Companions for Horses - Goats???

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Its been suggested for our foal on boxrest that we get a goat as a companion. I know that its been done in the past for racehorses, but not seen it personally. Bit wary as firstly wouldn't want to hurt foal and secondly kill goat!!

Anybody?
 
My pony is quite lonely, he has no to go out with no snowflakes gone, as the others are competition horses or old etc. And was thinking about getting a goat, but my fields are divided with electric tape, and wondered how I would get it to stay in the field. I wouldnt even know where to start to look to get a goat. However I know teds stable is big enough.

My old pony used to share his stable with Narny goat.... she was evil though always at the shins, he loved her!
 
i viewed a horse once that had a goat as a compainion - she was wayyyy tooatached to it.....

however - there wasjust goat and horse - no other horses about!

this goat didnt chew the horses tail though.....

might work :)
 
Goats can be a bit funny with horses - my neighbours' goats chewed her horse's tail! The goats were difficult to keep at home and had to be chained.
We had a sheep who was the last of a small flock of 3 who in her later years shared a stable with our retired cob. They had shared a field for several years though prior to this.
 
Goats are really hard work and a total pain imo.

You will need a DEFRA smallholding number to keep a goat. They will chew or eat anything tails, manes, plants etc etc the list really is endless. They cant get soaking wet so will need to be brought in if it rains hard. They are total escape artists. You will need very low fencing to keep them from getting under and high to stop them jumping over and fill in all gaps in between. They seem to need more jabs and worming than horses, they poo everywhere so can never keep a yard spotless with them walking over it, they seem to live to poo all the time they never stop. As for billies they stink to high heaven and you can never get rid of the smell it lingers on everything. Add on the million and one pieces of paper DEFRA send regularly for you to fill out for just one goat.

As you can tell not my favourite animals in the world :).
 
Some horses get on fine with goats and others hate them so you wont know without trying!

If your foal is on box rest and needs to keep calm putting a goat in might excite him and if he trys to play with it he might do himself more harm. Goats can be quite playful too so might not be the best thing for a foal on box rest.

Definitely don't get a goat with horns, can do terrible damage without meaning to and also can get the horns caught in rugs etc.

As Scally says there is an awful lot of paperwork involved in keeping a goat and they were definitely born to escape and poo!! They can be quite noisy too.
 
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