Putting A gelding in with a mare

[Mini~Lover]

Hey Everyone! I have a mare(full size) that I am going to be putting a gelding in with. SHould I seperate them or is it ok for them to be together? Will he um...try to mate with her? Ive heard that geldings can give mares diseases when they do that. Is this true? WIll this change her bahavior in any way, being with a guy horse? THanks so much!

Katie

 

[New_Image]

Its fine to run mares and geldings together.

He shouldnt change her personality after they get to know eachother, not really.

Yes some geldings do try to breed a in heat mare, Two of mine did but both were studs, one for 5 years the other for 12 years. My other geldings have left my mares alone (But SHE doesnt leave them poor boys alone when shes in heat

 

[wildoak]

Much depends on the individual horses. I boarded a friend's gelding - very sweet, easygoing reiner who came to us when he was on r & r from showing - he ran with my 2-3 mares and proceeded to run the younger mare into the fence. He was just taking charge of his "herd", but it nearly cost me a nice filly.

Jan

 

[Sandee]

I assume your talking about both horses being full sized horses. When we were boarding my mare at a large farm the hired help accidently turned her out with a pasture full of geldings. Of course when the owner discovered the mistake she ran out to "rescue" her only to find that alpha mare standing in the middle of the field with one old gelding by her side and the rest cowering in a corner almost shouting, "please, take her away!".

Mares can be really bossy and nasty to geldings but if they are the only two around she may accept him as better company than no company.

 

[Kendra]

Obviously every horse is different, but chances are they'll get along fine. If you do have any trouble, it'll be because the mare is too nasty to the gelding!

 

[Jacquee']

It really depends on the individual horses. Some geldings just have a really, really good memory and WILL breed the mare. (And like others have pointed out, some mares insist on it.) We were taking care of a mustang gelding once who bred my mare so much she coliced. We had no choice but to pen up the gelding. I don't know about diseases, but I imagine if the gelding had something he could pass it on. Usually though everything goes fine. If I will be putting 2 horses together, I let them share a fenceline first and try and see how they are getting along over the fence. Once they seem OK with each other (maybe after a couple of weeks, maybe less depending on the horses) I put them together in the morning, right as I feed. That way they have food on their minds, not war if they decide to not get along. Of course I feed them far apart. Then they have the daylight hours to work out how they will get on with each other, and I can judge if things are going well. MUCH better than doing it at night, and hearing thuds and squeals all night that you constantly have to jump out of bed and check!!

:

 

[Joyce]

I have 2 geldings in a lot with 8 mares. No problems, all are minis.

Joyce

 

[Jill]

In my experience, it will usually work out just fine for geldings to go in with mares. And, as was indicated, the mares usually are the boss of the geldings.

 

[chandab]

I've always kept my full-size mares and geldings together with little to no problems. Currently, the biggest gelding rules the roost, but the mares are all are younger than him and he was boss when they arrived. When I just had my senior gelding and two mares; the older mare ruled without challenge.

I've boarded my horses a few places that prefer to keep mares and geldings in seperate pastures; at the time I only had my gelding, so my horses weren't separated.

I don't have any mini geldings, so don't know how they would get along with the mini mares; but if/when I do have a gelding, if they get along they will be together.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I never had any trouble whatsoever with full size geldings attempting to breed mares- I'd have had a breakdown if I had.

Just another thing we appear to be more tolerant about with Minis as my seven year old stallion turned gelding took three years to lose his memory- mind you he was never turned out with mares in that time.

I think if you know the animals concerned it should not be any bother.

Just think of them as two horses, rather than a mare and gelding.

You know your animals, pick your time and go for it.

If you are in any doubt have the rear shoes pulled first.

Good Luck

 

[Miniv]

Are we talking about the same sized horses here? If so, we have mixed both full sized mares and geldings together without a problem.......and also mini geldings and mini mares together. In both situations, the geldings have been geldings for several months to years, so the hormones aren't a problem.

MA

 

[chandab]

I never had any trouble whatsoever with full size geldings attempting to breed mares- I'd have had a breakdown if I had.

Just another thing we appear to be more tolerant about with Minis as my seven year old stallion turned gelding took three years to lose his memory- mind you he was never turned out with mares in that time.

I think if you know the animals concerned it should not be any bother.

Just think of them as two horses, rather than a mare and gelding.

You know your animals, pick your time and go for it.

If you are in any doubt have the rear shoes pulled first.

Good Luck

Jane,

Interesting point and I'm with you, if I'd seen full-size geldings trying to breed the mares I'd probably have a breakdown too.

I wonder if minis tend to retain their stallion behavior longer, as they are often gelded later. Seems mini breeders are just getting on the gelding band wagon, whereas more full-size horses have been gelded with no second thoughts.

Most the people I know around here, geld their full-size colts spring of there yearling year. Some are kept until two if they are thinking about keeping him entire. Every gelding I've owned has been gelded before he turns two and most have been done spring of the yearling year.