Venus and Noelle
It’s been a few months since we moved Noelle up near Venus, but the girls have quickly become best friends! After a few weeks of being neighbors with Venus, Noelle started yelling for her and getting upset when we took her away from the stall, even though she had her buddy Rio to hang out with. Venus doesn’t seem to care much if Noelle leaves, however, and Noelle has no issues when we take her away from her stall and leave Venus alone… we’ve all had relationships like that.
The girls seemed to be so chummy next door to each other, however, that we decided to see if they would like to hang out together in the arena. Turns out- they love it! When we take off the halters, Venus usually runs off to the other side of the arena, and Noelle trots along after her. They don’t bite or snip at each other, and seem to just enjoy hanging out with each other. Venus does make sure to keep Noelle on her “good” side (Venus is mostly blind in her left eye), but otherwise they are very relaxed with each other.
We haven’t seen them do any mutual grooming yet, but they seem to be very content to just hang out and be horses. It’s so important for these guys to establish themselves in a herd if possible as they feel more comfortable and secure. I was concerned that putting them together in the stall would make Noelle run around more when we took Venus out of her stall, but while she stands and stares longingly in her direction, she seems relatively content to know that Venus is coming back. Right now we don’t have a paddock for them to hang out in together 24/7, but for now they enjoy being neighbors and turn-out buddies.
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- Elizabeth shows volunteer Sherry how to halter Noelle while Venus looks on.
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- Elizabeth and Venus.
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- Noelle checking things out.