Quick update on Fiona and Megan

This morning I went out to feed and both horses were hanging out by the barn waiting for food. There were no games being played, they just both wanted food.  I chased them both away from the barn separating them, one in the pasture and one in the barnyard.  I was just then able to take a look at Fiona's bumps and bruises and scratches.

All in all everything looks ok, there are no deep abrasions or scratches, there are only places where a layer of skin and hair have been scraped off by Megan's hooves. I checked her out for tenderness around the head and neck then the shoulders, checking her back and hindquarters and still only found nothing to be worried about.  Even yesterday I noticed she was doing good and did not have a limp, so it was pretty superficial and not any significant injuries. 

I did notice that today and yesterday afternoon, Fiona is keeping some distance between herself and Megan.

Kicking out against pressure

Last night after getting settled for the evening I heard what sounded like a car door shutting, then another.  I got up and looked outside only to hear a large bang in the barn, NOT GOOD!

In running to the barn, (Yes Running) I heard another 2 hard hits and loud noises along with loud horse noises. I turned the corner to see both Megan and Fiona look at me like I had interrupted something and asking "What?"   I chased Megan out of the stall and noticed a few hoof prints on Fiona, then started looking closer and noticed a few abrasions and lots of missing hair from hoof scrapes. 

Fiona took a lot of abuse all over her body, including her head/cheek area.  From her head to tail she was covered in hoof prints and two prints directly on each side of her tail along with right on the point of the hip bone and top of the rear.  In looking at Fiona, I noticed she was limping pretty good and favoring her right hind leg/hip that is when I noticed a couple more scrapes.

After inspecting both horses, Megan threw and connected a lot and Fiona had no chance while she was pinned against the wall in the stall with no way out.  No more confined spaces allowed so the stall/barn is off limits for now.  We can not afford large vet bills because of a horse fight and that kind of behavior is not acceptable even though it is partially human fault providing small spaces where horses could have issues.

I looked at the barn wall and door, it was pretty graphic with hair embedded in some of the wood, deep gouges in the plywood and a lot of dirt/mud/horse poop mix strewn about, even on the ceiling.  This was a one sided fight and it could have been much worse so I took action to be sure it does not happen again due to human error.  The horses were separated last night and during feeding this morning, after feeding time Megan had her ears laid back and was chasing/herding Fiona into the larger pasture. 


It was quite an experience and hope to not have a repeat anytime soon.