Am I being silly about dismissing mares?? What budget should I have?

I only ever had geldings for many years. But I have to say that my mare (now sadly retired due to injury) is the best horse I have ever owned or cared for. I love her more than any other animal I have ever known. She is the most cuddly, affectionate horse I have ever come across, and also had talent in dressage, show jumping and cross country to burn. Her only fault was the occasional (very huge) buck when she was feeling a bit too well! Now she is clicker trained as she cannot be ridden and does all kinds of 'tricks' and loves it. So yes, I have to say that dismissing mares is potentially robbing you of your ideal horse. IMO there is no difference between the two sexes if you get a 'non marey' mare.
 
pip6 said:
I have only owned mares, but ridden stallion & geldings as well. Several geldings were worst behaved I have sat on. They all seem to lack a certain something that the mares & stallion had, that extra something. It's like comparing a vibrant colour with magnolia. That's my experience.

Some mares are best avoided. A good one is a wonderful animal. Our eventing broodmare is totally not-marish, & her fillies are the same. Whoever buys them wont have hormonal issues, which is the advantage of buying from the breeder where you see mum as well.

Totally agree with waiting until spring when hormones will kick in, just to see what you're getting. Not everyone gets on with every horse, no matter what their gender. Don't let one put you off. If you find a girl which you think is right for you, don't dismiss her. They take a little more work to connect to, but it is well worth it, that girl will be on your side when things get tight.

As for price, it depends what your buying. I have found that people expect a bargain due to the market. Quality will hold it's price, & people know when they have bred something nice.
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Agree with this.
 
I would never own a mare for various reasons:
They are not excepted on all livery yards
When in season can be witches
They have good and bad days, but bad days are normally very bad
You have to treat them different to geldings

There are pros for mares aswell but all of teh above just put me off them so when I was looking I just would scroll past mares. There are plenty of geldings who can do what you want to do. Some people just don't get on with mares, I can ride them but I don't enjoy it.

As for price in this market I'd imagine you can get what you want for about £5k I wouldn't go over £7k :)
 
I prefer mares. I don't know why, and I ride plenty of geldings for other people, but there is something about the spirit of a good mare that I love!

I think it is just personal preference, plenty of people lean one way or the other, but if you are genuinely less comfortable around mares due to past experience make sure you spend a lot of time with her before you buy, preferably getting first hand experience of her behaviour in season.
A mareish mare doesn't bother me personally, but it can be very offputting if they are a real pain about it!
Good luck!
 
xspiralx said:
Luci if you read my post I said BSJA rather than BE, as long as it has done unaff xc or been xc schooling. Not something that has never done any xc at all!

I know some horses can't cope with xc, but it doesn't need to have done BE in order to be "proven" - as long as it has the aptitude for it, then it will be fine IMO.
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Nope - would really really like to agree as it would make my forthcoming search considerably easier but mine had done basic xc schooling and I rather assumed he would carry on happily but he didn't! when the fences got bigger over a period of time, he became less and less enthused. Next horse (assuming I find mine a good home!) will have to have evented..
 
It's interesting to hear people's opinions on mares etc and also on how much experience I can expect a horse to have.

Although I've ridden and competed mares for other people I found owning one so different and she and I never really saw eye to eye - generally cos she'd put me on the floor!

I was never sure how much to read into the 'tell a gelding, ask a mare, reason with a stallion' business but I can see that it does ring true in some cases.

I think what I'll do is be open minded (I'm now 26 and have come a long way from the 18 yr old with the psycho mare!!) but make sure I really have enough time to be sure that the horse is right for me (I guess that should apply to any horse purchase though really!)
 
I wouldn't dissmiss mares, i had a fanastic mare who was never mareish, a dream to do and never put a foot out of line :D My last pony was also a mare, and I'd probably look for one again. I've had two mares and two geldings, the mares i just found had more personality and were kinder, and out of the four of them two have been a bit difficult - one of each sex!

The mare Luci07 mentioned at our yard in Surrey is lovely, not mareish at all. She's not done a huge amount due to the snow but is sensible and easy to do, she may suit!

Also agree you'd be needing to spend around the 6k mark for a nice type.. will keep ears open as in area :)
 
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We have 2 chestnut mares. Are we mad? Possibly! We always said we didn't really want mares as they can be 'complicated' so we ideally looked for gelding, but if a mare came up at a price we could afford and she had the potential that we were looking for then we weren't put off too much. We've had the first one for over 2 years and looks to be with us forever yet she is complicated, but doable. My sister loves her to bits and wouldn't be without her. we then had colts, fillies, a gelding and after seeing them go off to lovely new homes after we've worked with them I've now bought myself a chestnut thoroughbred mare. She's lovely and fantastic to ride! A bugger to tack up and a little stressy when alone, but as I said, they al have their quirks. Go with your instinct.
 
I have ALWAYS been a fan of geldings, and said I wouldn't have a mare. However, I now own a little sharp marish mare, but I LOVE her. She is incredibly quick and clever to learn, and will try he heart out for you. However, you do have to get mares to work with you, and not bully them to work for you ;) :D Don't write them off :) :)
 
Ive owned and ridden mostly mares, at the moment ive got 3, and I love them, and as much as they are all sweet natured I do like that bit of fight in them, but the quietest one ive got here to ride is the stallion....hes a real gem...
 
I would only ever buy mares, but have accidently bred geldings, as they came out the wrong sex!

Mares - well if they do a leg you can breed from them, they tend not to wee in vehicles and generally a bit brighter than geldings. However if you didn't have your own land, so the breeding thing was a non starter, then I guess it wouldn't matter about the sex.

Budget wise - well mine is up for 8k at the moment, but is 10, hombred been and done everything and exceptionally quiet. Not just BSJA winnings, but qualified for blue chips, scope, amateurs etc. Is a gelding and with sweet itch (I have all the time in the world to sell him, so not really matching current climate pricing)
 
Luci07 said:
Nope - would really really like to agree as it would make my forthcoming search considerably easier but mine had done basic xc schooling and I rather assumed he would carry on happily but he didn't! when the fences got bigger over a period of time, he became less and less enthused. Next horse (assuming I find mine a good home!) will have to have evented..
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Well there are always going to be exceptions to the rule - and it sounds like you've got one.

In my experience, most horses that have had a decent allround upbringing, and enjoy jumping, take to xc perfectly well. I think you'd have to be very unlucky to find a horse that had done unaff xc and xc schooled perfectly well and then suddenly took against it entirely when you tried to do BE.
 
I too am a gelding fan, never owned a mare in my life for myself for riding. I just tend to fall out with them, although friend has always had mares and really gets on well with them.

I believe if you get a good one they are better than a gelding sometimes.

Interestingly my young daughter at age 7 insisted that her pony would always be a mare. True to her word she sought a mare when she outgrew her last pony, I was dubious and mentioned geldings but being 9 years old and stubborn she was insistent! - we now have a fantastic little palomino mare who I trust implicitly and even more so because she IS a mare!!!! I think it really depends on personalities!
 
I tried to leave my prejudices behind in the summer when I was looking for a new horse. I've always had geldings but I had a mare on trial, she ticked all the boxes and I thought she was 'the one'. However, after the 3rd week she came into season and she completely changed personality, becoming very spooky and ran off with me with a few times. After a few days of this I sent her back, I wasn't prepared to put up with it. This experience put me off even going to look at mares but I was lucky enough to eventually find a lovely gelding. I'm sure there are plenty of mares who are lovely put I don't think I'd be prepared to take the risk, unless I knew the horse well beforehand.
I know lot's of people who prefer mares but they're not for me. I think two lots of female hormones coursing around is just too much!
 
xspiralx said:
Budget-wise, its how long is a piece of string.

I think if you were looking for a 6-8 year old that has already got competition experience and is ready to go out and compete at BE 100/ or Discovery/Newcomers SJ then I think you'd be looking at 6-8k ish depending on how smart and well schooled the horse is.

If you're prepared to take on something than has no affiliated competition experience, or needs a little more work, then 3-5k is a more realistic budget. You could even look at an ex racehorse and get a very nice horse for under 1k if you were prepared to school it yourself!

Personally I've owned geldings and mares, and in the main I just prefer geldings. It wouldn't put me off trying mares in future, but I certainly think it is okay to have a preference - but I wouldn't rule out a mare totally if she ticks every other box.
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Totally agree with this. I am also of the same opinion re:mares v geldings. I think people 'fit' with EITHER geldings or mares generally. I get on better with geldings.
 
Mares always seem to bit more of a character. I've had both mares and geldings but am a mare fan really. I guess i find it funny that they can be idiots but still the sweetest thing around at the same time. Also mares seem to bond with their owner more than geldings (from experience). For example my mare will only ride nicely for me and my instructor, anyone else gets on and she'll try them out with a few bucks and sudden bursts of canter, or her favourite trick is going sideways.
Budget wise, i reckon you'll be looking around £5k-£8k really, horses that have been there and done it well don't sell cheap.
 
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