand what you try to describe. I mean, what do you mean by "putting leg in mouth"?


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## lisaianhughes (Mar 30, 2011)

*biting*

What I meant was the other horse was down and another horse was kneeling down and biting the injured horse on his legs and actually had the other horses leg in his mouth, like he was chewing on it. Have you ever seen a group of horses doing such a thing? This was about 6 horses that seemed to be picking on the sick one.


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## Fluffy Pony (May 2, 2010)

Yes, horses can kill other horses. Espeically if they feel like their 'territory' such as a pasture is being invaded and they don't accept any new members. This is why people need to be careful when introducing other horses with each other if one or both is known to be very dominate.


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## riccil0ve (Mar 28, 2009)

I know wild stallions will kill weak/sickly foals. But I have also seen horses try to help a downed horse up, resulting in bit marks along the downed mare's neck. It could go either way, but it's possible they were trying to get the horse up.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## mbender (Jul 22, 2009)

I agree with ricci. How else do they try and help a fallen comrade up? They use what they have. Teeth and hooves. If they felt this animal was a threat to the herd they would simply leave it there and go far away from it so predators don't follow the herd but focus on the down horse. Instinct. This older horse must have had some kind of status in the herd that they would gather around it and try to get it up. Question,, what happened to this horse?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

What I am confused about is what you describe is you going into a field of horses that are not yours and chasing them with a stick. Is that really what you did?


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## mbender (Jul 22, 2009)

Always, I was thinking the same thing but wow I think it would be hard to sit there and watch that. You know?
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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

What would have happened if the horses were fighting and her walking into it got her hurt?


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## mbender (Jul 22, 2009)

I understand. I know that she waked into a danger zone. I just know if it were me, it would be very hard to watch that. You know? That's all I'm saying.
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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

Then knock on the owners door and let them know what is going on.


I live in a state where horses are considered an attractive nuisance. If you (general you) climb into my fenced pasture to pet the pretty ponies and my horse kicks the living snot out of you, I am liable. 

I take extreme issues with people thinking it is OK to enter my fenced fields and pet/poke/interact with my horses.


If you think about it, what exactly did the OP help? If she chased the other horses off for now and then left, do you really think if the other horses were trying to kill the one horse they simply said, 'oh, we can not do that anymore, some person with a stick chased us off'?
Getting the owner involved would have allowed for the situation to be addressed.


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## mbender (Jul 22, 2009)

I agree.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

Alwaysbehind said:


> I live in a state where horses are considered an attractive nuisance. If you (general you) climb into my fenced pasture to pet the pretty ponies and my horse kicks the living snot out of you, I am liable.


100% agree. That's my nightmare that I'll be sued just because some stupid person decided to "mess" with my horses (which are NOT beginner friendly, and one is not even people-oriented in general). Scary, scary.....


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## mbender (Jul 22, 2009)

The other concern is when people stop to feed grass from the road. You never know if they pull some bad stuff.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## HopalongCassidy (Dec 19, 2010)

I guess the only real thing is to put up a NO TRESPASSING sing. If they cross then it's there fault not yours. 

I agree. The owner would have been the smartest thing to do. What if one of the horses decided to fight back? You would of got hurt or even killed.


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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

HopalongCassidy said:


> I guess the only real thing is to put up a NO TRESPASSING sing. If they cross then it's there fault not yours.


Lovely theory but that is not the case.

I do hope the OP comes back and updates us on what ended up happening with these horses.


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

HopalongCassidy said:


> I guess the only real thing is to put up a NO TRESPASSING sing. If they cross then it's there fault not yours.


It's pretty useless I have to say. Horse sticks the head over the fence and they really don't "trespass". :wink: 

However I've seen people in those big fancy barns (with $$$ horses) make double fence: first fence next to the road and then 2nd (real) fence about 5 feet away. I think that's a good idea, but pretty expensive.


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## myhorsesonador (Jun 21, 2009)

Just adding to the don't cross my fence descussion. I'm going to run hot wire across the top of my fence. So it would be sticking up not out. Get what I mean?


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## lisaianhughes (Mar 30, 2011)

I think any animal lover would have done exactly what I did if they saw a horse lying injured on the ground and other horses biting it. I know nothing about horses or there behavior, but I know I saw a horse that was near death and I HEARD it screaming in pain while it was being bit. SO, should have I walked away and did nothing? who could do that? The animal control officer was called and the horse was shot because it was suffering so much.


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## lisaianhughes (Mar 30, 2011)

The owner was called, immediately, and the animal control officers were called immediately. Did I mention the people who call themselves "owners" have been investigated several times for animal cruelty. If it was left in the hand of the owners, they would have ignored the entire situation. I don't think anybody who calls themselves animal lovers could walk away from an injured animal screaming in pain.


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## riccil0ve (Mar 28, 2009)

If you know nothing about horses, that just further proves you should not have gotten in a pasture with horses. =\


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## AlexS (Aug 9, 2010)

I agree that you should not have gone into the pasture, but I can imagine it was a distressing thing to witness. Thank you for calling animal control and the owners, and helping the horse.


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## newbierider (Mar 15, 2010)

I agree with everyone here it was not the best decision. Best decision would have been to stay outside of fence and call animal control as you did.
I also know me and if I heard a sick and injured horse crying out in pain while others tried to pick on it I would have done the same.


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## MicKey73 (Dec 26, 2010)

ditto Newbie!


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## ptvintage (Feb 12, 2010)

That's a really strange situation, I've never heard or seen horses doing that, although I suppose that it _could_ happen. I'd think it's much more likely for the group to just "banish" the horse so to speak, and chase it away from them if it tried to follow. 

I think what confuses me about your post is the gang mentality you say these horses had. I could see one, or maybe two horses picking on a horse, but not 6 of them at once. This sounds more like cainine behavior...

I don't know what to say about this. It just doesn't sound like horse behavior. It might be a stretch, but maybe the owner did something (drugs/scent sprays) that confused the horses and made them act like this. There are some really crazy people in the world. 

Ditto on what Alwaysbehind said too. Never go into a field with horses without the owner's permission. I did it once, and although nothing happened to me or my stupid dog that I was chasing, the horses were sprinting around (thanks to stupid dog) and I could have been seriously hurt. For that matter, the horses could have been hurt too... I didn't know anything about them, they could have been recovering from an injury and not supposed to be galloping around madly. The lesson learned from that was keep a leash on the stupid dog. I assume everything was okay; It was my parent's neighbors and we are still friendly with them and they never said anything. I wouldn't blame them though if they were ****ed.


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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

I always raise an eyebrow when important details are added later on in a thread. 

In the original post we learned it had a few bite marks and some wet hair.
Now it was screaming in pain.

Hmmmm......



I am glad you called animal control.

I do not think that since this person has had problems in the past with animal control it makes it OK for you to go on the property. Sorry.


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## stephnello (Mar 31, 2011)

Sorry it has no real link (I don't understand their behaviour either) but what does "Ditto" mean?


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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

stephnello said:


> what does "Ditto" mean?


In this case; I agree with what they said, or repeat what they said.


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## stephnello (Mar 31, 2011)

Thanks alwaysbehind!


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## jwells84 (Mar 29, 2011)

well this doesn't relate to a downed horse,but i have heard of horses "help" another horse, and have seen it... I went to a friends house with myhorse, we rode then put the horses together( they were old friends, never tired to hurt each other) went out for a bite to eat, it was dark when we came back and couldnt really see, well my horse wouldnt let me catch her which is really unusual she'd run to her friend and push her along. finally when i got over there the other mare had a gaping hole in her neck. once we got that mare caught. my mare was catchable. we came to the conculsion that they had been playing/running in the field as it was getting dark and my friends mare didnt see the fence till it was too late and tried tojump, ramming the T post into her neck. it was really bad (another reason not to use T post) you could see the blood pumping thru her artery in her neck. Amazingly she lived thru that. But I thought It was really neat for my horse to "help" my friends horse and help us realize something was wrong


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## myhorsesonador (Jun 21, 2009)

Alwaysbehind said:


> I always raise an eyebrow when important details are added later on in a thread.
> 
> In the original post we learned it had a few bite marks and some wet hair.
> Now it was screaming in pain.
> ...


same here.

I've also never herd of a horse screaming in pain. Being a pray animal they would never do any thing that would draw attention to them selve's when they are week.:?


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## wyominggrandma (Nov 4, 2009)

Almost new member, strange story that makes no sense, then new things added after getting some opinions that OP should not have gone on someones property and chased their horses.
Hmmmmmmmm, my thinks it might be made up, we see lots of those type posts.


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## somoni (Mar 16, 2011)

I have seen a brave man who use his power to protect a sick horse,even it's not yours. My fellow horselovers told me that riders is responsible to take care of their own horses. Like their children.


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## crissy89 (Mar 31, 2011)

horses have a picking order just like dogs and cats...now horses will pick on another one if its not part of there every day heard (like ones they grew up with are around ALL time) and if it is a mix like donky are mule just cuz its diff they will.


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## crissy89 (Mar 31, 2011)

what whaa some times some one needs another out look on whats going on...ha "riders is responsible to take care of their own horses" well some times peo need help.


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## MaggiStar (Mar 19, 2010)

odd there is so many new posters replying onto this thread.....


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## iridehorses (Oct 22, 2007)

Nothing new to be added so it's time to close this thread.


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