Protected by the Inner Circle

Please visit the Meet the Star's Rest Band page for an introduction to each herd member.

The Inner Circle of Corazon, Griton and Llego in the back, with Besol and Valeroso on the edges.

Over the last year with us, Besol the domestic newcomer, has been slowly accepted by the boys of the Star's Rest Band. He is a fairly typical domestic horse in that his herd skills were not particularly well developed, but at least he had not been raised in a stall or pen and had been socialized by other horses. It was a gamble to bring him here, since the previous domestic horse we tried to incorporate into the herd was pen raised and overly imprinted by humans. In two years he had not adapted to life here and was treated like an alien by the Wild Boys. We eventually found him a more suitable home with other quarterhorses and he is now thriving.

Besol often keeps to himself, causing no problems.

Besol is a reserved horse who minds his manners and is only ever aggressive when forced to defend himself. For the most part, he is content to stand on the fringes and play when the offer for socializing is made by one of the other herd members. By default, Besol became buddies with Valeroso who is mostly held outside of the herd due to his disruptive bully behavior. The Inner Circle seems to appreciate Besol's mild manner and they accept him standing near and will even share food with him.

Besol and Valeroso during the warm days of their friendship.

It had seemed as though Valeroso had finally made a lasting bond with Besol, and we had hopes that his perpetual bully nature might finally be getting the edges smoothed off of it the way Griton's had. Griton came to us just as much of a bully as Valeroso, but quickly fell under Corazon's spell. With our quiet leader, Corazon, keeping the peace and moderating bully ways by withdrawing his acceptance, it seemed that the Inner Circle and the two on the fringes might finally be merging into a more tightly knit group of peaceful members. We had even made comments on how much more amenable Valeroso had become since he finally acquired a friend of his own.

Valeroso enticing Besol to play with a stick.

Recently I was standing on the deck in the early morning and saw Valeroso courting Besol with a stick in his mouth. This is a common activity for the clever little mustang from New Mexico. He will pick up a stick and wave it in the face of another horse to invite them to play with him. Amazingly, this often results in a tug of war between him and the other horse. Valeroso often asks for interactive play behavior and more often than not, it quickly turns into aggression for him. Mike had never seen him stick play and I called him out to watch this unique game of Valeroso's.

Besol responding to Griton's friendly invitation for face play.

Besol had just begun to respond in a friendly fashion when Valeroso, with absolutely no provocation, attacked him, going for the kill bite by grabbing his throat in his jaws. Besol was clearly terrified and twisted and broke loose, galloping back towards the main gate. Mike and I were shocked to see Valeroso spit out a large mouthful of hair, then go after Besol. We in turn took off, racing down to the gate to see how badly hurt Besol was. It is not uncommon for Valeroso to attack, but we had never seen him make such a ruthless assault without reason on a horse who had become his only companion over the last year.

The Inner Circle and guiding force of the band.

Besol came flying in to meet us at the gate, clearly glad to have human intervention in a situation he didn't understand. We quickly examined him and determined the injury was not too serious and in the meantime Corazon, Griton and Llego closed in around us to observe as we cleaned Besol up and medicated his throat wound. During this time Valeroso stood at a distance from us, clearly unwelcomed by the human members of the band.

The Wild Boys watch us with the same intense curiosity we have for them.

During the time they have lived with us, our formerly wild boys have become as keenly aware of our most subtle body language as we have of theirs. As we have attempted to learn their ways of communication, they have also learned ours. We have had it happen that human visitors we don't care for are dramatically avoided, while people we do like are welcomed with warm curiosity. The Inner Circle observed our intense concern over Besol as we took care of him, and they also observed our extreme displeasure with Valeroso for attacking with intent to harm and without defensive reason.

Valeroso kept isolated at the top of the bluff during his day of exile.

One of the most interesting exchanges I've ever observed occurred during the balance of that day. Besol, who was injured, was suddenly taken in by Corazon and Llego. He was allowed to stand within their intimate body space, an invitation that had never been previously extended. At the same time, Griton took up his role of Herd Police by isolating Valeroso up on the mountain for the remainder of the day. Griton's intelligence and adaptability has shown in his willingness to let go of bully behavior similar to Valeroso's, and instead becoming a gentle enforcer. Griton was never overly aggressive or forceful, he simply would not allow Valeroso to come down the mountain and rejoin the herd, even at a safe distance. Valeroso's exile was maintained from the morning feeding until the herd came in that evening for the night feeding.

Besol is now allowed to lie in comfort with the Inner Circle while Valeroso is pushed to the outside.

During the following weeks, we have seen that the small ground Valeroso made in truly joining the band was lost again, along with his budding friendship with Besol. Instead, Besol has been elevated in the herd and by the herd. While he is not yet part of the Inner Circle, he is also no longer on the fringes of it. Most surprising of all, even though Besol was challenged and defeated by Valeroso, his new status in the herd along with Griton's discipline of Valeroso, have moved Besol above Valeroso without so much as a small skirmish. In most domestic herd situations where horses are dominated by a bully, which is often the case, Besol would have had to fight Valeroso perhaps many times to gain status over him. In our natural and stable herd, guided by a quiet leader, fighting and 'dominance' are simply not part of acceptable behavior.

What do we learn from this small drama in the lives of the Star's Rest Band?

~ In a natural herd, the bully is never the real leader. If there isn't a leader in the herd, the bully may dominate everyone but there will be no peace and no real connection among the members. The herd will live to avoid the bully and situations that will provoke him or her.

~ A herd that is guided by a quiet leader will see the value of a non-confrontive member and will exclude a 'dominant' or aggressive member who disturbs the peace. Exclusion from the herd is often death to a wild horse.

~ There are no grudges held by the herd. The Inner Circle seems to have an endless capacity to forgive Valeroso and give him new chances. He simply has not accepted that he must modify his aggression in order to take a permanent place in the herd.

~ By being 'dominant' in our relationships with our horses as we are usually taught to be, we may indeed control them; but is the relationship mutual? Do our horses seek us out because they want to be with us, or because we force them to be with us? Is it possible that there is a better way to be with our horses that is based on cooperation instead of force?

These are all things we will continue to look at with the Star's Rest Band.