Do your mares group themselves into color groups, mine do!

[reedhill]

I would love to know what makes horses devide themselves into color groups. I know this sounds corny, but ours do. None of our mares come from the same farm except for 2. We have a big chestnut group, a small black group, and a palomino group all devided in the same giant pasture. Our perlino and cremello are dual friend alphas. All the groups keep in check with them, I figured it's because they are easy to see day or night, so at least if they take off they can alert the others. As the mares have been added to and subtracted from over the years, they always group themselves with their color. We do have exceptions, our bays used to be a separate group, but as we have sold most of them off, they mingle only with the chestnuts..........then go off again by themselves. Oh, and a black and white paint mare stays only with the palaminos.

Do my "Divas" descriminate against eachother?
Is it nature's way to group like colors in the eyes of horses?
They have never been pastured or separated in these groups.
Each group has their own alpha, and each group has it's own rank amoung the other groups.

The double dilutes are at the top. The bays were second in charge, until they were sold off to a few, so now the chestnuts are 2nd. Bays are 3rd. Blacks are 4th, and Palominos are at the bottom.

Any horse philosophy welcomed......and what do yours choose to do?
I've always wanted to ask others this, they are so beautiful together as a whole herd, as long as they don't step on eachothers hooves!

[LB]

Mine group themselves by color as well. Every time I've pointed that out people make fun of me, so I'm happy to hear I'm not the only one who notices this.

Not only do the mares segregate by color but the foals do, too. I once had 2 bay colts who were very similarly marked. They always hung around with each other to the exclusion of everyone else--the really interesting thing was that their dams weren't particularly friendly with each other at all so these guys had to seek each other out.

My question is: how do horses know what they look like?

[cng]

I drive through about 4 sections that a turnpike runs through the property. There are about 1000 head of horses in the 4 sections. I have noticed the greys are usually grouped together. Haven't paid much attention to the others, it's just that the greys stand out.

[dray33]

I was disheartened when I visited my mare for the first time at Three chimneys. Staria is on the smaller side, and the other mares were chasing her away, as if to say "move along". She did have one "friend" who kept her company, but she was definitely at the bottom of the pecking order. I hope she kicks their ass when it comes to "talented offspring"

[Derby Lyn]

Mine are breed and color discriminatory. My chestnut qh mares are seperate from the tbs.

[reedhill]

Now that I think about it, our QH and Paints stay away from the TB's too.
I think they must see their body color when they itch and lay down. Either that or they tell eachother what color they are, LOL It does seem though, they have it all figured out, definately smarter than some give them credit. I just figured they would group by agressiveness straight down they line to the most passive, hummm

[Jenny]

I have always noticed that my herd of bays and chestnuts keep the other colours out. Like my gray Arab gelding and my mothers palomino qh and my little buckskin pony, they were in a little heard of their own. I think the others think they draw too much attention to them. Maybe because they are prey animals they don't like to be noticed?

[StealingKat]

Wasnt there a well known ( I can't remember which one) stallion in KY that would not breed gray mares? i think I heard that one time.

[pfrsue]

Wasnt there a well known ( I can't remember which one) stallion in KY that would not breed gray mares? i think I heard that one time.

Strangely enough, I worked with a Trakehner stallion back in the 80's who vastly preferred gray mares. They used AI on the farm and discovered that he got more hot 'n bothered over a gray mare not in heat than a bay or chestnut mare in full heat. Talk about a fetish! (He was dark bay.)

[Dave C]

My horses don't group by colour but they do group by family. The alpha mare has two daughters and a gelding son that form a kind of family compact. The alpha and the gelding are chestnuts and the two daughters are bays. I did notice two winters ago that the bay filly out of one of the other mares attacked the chestnuts but would leave the bays alone. It was kind of strange because all the chestnuts were in dominant positions, but they sort of tolerated it from the baby.

[madelyn]

Ours have always grouped by color. Chestnuts hang with chestnuts, bays with bays. Greys are outcasts, I think because the are easy to see at night. Something primordial, instinctive, causes the herd, even the mini herds, to reject the odd bright colors that can attract predators, in my opinion.

[KBEquine]

I remember reading a study a long time ago that said that in the wild, the alpha mare is generally a medium-sized & colored & that the mares generally grouped according to color.

At the original Trakehner stud in Europe, they actually sorted their mares into herds by color.

[Pan Zareta]

Wasnt there a well known ( I can't remember which one) stallion in KY that would not breed gray mares?

I've never heard of one that wouldn't breed grays. According to numerous sources, Seattle Slew preferred them.

I have two QH & one TB mares that share pen & pasture. The oldest mare, one of the Quarters, is a 28yo gray & she's the alpha. The other QH and the TB are 7 & 6yo chestnuts. There's another mare group here composed of 4 bays (one of whom is alpha), a chestnut and a greying yearling filly. I've never observed either group ostracizing its gray.

One thing I have noticed is that our 3 bay geldings tend to stay together when turned out among a larger group containing 4 chestnuts, a black, a red roan, a grulla & a brown. The black and one of the chestnuts are the 'The Enforcers'.

[Toccet02]

Wasnt there a well known ( I can't remember which one) stallion in KY that would not breed gray mares?

I've never heard of one that wouldn't breed grays. According to numerous sources, Seattle Slew preferred them.

I have two QH & one TB mares that share pen & pasture. The oldest mare, one of the Quarters, is a 28yo gray & she's the alpha. The other QH and the TB are 7 & 6yo chestnuts. There's another mare group here composed of 4 bays (one of whom is alpha), a chestnut and a greying yearling filly. I've never observed either group ostracizing its gray.

One thing I have noticed is that our 3 bay geldings tend to stay together when turned out among a larger group containing 4 chestnuts, a black, a red roan, a grulla & a brown. The black and one of the chestnuts are the 'The Enforcers'.

No I've heard of that stallion too. Don't remember who, but I remember that he wouldn't cover gray mares unless they were covered by a rug.

[geowarrior]

No I've heard of that stallion too. Don't remember who, but I remember that he wouldn't cover gray mares unless they were covered by a rug.

And a paper bag over their heads?