Individual turnout or persevere together?

Bertolie

Bertolie

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Daughter and I are on DIY livery which has individual or pairs turnout. Paddocks are ours to manage as we see fit. Daughter and I both have a one acre individual paddock which with her previous horse we kept both horses together and rotated the paddocks throughout the year. We wanted to continue to share paddocks with her new pony but he is very stallion-like with my 19 year old cob, especially when mares are in season. They will co-habit peacefully when the mares in surrounding paddocks are not in season but all hell breaks loose when they are and this has resulted in my cob sustaining several superficial injuries. Sunday morning my cob was led down in field reluctant to get up. Vet called as worried, very sore back as result of bite or kick to withers, lost shoe, and several cuts and scrapes. Vet also said that the hounding of my boy was probably quite relentless and he was knackered!

Would you persevere with them together or is individual turnout the way to go? Both horses can see and touch others in their own paddocks and neither are particularly bothered on their own. Our two paddocks are not adjoining or within sight of each other. In the stables or out hacking together they are fine, its just when daughters pony has mares around him that he turns into a nightmare!

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.
 
Separate them immediately. This is very dangerous behaviour and in my experience will not get any better. I would also have your daughter's pony tested to see if he's a rig, though again, IME this is not usually the case. At least if he is, you have a chance of changing his behaviour. Sadly, I have seen many geldings behave like this, and if left, it usually ends in tragedy.
 
I persevered with mine and ended up with so many vets bills I gave up. Last straw was when I went to get him in to ride one day. He had his back to me, called him and when he turned round blood everywhere dripping off his head. Had been kicked and I could see his skull. Many stitches later I decided to go for individual turnout. He was happy alone and it wasn't worth the stress and cost.
 
Bertolie said:
Daughter and I are on DIY livery which has individual or pairs turnout. Paddocks are ours to manage as we see fit. Daughter and I both have a one acre individual paddock which with her previous horse we kept both horses together and rotated the paddocks throughout the year. We wanted to continue to share paddocks with her new pony but he is very stallion-like with my 19 year old cob, especially when mares are in season. They will co-habit peacefully when the mares in surrounding paddocks are not in season but all hell breaks loose when they are and this has resulted in my cob sustaining several superficial injuries. Sunday morning my cob was led down in field reluctant to get up. Vet called as worried, very sore back as result of bite or kick to withers, lost shoe, and several cuts and scrapes. Vet also said that the hounding of my boy was probably quite relentless and he was knackered!

Would you persevere with them together or is individual turnout the way to go? Both horses can see and touch others in their own paddocks and neither are particularly bothered on their own. Our two paddocks are not adjoining or within sight of each other. In the stables or out hacking together they are fine, its just when daughters pony has mares around him that he turns into a nightmare!

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.
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No i personally wouldnt, or your next post could be about an even more nasty injury, sometimes horses dont mix, My gelding tolerated my nieces with him till the mares were in season then after seeing how he was beaten, booted bitten and hounded i couldnt get him out of there quick enough, i felt so bad for him.
 
Having just read 2 posts about lost horses due to broken bones and having been through it myself when my boy was kicked and ended up with a broken elbow please do not leave them together, it just isn't worth the risk.
 
I wouldn't keep them together either but could you possibly separate the existing paddock with two lines if electric tape (by this I mean two fences with a gap so they can't reach each other) that would then allow you to rest the other paddock still
 
Have just had to split mine up as gelding being a nobhead :cool:
I perservered for a while but mare ended up with a nasty bite so enough was enough.
Mare and other gelding now chilled and happy and i should of done it straight away to save her suffering.
 
Thank you for all the comments. Forgot to say that we separated them after the incident on Sunday. My cob is currently in with a friends mare and gelding who he knows and gets along with. Thus is a temporary solution until I can divide my paddock up as cob is really good doer and there is loads of grass in there.

Daughters pony was tested to see if he was a rig a few days after he arrived as even the vet wad shocked at his extreme behaviour. He isn't a rig, just very possessive with mares.

My other problem is that my individual paddock is part of a larger field that has been sub-divided into individual paddocks. This means that it only has one small hedge, so when divided it won't have any shelter apart from one section that will have the small hedge. Should I be worried about the lack of shelter?
 
Another vote for separating them! My friend has two geldings that are happier apart as the dominant one of the pair will hound the other to the point he was peeing himself :( Strange as they nibble each other over the fence and call if one is taken away. Horses are strange sometimes...
 
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