Beauty's Arrival

The herd is now complete as Promise and Whisper welcomed Beauty today. Beauty is my brother-in-law's horse and was just released from quarantine along with all of the other members of the TN30 herd. In the last few weeks, Beauty has begun to show signs that her belly is more than just a newly rounded hay belly and I'm concerned she may also be in foal so it's extra good to have her on Huey's property so we can oversee her better.

Beauty had full abscess ruptured strangles while in quarantine. She has since fully recovered and been clear over 30 days of any signs of the disease. She also passed testing for carrier status of strangles. A very nice little mare, she loaded well for transport and has been easy to handle from day one.

 Promise and Beauty already knew each other from being in the TN30 herd together, couple that with the fact that both were very herd savvy horses with plenty of common sense and I knew they would do just fine. Whisper was the only oddball who had no normal horse skills or sense.

Whisper saw Beauty unloading and was very intent watching her as Chris walked Beauty in the gate and over to the water trough. Then something interesting happened. Whisper was on lead and Promise was loose. Whisper stood as tall as she could standing with the middle of her neck even with my shoulder. Promise came around us and stood very close to Whisper and immediately behind me. It was a herd security move with the introduction of a stranger and it very clearly represented rank. I think in this moment, Whisper may have position outranked me, but I'd like to think we were co-boss mares as she was still responding to any cues I gave her. Promise was tucked right in with us, so close her nose bumped my back at times.

After it was clear that Beauty was comfortable and knew where the water was, we turned her loose.

Pretty soon everyone settled in and the three stayed in a group. The cows across the driveway caught Whisper's eye a few times and Beauty's head was up right along with her, so some time to learn about the new neighbors is in order. Though I'm sure she'll acclimate to them in half the time Whisper... well, Whisper still hasn't fully acclimated to them.

Welcome to your new life Beauty, hope my girls are treating you well, the pasture is now perfectly full.