Introducing Zeke into the Herd

Last night I decided I'd had enough of Maverick's bad behavior towards Zeke. Zeke is lowman on the totem pole but I don't have to stand there and watch him get beat all to heck. I wanted to wait until the weekend but I missed my chance last weekend somehow.

I sucked it up and made the plunge. Poor Zeke. He hasn't had it easy since coming to Borderlands. Either he's being picked on by Maverick, has to deal with crappy weather, or is walking through a foot of mud.

I pulled Bob and Sam in the barn so they could eat. I decided I would put at least one more horse in the barn so it wouldn't be so hard on poor Zeke. Chaos was the closest so in he went.

I then let Zeke through the hay barn and in to the big drylot. I left the halter on just in case. I think he's one that will be hard to catch and I figured if there was any drama I wanted to be able to catch him.

I let him go and he started investigating the ground. I had the forsight to throw a little bit of hay on the ground to stall the inevitable fighting (which never happened). Everyone was more intersted in the hay rather than Zeke.

Zeke walked around while Dude and King ate hay. Rain later came up along with Brego and there was still no fighting. Zeke is pretty good with the evasive manuver so he was able to stay out of the path of anyone's wrath.

I did see Zeke rubbing shoulders with King for just a few seconds. I think the transition was easier because Zeke spent so much time in the smaller drylot and could play/tormet the horses over the fence. That way they were able to meet each other and not run the risk of throwing any punches.

I later caught Zeke and Brego eating from the same hay pile. I wasn't sure how Brego would handle the new horse but he didn't seem to care. I think those two might become best buddies. Rain of course will hate Zeke but as long as Zeke has a friend I wont' worry. Although I'm not sure who will be at the bottom of the pecking order. It'll either be Zeke or Brego.

I later let Chaos out to see how the introduction would go. Chaos pinned his ears and Zeke went the other way. So I'm guessing they'll be fine. I later let Bob and Sam out. Sam stayed close to Bob and neither wanted anything to do with Zeke. Both Bob and Sam have been stalled right next to Zeke so I'm not too overly worried about how they'll handle another horse.

All in all the introduction went amazingly well. The only stress was on my part worrying about how it would all work out. I was curious to see how Zeke was doing this morning. To my amazement he was the only horse in the lot this morning. He was standing by the fence watching Maverick who I'd pulled out of the swamplot and put in a temporary pen by himself. Maverick needs to have a good long timeout session. Since Zeke was alone I tossed out some hay so he wouldn't go hungry. I don't think there's that much pasture left and Zeke is herd bound to Maverick (but that will change).

I hope that when I get home everything will be calm as it normally is with that motely crew. So the introduction I was dreading went very well. I don't want to introduce Maverick because he's mean and will cause too much chaos in the herd dymanics. I need to work with him more so I'll keep him separate for awhile longer.

I love having horses that are easy to work with and that have the same temperment as me!