This morning I decided to turn the ponies out in the yard again. I haven't let Sky and Zorro out since Oliver got here because I didn't want to stress him by having them canter off across the 20 acres and leave him behind. But today I thought it was a good time to turn them all out together. For one thing, the yard is big enough for Oliver to stay as far away from the other two as he needs to, to be safe. Also, Sky and Zorro are very serious about eating. So, I knew they would be focused on the grass and less so on Oliver. It worked perfectly! Oliver kept his blanket on for a little while just in case someone got too aggressive with biting. But everyone did pretty well!
Here is a little video showing how well it went:
When I put everyone back in the track, I gave them their breakfast pellets and then went in to eat my breakfast. A few hours later, I went out and opened up the track so everyone could mingle! There was a lot of hay laying around that Oliver never finished, so that kept Sky and Zorro busy. I sat out there for about an hour and watched Oliver wander around the track and check out everything. If he seemed to get confused then I would walk over to where he was, and he would follow me back around to his little hay pile, that I was sitting by.
Then a little later I went out and drove Zorro.
I don't trust Sky to be alone with Oliver so I put her in the arena and the little pen that is connected to the other shed. She will spend the night there, while Zorro and Oliver stay in the large part of the track. Zorro seems to be more patient with him. Sky will come back out in the morning when I let them all out to graze for a few hours and she can stay in during the day. Then I'll lock her up at night a few more nights, until she stops being so bossy to the baby.
I'll keep you updated on how this goes!