The Old Switcheroo?

At 13.1, the new, sheriff's deputy in town.

Something very odd has happened in our barn.  Two horses have switched.

Since 2008, The order of dominance has been: Hudson, Starlight, DeCato.  There were some others along the way, of course, who placed themselves somewhere in the line-up, but Hudson has always been the lead mare, with Starlight a steady second, and then DeCato near the bottom, hustling out of Hudson’s and Starlight’s way, keeping herself safe.   

Well, one day about two weeks ago, I went up to the barn and noticed DeCato pushing

Keeping an eye on the red-headed devil.

Starlight out of the way.  I thought it might just be a one-time event, but since then it has become very obvious that DeCato is now dominant over Starlight.  She chases her off of food, she threatens to kick, and if she sees Starlight doing something interesting, she hurries over to push her out of the way so she, DeCato, can do that thing.

I have never heard of horses switching places in a well-established, long-time pecking order. 

But it appears to be the new order of things here at Toad Song.