The last time Tiva saw her filly, Hayden, was when she was weaned from her. The pair had been living in a stall, and when Hayden left for her fresh start at Care Fur Life, we did not anticipate that the pair would ever be in the same space again. But life moves in interesting ways, and nearly three years after their separation, Tiva and her filly were both at SAFE. We bided our time, waiting for Hayden’s intake quarantine to come up so we could reintroduce the pair, wondering how it would go.
Tiva is an interesting herdmate. She slots in easily to almost any social situation because for the most part she more or less sticks to herself. She doesn’t pick fights, and she gets out of the way when asked. But the curious thing about Tiva is her expression in interacting with other horses. She will more often than not snake out her neck, even occasionally baring her teeth, but it’s all posture. As soon as the other horse asks (re: tells) her to move, she is out of there, quickly. She is really the definition of all bark and no bite. Occasionally a very low-level horse will move their feet for Tiva, but it is a rare occurrence.
So we were curious as to how the Tiva-Hayden reintroduction would go. Would Tiva recognize her? Would she behave differently with a horse who she had a previous relationship with?
No.
Hayden came in hot, and succeeded immediately in moving Tiva, who walked away with her characteristic ear pinning. At their official reunion, Tiva greeted Hayden with her trademark attitude, and as they sniffed noses for the first time, Tiva — you guessed it — made a stink face. Hayden then greeted Eda while Tiva stood on the sidelines.
Okay, but what if the first time was a fluke? They sniffed noses again, and this time Tiva made an attempt to move Hayden off, to which Hayden did move off, but with a modicum of confusion. Tiva’s feel is, after all, quite odd. After that, Hayden gave Tiva her space, and Tiva continued existing as she had been before the family reunion.
Hayden and Tiva’s reunion (or lack thereof) is a great example of how much horses live in the moment. Tiva clearly hasn’t been wondering all these years where her filly has gone. If we had to ask her, she would probably say “Daughter? I barely know her!”
