Turning out geldings with mares

julia gulia

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Dec 5, 2005
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The stable where I keep my gelding is considering turning out all the horses together.
To date, they have been in separate pastures. There are seven geldings(I hope we get another soon as I think there should be even numbers) and five mares (hope we get another mare soon too for same reason).
My concern is that some of the horses have hind shoes and some do not .Also, I feel that the individual personalities need to be taken in to account. I would love some input and perhaps personal experiences???? Can this work well? How should it be introduced?
We have a couple of months before this will be implemented so I really want to get a handle on this and find out all I can before I give them my opinion. I don't have a valid opinion yet, just concerns and questions!!!! Help?:confused:
 
IMHO there is no greater risk from mare to mare squabbles than gelding to mare mixed herd squabbles.
if the geldings have shoes on there is just as much a risk of them having a barney and hurting each other.

I wouldn't let it worry you too much.
 
Thanks Wally!!! My boy does have back shoes(he needs them as he is thin soled).I had read somewhere that if mares and geldings were turned out together, all the horses hind shoes should be pulled so that did concern me!!!! :)
 
echo wally. trouble can come when there is one mare and two geldings how fight over here - but even then it's really only an issue if 1) she is a tart and 2) both geldings are bothered. this is rarely the case.

the key thing IMO to any herd, mixed or single sex, is that there is enough space. these days people often have less land and smaller fields, so they're not suitable to keep a groups of horses in. they need to be able to get out of each others' way and stay apart if there is a clash of personalities. we have herds of more than 10 in some fields, and we find they clump into groups of three and four often, and will be at opposite ends of the fields. there is trouble only when they are forced to stay together in a small space and can't leave each other alone.
 
Very good point!!!!! We have three pastures. One is quite large so that is the one I think would be used. Thank you!:)
 
hopefully she will find a boyfriend and all will be fine. there might be trouble if there is only one tart and two geldings who fancy her as then they may fight over her affections - but not all geldings are bothered by tarty mares.

this is about a third of one of our big fields - you can see how big it is, and they do use all the space. the day i took this, there was this group dozing in the sun and another group of about 4 at the other end of the field.

http://historicalfact.com/~es/pictures/24sept/overbridge2.jpg
 
Great picture! Yes, I think our larger pasture is almost the same size, perhaps a little smaller. I don't think our "bossy little tart" will be hooking up with my boy, that's for sure, she seems to get on his nerves!! l.o.l. He stays away from her when we are in the ring or out on hacks.;)
 
We have mixed grazing, when Fat Cob was still alive he would go around showing the girls his muscles and hoovering the mares up and guarding them against other geldings, the other geldings used to snigger at him and wonder why he was putting so much energy into his mares.

Fat Cob wouldn't move under saddle, slow jogg is about all you'd get, however he'd make a special effort to gallop about half a mile in the field, to go and tell another gelding just how much he hated him, then gallo back to his mares! it was the space which kept the lid on any unpleasantness. There was plenty of room for Fat Cob and his girlies and the other boys.
 
we have had a mare in with our 4 geldings before.
3 of our geldings were cut late, harvey when he was 4, stan when he was 5 and rian when he was 7. Rian also has been used as a stud stallion so knows what he is doing. stan and rian hate each other. at the moment stan is the boss simply because he is the biggest (14hh connemara who is built like a tank) and rian cant afford to take a kick from him (rian is a 15hh fine arab). Harvey has just learnt to stay out of the way (well he is only 12.2hh) and pride has decided he is too old (he is 24).
when the mare was first put in with them it was at very short notice (she was loose on the road and he yard gate was open, she go in the yard and forced her way through the gate into the field (broke the damn gate).
we had some squealing and galloping round for a while but then it all settled with stan guarding his mare and the other 3 grazeing peacefully with harvey makeing a few discreate moves on the mare (when out of the sight of stan).
no problems at all. when her owners came to get her she didnt want to leave and all our horses hung round the gate for ages!
 
Ours is a mixed herd and there aren't many problems at all. If anything I think that it's much nicer and more natural.

If you bring a new horse to the yard it has to have back shoes off but that is just a sensible precaution until the 'kick risk' is assessed.
 
My mare lives out with 2 other mares and 4 geldings. When she first was getting acquainted with the herd she came into a really dramatic season and bonded very strongly to one gelding. I was worried :eek: The first time I took her out of the field was difficult, but as soon as she figured out she really lived there and would always go back, she's been fine with coming out for work.

In general, they all seem to get on well. She's been bitten a few times, and we think she must have been kicked at some point (there was a knot on her bum for a few days). None of the horses have hind shoes. There's one gelding who's kind of the big boss, but I was watching last night and even he couldn't move her off her chosen pile of hay ;)
 
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. My girls used to be on mixed grazing. One lot of horses were fine, no one bothered anyone else. Then we got a gelding who was a bit riggy and would mount the mares. My horse had marks on her sides from this as he cut the skin. YO wouldn't do anything, eventually his owner moved him as she was embarrassed at his behaviour and it was making him funny to ride. I moved my girls to a yard with separate turnout to prevent this happening again. Now we've got one boy in our field but if he was a problem I know he'd be taken out straight away. My little pony has fallen in love, which is so sweet, given that after her experience at the old yard she couldn't stand geldings at all for months! He's lovely, no interest in doing anything except mutual grooming.

Basically, what you need, is assurance that if there IS a problem, with the whole situation, or one/two horses, that something will be done.
 
As has been said before you need space....and food! My 3 live in a big herd of 20, they are in a 15+ acre field all night then a 10 acre for the morning, they all come up to the yard for a feed and a nap (and work!). They have their squabbles but with enough food and space it works itself out ok. Any new horses have back shoes off as a safety precaution.
 
Agree that space is absolutely critical, applies just as much to keeping single sex herds trouble free as well. Mare / gelding incidents are extremely rare in either of the mixed herds at our place, if anything it's usually a mare in heat harrassing a gelding rather than the other way round. I did catch the YO's geriatric 11hh pony flashing her wares at their 17.2 ID gelding the other day, bless him the poor lad even tried to get aboard, wish I'd had a camera with me:D
 
This is all sooo helpful, Thank you all for the input!!!!!
Follow up question! When the herds are put together, will my boy need to have his back shoes pulled????? This will be a problem for him as I stated above .:confused: There seems to be a difference in opinion on this,
Thanks!:)
 
We have a mixed herd....my mare's the alpha mare *smug*....she self volunterred herself though, no fighting for dominance. They all just follow her and protect her (she has never kicked a single horse in her life).

It will probably be best for your mares and geldings to see each other over the fence first....they may already be side by side but if not you want them all to know each other and not be fussed by teh change.
 
Miska said:
We have a mixed herd....my mare's the alpha mare *smug*....she self volunterred herself though, no fighting for dominance. They all just follow her and protect her (she has never kicked a single horse in her life).
It sounds like she might not be alpha mare then - if she doesn't push the others about, and they all like her and want to follow her.
 
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