Herd turnout -intro

[Sossigpoker]

I'm having to leave my current yard , currently have my horse on individual turn out.
Only place that has space is somewhere that does 24/7 turn out year round. Which is great. But it's in a herd of about 12 and it's mixed.

What do people think of mixed herd turn out? My old horse was always in a gelding group but current horse, just through yard placement , has only had individual turn out. I'm really nervous about this!

I asked the yard how they do the intro and they said they just pip the new horse in ,.sometimes they run around for 5 minutes and then settle.

Why does this make me so nervous ?
For reference, this is how my old horse was also put into a new herd and it wax fine ,.so I've done it before.
But for some reason this makes me nervous now with this horse.

Thoughts?

 

[meleeka]

It depends on the horse, the herd and the space. I’m not a fan personally, it only takes one bad apple to upset everything.

 

[Annagain]

We have a small herd of 7 geldings. When we need to introduce a new one, we try to have them over the fence for a couple of days (not always possible depending on which fields they're in) then introduce them one at a time, in a very specific order depending on the personality of the new horse. If they're dominant, they'll go out with the most dominant one, then we add the middle ranking horses one by one and the most submissive last. If they're submissive they'll go out with the kindest one (Archie) to have a friend first then we'll introduce the other friendly ones and finally the dominant one. We do this over a few hours.

When Charlie arrived, he went out with Archie and they were grooming within 30 seconds. We introduced the next one and they barely stopped grooming, just a quick sniff and carried one while the third wheel tried to find a way in to join them!

 

[JBM]

Mixed can be iffy
I prefer mare herds or gelding herds
Less hormones involved *usually*

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I would want mine introduced more gradually than that tbh. Although if there is a large space that could be different.

 

[Asha]

Agree with PAS, definitely do a gradual introduction. Even with a large field, an established herd of 12 could chase the newcomer and in these conditions at the minute i wouldnt want that.

Ask if theres a field next to them so they can meet over the fence for a couple of days.

 

[Sossigpoker]

I will ask when I go to visit if we could set up a paddock within the field initially. Hopefully they can.

 

[Hormonal Filly]

I will ask when I go to visit if we could set up a paddock within the field initially. Hopefully they can.

I’d do the same, works well. Sniff over the fence for a couple of days and less fuss when they are all together. I wouldn’t turn straight into a new herd without introductions over a fence.

I was in a mixed herd of 5 with my 2 geldings. They all got on really well, then a new mare joined which was all going well until she was in season and she would get really aggressive and reverse into my geldings against gates asking them to mount her although they had no interest.

One of mine sustained a nasty kick in the chest from her, although she had backed into him then double barrelled. Moved them out to single sex herd.

Like others say, just takes one to upset the apple cart but they can work well if they all get on.

 

[Sossigpoker]

Yeah it's the mares that worry me.

 

[Hormonal Filly]

Yeah it's the mares that worry me.

Is there a lot of space? We had 5 only in about 2-3 acres which I don’t think helped.

 

[Zoeypxo]

If the fields are big enough with ample forage you shouldn’t have too much trouble, gradual introduction would be safer.
Have mine in mixed turnout not had any issues, if anything the geldings are worse for fighting than mares at our place.

It doesnt work for all horses some dont like being out with others, mine doesnt like to be alone

 

[HeresHoping]

When that ginger 'oss in my avatar broke, he went to a Dr. Green livery with an HHO member. She had two huge fields. We literally just threw him in the field with the rest of the mixed herd. They did run around a bit. All of 5 minutes. And then they got on with the business of eating grass.

 

[Sossigpoker]

When that ginger 'oss in my avatar broke, he went to a Dr. Green livery with an HHO member. She had two huge fields. We literally just threw him in the field with the rest of the mixed herd. They did run around a bit. All of 5 minutes. And then they got on with the business of eating grass.

This is what my old horse did. He had always been in a herd. Just popped him into his new field , after 5 minutes they were all grazing.

 

[Sossigpoker]

Is there a lot of space? We had 5 only in about 2-3 acres which I don’t think helped.

I understand the field is massive so space shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Upthecreek]

There are so many variables that it’s impossible to predict how it will go. I definitely wouldn’t be happy to chuck a horse that is used to individual turnout straight in with an established mixed herd though. Do they have back shoes on?

 

[Lamehorses]

I've never found the sniffing over a fence to help.
What worked well in one yard was they brought all the horses in. Then my new one went into the field with a quiet low ranking horse to explore & get to know.
Then slowly the rest were put back in over the course of a couple of hours.
It was easy to do as all came in for a quick breakfast/ check over eack morning anyway.

 

[Arzada]

We literally just threw him in the field

That must have been quite a sight ...

 

[dorsetladette]

If you can't have a small paddock for a few days or introduce slowly. could you perhaps arrange to go out for a hack with a couple of them first to introduce the horses in a more controlled way. It's worked well for me when I had one that hated everything, once he had been out a couple of times with the 'stranger' he was far more tolerant of them. (Eventually even liked them too)

 

[CanteringCarrot]

My last horse didn't do well in a mixed herd because he got ideas about the ladies. He was gelded around 4 years old, but I don't know if that was a factor, or if it's just who he was.

Current horse has lived with all sorts and just finds his place then goes with it. He lived in a larger mixed group, a smaller group of 2 older mares and a filly, and with one other gelding. He's been in a herd environment since day one though since the breeder kept her brood mares and foals in herds, then he moved to a bachelor herd with his half siblings/other colts.

In the larger herd he was an outsider at first but within a week or so they slowly allowed him in, and then he became "theirs" so to speak. The only time there was an issue was when another gelding was introduced and that gelding had it out for my horse since day one. I think because the mares seemed to have an allegiance of sorts to mine (he was about 2 at the time and seemingly unaware of his importance) and the gelding took offense to that. My horse was submissive but the gelding was relentless. Even came after both of us when I was bringing him in, so the gelding was removed from the field.

So, it can go wrong. I've also seen this in an all gelding herd though too. There was a small herd of geldings, a new one was added, and all hell broke loose, and the new horse was absolutely relentlessly violent toward another gelding in there that was running away and just wanted to be left alone.

The added complication with mixed herds is hormones. When mares start to come into heat, things can get more interesting.

You can kind of get a feel with it with a slow introduction, but I've seen intros go well and then it still go pear shaped. So really, who knows. Sometimes it's fine, sometimes it's not. I've seen horses just put in, and after some initial minor hooplah, everything was fine.

 

[HeresHoping]

That must have been quite a sight ...

Well, the trebuchet took a bit of pushing up the hill...

 

[Caol Ila]

Current yard just wings them in. It surprisingly works more often than it doesn't. I do have a story about a certain fence jumping incident.... Everything is a single sex herd, though.

My previous yard put a gelding into a herd that consisted of about seven mares and one gelding. It had some nice feng shui to it. But when gelding #2 went in, the feng shui went totally pear shaped and all the horses lost their minds. The two geldings thought they were stallions -- displaying, doing the dung pile thing, etc. -- and so did all the mares because they all went into heat in a pretty maniacal way. They were doing so much peeing that many of them, including mine, were scalding between their back legs. No one was any fun to handle. Hermosa and I worked out some ground rules ("you can be away from your boyfriend for like an hour, dammit"), and we were kind of getting by, but lots of owners were having problems. Eventually, the YO moved the new gelding into a different field with the other geldings, and then peace returned.

I think mixed herds are more complicated because some mares get really stupid and hormonal around the boys, and some geldings find their inner stallions more readily than others.

There was a mare at my current yard who got an ovarian tumour that produced testosterone, and everything thought she was a stallion, including herself. The herd dynamics went mental. They removed the tumour but then the mare had a whole bunch of other health issues and never went back out. The herd became a lot calmer.

 

[MrsMozart]

We have a small retirement livery - when a new horse comes they do into the isolation paddock (can see other horses, there's just a min 13m gap). After two weeks we open up the dividing strip, turn off the electric fencing (it's one row of broad tape above equine netting) and they meet over that. Any strikes just bounce back off the netting. After two days or so of that (depends on the weather and the reactions) then the whole field is opened up - the herd goes out first then the new one follows. Seems to work well so far. The herd is mixed. We take it steady as pretty much all here have a something of some sort, and whilst they'll run and play and bounce their bums, they don't have the steam of their earlier / fitter years. All settles pretty quickly.

 

[Widgeon]

There was a mare at my current yard who got an ovarian tumour that produced testosterone, and everything thought she was a stallion, including herself. The herd dynamics went mental. They removed the tumour but then the mare had a whole bunch of other health issues and never went back out. The herd became a lot calmer.

There is ALWAYS something with horses isn't there!!

 

[SO1]

Homey was in mixed herds and he was an ex stallion that had covered mares. Never had any problems just went straight in. He was much happier in a mixed herd than single sex however he was an ex forest run stallion and was used to meeting new horses and was well socialised.

Bert had been on individual turnout in his previous home. When I got him I kept his routine the same he had a month on individual turnout to get him used to the yard and then he moved into the gelding herd. I was wanting the insurance to kick in before introducing him to herd turnout.

Bert is not well socialised and he came in with quite a bit of fur missing and bite and kick marks due to not picking up on the cues from other horses. He was so desperate to make friends and be with the others even if they pull faces he still approaches. He was desperate for company and as a 5 year old still playful. He seems very happy in herd turnout, and can now be a bit tricky to catch which was never the case on individual. I do get nervous about a new horse being added to herd with Bert because he is so friendly and a bit of a stalker he might not back off and get kicked. We had a new one come in few weeks ago an older small cob and he settled quickly.

 

[Peregrine Falcon]

Most of ours have run on the forest so they just get popped in with each other. I find meeting over fences far more stressful with the potential for injuries.

 

[Hormonal Filly]

There was a mare at my current yard who got an ovarian tumour that produced testosterone, and everything thought she was a stallion, including herself. The herd dynamics went mental. They removed the tumour but then the mare had a whole bunch of other health issues and never went back out. The herd became a lot calmer.

My vet was telling me how this can happen.. makes total sense but crazy! Horses

 

[CanteringCarrot]

Typically the most problems occur when you have an established herd that is 1 gelding and x amount of mares.

If it's a herd that's pretty equal in ratio, the odds might be better.

 

[dougpeg]

Its really hard to predict. its actually safer for my mare to be chucked in rather than gradual intros. From exp if she thinks she has got the measure of them, she will go in like a boss mare. If she doesn't know them, she runs which is the safer bet with mine. I think a lot depends on the space, available grazing and general temperament of the other horses. I'm for herd turnout. Much better for their mental health imo. My main worry right now would be the risk of slips and falls given how wet the land is. Boot up for sure.

 

[Pinkvboots]

I did it once when Arabi went lame and moved him to a yard with about 30 acres that was split in winter so bottom half was rested mixed herd of about 18 horses, I wasn't looking forward to it as he can be terrible with some horses especially small ponies.

They had a smaller field within that field that new horses were put into first for a few days and he spent most of that on his hind legs if anything came near him, the day I put him in the herd wasn't that bad he had a bit of a rear and roar with my friends Arab who was the boss, then they just paired up together and ran the herd together like 2 little thugs.

The set up worked well and there were never any real issues, I think as long as the field is big enough they form there own little groups and it can work really well.

 

[Bobthecob15]

I would question how they are at the gate when you want to get yours in....we've had issues at a yard where there were about 8 in a herd....it was nightmare when some are keen to come in plus mares in season etc....our mare has been mounted repeatedly by a keen gelding.

I personally wouldn't like it.