Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Tari The Terrible

Nikki, "Tari, you are NOT being nice.  I thought you were supposed to be NICE when you came home and got over the heartbreak of weaning Speedy."


Tari, "Me, really are you talking to me??"
Nikki, "Yes you.  You are the ONLY Tari here that I am aware of!"
Tari, "I'm just trying to whip these guys into shape....they seem to be a bunch of slackers lacking any sort of direction."
 "Let me breath on that finger and warm it for you..."
Nikki, " Sucking up won't help!  Too much more whippin' and you are going to find yourself living alone with no one to whip... Keep that in mind would ya?  Maybe try employing the walk softly and carry a big stick method of leadership...."
Tari, "I will take that into consideration...later...when it's convenient for me...."


Before Tari was in foal we lived and the Landlords place and there were 12 head of horses, donkeys, and mules.  The herd dynamics had Tari in the top 4 of the heard.  But Tony, Mave, and Jamison were above her and pretty brutal when it came to discipline.  They also really didn't allow anyone under them to boss anyone else around.  I guess they kind of expected the rest of the horses to act as drones... 
I couldn't wait to get out of there and have a nice happy fairly quiet group of girls.
Well apparently Tari took the ToMavIson book of beating down your herd mates.  Even in foal she was being a tyrant.  I added a supplement to her feed and I am assuming that the supplement along with her advancing pregnancy mellowed her out quite a bit.
I sort of figured that the entire motherhood experience would probably help her out a lot....not to mention Breeze Bomb would give her a good dose of humility while they were together...


Well, the first day home was pretty quiet.  However each additional day has gotten louder.  First I blamed it on her swollen bag.  Surely that makes her crabby...and although she does still have a bit of an udder, I am pretty sure that she is in no way suffering any sort of residual pain from weaning Speedy!  So I have marked pain off of the list of reasons why.  I am also starting to think that she is nastier than she was when she left.  Maybe Breeze Bomb had an adverse effect on her and she couldn't wait to get away from her and punish the other girls for all that she had been through in the last 6 months.


Whatever the reason she is being a beast, it is pressing on my last nerve!  If we had the other side of the property fenced, I am certain she would be over there right now, with the Hee-Haws.  They seem to be the only ones she hasn't taken to picking on.  Now, currently no one is missing hair and she isn't actually hitting anyone when she kicks.  But really, its probably going to escalate to some sort of damage to the others eventually.


I do still have the Hee-Haws pen up that is across the driveway from the pasture.  If it gets too bad, I suppose she may find herself in there.  It's not a lot of room and I am not a big fan of cleaning a pen in the winter, but she may end up over there before too long!  If she does end up over there, then she will be 100% alone because there is no way I would subject the Hee-Haws to living in a small space with her...  And it goes against EVERYTHING I believe to keep a horse alone with no other horse contact.  Ugh!!


And if the rude, nasty, bossiness of it all wasn't enough... the squealing she does... Good Friday, really. It's so not good sounding and unnecessary. The others know what she is doing when she starts backing up at 50 mph, do we really need the attack cry too? I don't think so!!
I tried reintroducing the Metabol-Ease into her grain, and it has been drama central.  She won't eat it at all.  She flat won't eat her grain.  I know for a fact at The BRC's house she was on plenty of different supplements, so this can't taste any worse than anything else that she has had.  Can it?  Also she has eaten it before...like for 8 months or so.  This should be just fine, shouldn't it? 
Stinkin' horse!  I love her, but right now I would like to sell her, strangle her, give her away, spank her silly....


Maybe after the rest of us tough out her leadership skills for the winter, going to work in the spring will make her a nicer girl.
Who knows, and one can always dream...can't we?  (0:
Any suggestions on mood altering drugs- just kidding, about the drug part, but supplements would be appreciated.  There has to be something that would help...she doesn't seem to be sad, miserable, or depressed...she is more like a bully.  Nickers to greet you and asks to be loved on.  Will also halt all violence when yelled at... 
Mares....

4 comments:

Shirley said...

Just curious, what are you feeding her? If she is getting alfalfa, try putting her on straight grass hay. No oats or other carbs. Sometimes the excess sugar in these types can cause aggressive behavior.
Mostly, it should sort itself out in time, and if your pen is big enough, the others can get away from her.

Shirley said...

"the excess sugar in these types "
Sorry, that should read these types of feed

Nikker said...

Shirley- I'm feeding a grass/alfalfa mix, probably pretty close to 50/50. The amount I feed varies as I like to keep an all grass round bale out with them for constant feed and then supplement with the small square mix. So I usually feed 2 flakes per horse and 1 flake per Hee-Haw at night and nothing extra during the day, unless I am in between picking up rounds, then I adjust the mix feeding amount to accomidate that. Everyone gets 3 cups of Purina Equine Senior and their vitamins at night. They have a decent amount of room, so they can get away from her...but I was hoping that she would come back less crabby towards the other girls.
Thanks for commenting!!

Karen V said...

Try "Mare Magic". It is just dried raspberry leaves. If you have a spot on the ranch, you can plant your own vines in the spring. I have NEVER had any trouble with any of my girls eating it. I actually have a big partial bag that I can ship to you if you want to try it. Send me an e-mail and I'll send it to you!