Merging Herds

I successfully merged herds yesterday. Adding a single horse to a herd is simpler than combining two sets of horses with their own set of hierarchy.
Magic is definitely king of the hill, though JW would like everyone to think that he only 'lets' Magic in the lead role because he's retired. JW holds on firmly to his "second in command" position and has fought intensely to maintain it in the past.

This type of behavior is very common in the #2 horses. It is a special position being numero dos in a herd; you get lots of perks like sharing hay with alpha horse, eating near alpha horse, and following alpha horse around. So you can see why they try hard to maintain this rung on the hierarchy ladder.

Casanova is a playful baby but at 5 years old he's feeling his oats. He has lightning fast reflexes and may try to put the bull on younger, slower herd mates.

So where will Irish and Aidan fall into the hierarchy?

Well, Irish is dominant over Aidan, although Aidan is constantly trying to change this fact. He loses every game and instigates more. He thinks he'll win one of these days.

Irish and Aidan are both young and young horses are generally more submissive to new, older horses.

I started with Magic and Cas in their pasture and added Aidan. Literally nothing happened for 20 minutes. They started grazing immediately after I put him in the pasture. Uneventful is an understatement.

Then came Irish. Aidan is very attached to his big brother and wanted to be near him. They paired up and kept to themselves with Cas following curiously behind. Cas pinned his ears and shooed them away a few times, but nothing aggressive. Cas wanted them tall boys to know that the little guys have what it takes.
Then JW.
My biggest concern was how JW would treat Irish. JW has shown aggression towards horses that threaten his position before. Irish is a confident boy with potential to move up the ladder.
I was pleasantly surprised to see everyone lazily sniffing one another, no squeals or kicks or bites.

There is definitely a benefit to introducing horses over a fence first!

I drove by their pastures early this morning on my way in from work and the 5 of them were sleeping in a tight little herd under the trees. Happy ending!