This weekend I'm picking up a sweet little colt (okay...he's a bit wild but he WILL be sweet after about a week!) We haven't bought any new horses since the time we bought our herd. The only new additions we made were when our mares foaled out and we weren't worried about how they interacted. Our mares did the introductions and everything was good.
However, I have a very close knit herd of two mares and their four adult offspring (both mares have two grown foals. LMAO) The offspring are all buddies and the mares are as well. This new baby will cause some commotion.
So far my plan is to keep him in my barn lot (our barn has two stalls and a large open area) and I would like to buddy him up with my dwarf gelding who is close in size yet mild mannered enough to teach the colt some manners. I am planning on slowly introducing the two and letting them live in our barn and our other dry lot. Our mares and other gelding (who is 10" taller than the colt....thus why I am NOT putting him in with him until later) will be separated from them by cattle panels which our lots are made out of.
I don't want to put the colt in with my mares because he isn't cut. I'm not sure if he is dropped at all, but I felt the other colts with him that were being weaned (I was bathing and clipping them, that's how I got to acquire the colt) both had at least one testicle down already. I don't want or need anymore babies. I have a vet appointment made in October for teeth floatings and talked to my vet this week and added a gelding procedure as well. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be able to gelded and then I'll be able to put him in with the herd in November/December. Otherwise, I don't know how I'm going to do the hay feeding situation. (We feed round bales and its only on the mare side. No square bales.)
Does this sound like a decent plan?
However, I have a very close knit herd of two mares and their four adult offspring (both mares have two grown foals. LMAO) The offspring are all buddies and the mares are as well. This new baby will cause some commotion.
So far my plan is to keep him in my barn lot (our barn has two stalls and a large open area) and I would like to buddy him up with my dwarf gelding who is close in size yet mild mannered enough to teach the colt some manners. I am planning on slowly introducing the two and letting them live in our barn and our other dry lot. Our mares and other gelding (who is 10" taller than the colt....thus why I am NOT putting him in with him until later) will be separated from them by cattle panels which our lots are made out of.
I don't want to put the colt in with my mares because he isn't cut. I'm not sure if he is dropped at all, but I felt the other colts with him that were being weaned (I was bathing and clipping them, that's how I got to acquire the colt) both had at least one testicle down already. I don't want or need anymore babies. I have a vet appointment made in October for teeth floatings and talked to my vet this week and added a gelding procedure as well. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be able to gelded and then I'll be able to put him in with the herd in November/December. Otherwise, I don't know how I'm going to do the hay feeding situation. (We feed round bales and its only on the mare side. No square bales.)
Does this sound like a decent plan?