Like any herd, feral or domestic, there is always a dominant member. We always thought that was Rowdy, he's always trying to boss his mares around and definitely causes the most mischief, but after reading up and watching their behavior closer we have discovered that Penny, our senior mare, is definitely the alpha mare of the herd.
I recently read this: "The dominant member of a herd is always an alpha mare. This mare decides where the herd goes and, as the high-ranking member, gets first choice of food and water." Well, this explains a lot! Every single morning we witness an entertaining battle between Penny and Dolly.
As soon as they spot someone coming to feed them Dolly lets out her ear-piercing whinny, tosses her head and Penny charges her with ears pinned.
They continue their battle into the stalls and bite at each other through the bars.
Penny is a smart horse though, their battle used to be a lot more intense, she would kick her stall (which would get her in big trouble with me) and would kick the rail until she realized that hurt! Now she just gives little "warning hops".
Even after Penny gets her feed she makes sure to chase Dolly down the run and give one more warning that she better not try to get her food!
With this happening each morning you can imagine our surprise when we found out what happens after we leave the barn...
After making sure she has picked out all of her senior feed (her favorite!) Penny actually drags her feed bin out of her stall over to Dolly and they finish the rest together. Seriously, we couldn't make this stuff up?!
I guess being the alpha mare she is, as long as it's on her terms she's happy to share :)
Source: netplaces
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