Navi gets turned out

Yesterday was a big day for us and Navi. She finally was able to go out with the other horses. We were glad we could turn her out on our day off so we could watch and make sure it all went well. I wasn't expecting too many problems, but you never can guess what will happen when introducing a new horse to the herd.

Jess was a perfect gentleman as expected, he just walked up smelled her and went on his way. He never has been one to start problems. He is top horse in our pen, but it is his calm manor that puts him in charge.

 Pixie did try to kick at her once, but then just pinned her ears. She made sure Navi knew she was top mare. Really Pixie did better than I thought she would, she can be such a mare at times :)

Willow ignored Navi at first, but then once she noticed her she took off after her ears pinned and chased her around for a bit. Willow currently is the lowest out of the three so I think she wanted to make her point that she is at least above Navi.

After a while though something interesting happened. Pixie started to intervene between Willow and Navi. Pixie would push Navi around, but if Willow tried Pixie would get in the middle and not allow it. Pixie then started hanging out closer to Navi without making angry faces. I don't know what the end result will be...my best guess is Navi will remain on the bottom of the herd. It was interesting to watch them all day. I can say that even with all the pushing around no one ever made contact, no biting or kicking. That makes me one happy horse-mom. My horses are not bullies :)

After all was calm and everyone settle in with the new change we decided to blanket everyone since windchills were supposed to be around -10. We got Pixie and Willow blanketed, Jess was already wearing his, so they were set. Now what about Navi?  We tried two blankets on her, both were too big. Luckily my BO (Barn Owner) came to the rescue and found one of her blankets that fit Navi. I want to find an adjustable one, cause Navi will outgrow anything I buy now :(  I still want to have a blanket on hand for the super cold nights. For the most part she will be like Pixie and Willow who stay naked during the winter with the exception of bitter nights.  Jess is the only one we keep blanketed more often than not in the winter and that is due to his age.

We also measured Navi to start tracking her growth. She currently stands around 13.3 HH and is around 700lbs.

Navi getting ready for her first night outside after a month of being stalled.