Anybody successful keep horses and pigs together?

[Horse-Factbook]

I'm currently researching an article for my website (www.horsefactbook.com) about whether horses and pigs get one and wondered if anybody had any experience with this? I've read a lot of stuff online about why they shouldn't be kept together and wanted to know if anybody's had a positive experience?

Also if anybody has any photos they wouldn't mind me using that would be great, of course, you'll be credited for them.

Thanks in advance

 

[planete]

Do you mean horses and pigs kept in the same space or on the same premises but in separate spaces? I used to keep a horse at livery on a farm where they also bred pigs and some pigs would be free to roam around the farm. I once had to evict a sow from my horse's stable to be able to put him in it. Pigs and New Forest ponies also share the forest space at certain times of year here and all the year round on the northern commons. I have never heard of any problems related to their being on the same ground.

 

[meleeka]

I have pet pigs and horses. I don’t have them in the same field though as although they don’t mind each other (the pigs often talk to the ponies when they are near the fence) I think it’s probably too dangerous for the pigs. They are the perfect kicking height and they obviously don’t have the speed that horses have to get out of trouble. Sometimes the Shetland is allowed in with them because he’s not much bigger!

 

[sunnyone]

With my first horse, an IDx, I would hack her up and down a farming friend's drive regularly so that she became used to his pigs. This was just a routine part of her education..
After a couple of years we moved to a town where summer grazing was plentiful, but winter keep was a real problem. Hence a smallholder let me keep my horse in her barn over the winter. The barn was divided lengthwise by a 4 foot high wall: horse went on one so side, pig on the other. Absolutely no problems with either of them. When the pig farrowed my horse, according to the smallholder, was fascinated.
In a way this was a more successful share than the winter with cattle who interacted with her e.g. washing her over the stable door. Any time thereafter if she spotted cattle, she'd jump fences and hedges to go and join them!

 

[Cortez]

I used to have a few pigs, they lived in the same field as the horses and got along well. One of the boars (neutered) was best mates with one of the stallions, he often slept in the stable.

 

[stangs]

I know two Welsh A’s who live out with pigs and goats most of the year. No problems. The welshies leave the pigs well alone and vice versa - they’re more interested in playing with the goats, and the pigs spend most of their time sunbathing.

 

[rabatsa]

I used to ride some welsh ponies that lived in the same field as pigs. The sows were taken out of the field for farrowing and returned when the piglets were about two weeks old.

The only problem was one old pig who tried to get through the gate before the pony when exiting the field.

 

[Ceifer]

I’ve worked for someone that had pigs and horses in the same field.
some horses hated the pigs. One horse jumped a five bar gate to get away from them. Mostly they were tolerated. Another pony used to find it a good game to chase them and occasionally double barrel the one pig. Pony was unshod so did no damage but it wasn’t pleasant to watch. My employer wasn’t bothered.

 

[scruffyponies]

We had pigs for years, although not in the field with the horses. No issues. There was quite a bit of affectionate nose-to-nose over the fences.
Personally wouldn't put pigs on horse pasture, as they dig better than they graze. We used the pigs for clearing land, at which they were superb.

 

[Horse-Factbook]

Thank you so much guys, most of what I'd read online was doom and gloom so it's good to hear that they can live together, even if not in the exact same field all of the time.

 

[ihatework]

I wouldn’t want pigs in with horses, the really churn up the ground.
Next door, fine, although you will find some horses have a real aversion and never get over it.
One of mine grew up from a foal at stud, with his paddock next door to pigs and when they had babies he would chat to them over the fence!

 

[dogatemysalad]

I've been on a couple of yards where the pigs got on very well with the horses. One yard had the pig pen next to the menage. Only the peacock objected to them.

 

[SEL]

3 of mine were in a paddock next to a pig at my old yard. We've now moved and I have no bother getting them down the bridlepath with the big pet pig sunbathing next to it.

Horse #4 has not met pigs and naps, spins and generally has a tantrum at just the smell. I am half tempted to borrow the pig for de sensitising purposes and pop it in a pen next to his field so he can get over it!

 

[Ddraig_wen]

We have pigs sharing a large field with the youngsters, they get along well. The nanny mare took a couple of weeks to come round but all good now

 

[BallyJ]

I had mine in a field next to some pigs and they were fine!

Hacking past them was a very different story though!!

 

[honetpot]

I used to have lessons with someone who had the most enormous sow who lived on the stable yard and wandered around, when she could be bothered.
I have had pigs in an outdoor pen, they do root up the ground, in the pony paddock. I can not remember the ponies paying any attention to them, they also live beside my bull in winter.
My friend had a posh listed pig house in her garden, one year to get out of the sun two, ponies backed in to it for shade, where they just about filled it.

 

[hairycob]

As far as my horse is concerned big, slow, grunty pigs are fine. Small, squealy, scuttling piglets are the most evil devils in the world

 

[Polos Mum]

We bred pigs and they had litters in the stables next to the horses. The horses were turned out next to them and my big horse used to lean over the fence to lick them in the summer (they liked the itch and he liked the salt ?!?)

They didn't like riding past them on the other side of the thick hedge - even when they'd just come out of the field next to them !! horses

 

[Nudibranch]

We had pigs when I was a child and the horses were fine with them. The pigs lived in an enclosure next to the field and we let them in there each day to forage. Horses weren't bothered at all. I don't remember but they probably did a bit of snorting and high tailing when the pigs first arrived but like most things, it's exposure.

Last year, before we moved house, some pigs arrived in the next door field and again, horses did a bit of looking and snorting but were fine after about 5 minutes. Now and again my Dales would cock an ear as we rode past if they were being particularly noisy but that was it.

Having said that someone nearby to our old house put pigs in the woods 2 fields away and the horses I had at the time hated them when we rode past. I suspect it was because they couldn't really see them over the stone wall, and it was just strange noises and smells. I never spent enough time close up to desensitise them but I would imagine they'd have got used to them had they been next door. To be fair one of those horses was petrified of shetlands so it didn't take much...

 

[MrsMozartleto]

We had pigs for years, although not in the field with the horses. No issues. There was quite a bit of affectionate nose-to-nose over the fences.
Personally wouldn't put pigs on horse pasture, as they dig better than they graze. We used the pigs for clearing land, at which they were superb.

This ^^^

We have pigs clearing some rough ground. The neds don't care and will touch noses with them. Wouldn't have them in the same field as pigs like to root in the earth and it churns it up too much for grazing land.

 

[Gloi]

I kept my pony on a pig farm for a time in my youth. They were indoor pigs though. He soon got used to them and squeezing down the alley past their pens.

 

[Archangel]

I had a pig and her piglets in with my horse. The farmer just put her out with him. They ate his tail so he was put in with the cows and sheep and they ate his tail! Given the choice the horse would always go to the fence and hang out with the pigs. My other horses were idiots round them.

 

[Cragrat]

We have often had pigs next door to horses - never any problems. They often investigated and greeted each other.

 

[Keith_Beef]

I was walking past one of the many yards out this side of the town and saw what looked like a Vietnamese pot-bellied pig wandering about freely around the place.

 

[Antw23uk]

My horse loves pigs, I dont think i would risk grazing them in the same paddocks though!

 

[Inda]

Been on a yard with free range Kuni Kunis and pot bellied pigs, think I was more bothered than the horses. No mater where I left my grooming kit it was eaten by the pigs.

The stud that I got carmin from had pigs across the road, she didn’t care in the slightest. The stud owner was adamant that the pigs gave her riding horse PTSD and had to be retired.

 

[DawnS]

Resurrecting this thread to ask if anyone has successfully acclimatized a horse to pigs? I recently moved yards, and the only bit of hacking is up a track past a pig farm. Horse (who is a bit of a wimp generally) could be led past the first time I went that way, when all pigs were indoors. The second time there were a few pigs outside and he was terrified by the smell long before he got sight of them. I can normally lead him past anything, but by the time we got about 20m from the farm he could see a pig and was blowing, sweating and shaking - I turned round and took him home before he made the decision for himself.
Getting a pig is not an option - I'm on a livery yard. Neither is turning out adjacent to the pigs. My plan is to lead him a little further up the track each day with carrots. Or am I wasting my time?

 

[meleeka]

Resurrecting this thread to ask if anyone has successfully acclimatized a horse to pigs? I recently moved yards, and the only bit of hacking is up a track past a pig farm. Horse (who is a bit of a wimp generally) could be led past the first time I went that way, when all pigs were indoors. The second time there were a few pigs outside and he was terrified by the smell long before he got sight of them. I can normally lead him past anything, but by the time we got about 20m from the farm he could see a pig and was blowing, sweating and shaking - I turned round and took him home before he made the decision for himself.
Getting a pig is not an option - I'm on a livery yard. Neither is turning out adjacent to the pigs. My plan is to lead him a little further up the track each day with carrots. Or am I wasting my time?

One of mine was terrified of my pigs when I got them (they were treeny and he was the head of the herd!) He overcame it pretty quickly though so I think it’s possible. Could you ask the owner for a bag of their poo, so you can at least get him used to the smell? A large part of the fear is the smell and the noise they make is so unknown, so if you can get him used to that, he only has the sight of them to worry about. A recording on your phone could be useful to desensitise the noise.

 

[Annagain]

I ended up selling mine after 2 years as we couldn't get over a pigs issue but to be honest it was a symptom of a wider problem rather than the only issue. We just never trusted each other. We're both much happier now. He's hunting in his new home which he loves and I'm hacking past pigs happily with my new boy as well as doing dressage, small jumps and generally loving life!

 

[Maryann]

We turned out a new horse in a group next to some pigs. He was horrified and fled to the furthest point. The other horses just carried on grazing. He had got over it by tea time and was never bothered by them again, not even when the piglets broke into his stable.