Mares and Geldings in the field together ...Your views please ...

bites (like mud fever)

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Some of ours are out together, others are separate. YO has her two geldings out with a mare and they get on perfectly well. Another two livery horses are together (mare and gelding) with no problems. I can't put my boy out with mares as he falls madly in love and gets very protective (read "aggressive") as does one of the other geldings, so they're out together. Have mares either side with no problem though.
 
Yes, I am happy to turn out mares and geldings together. I have never had a problem doing this. I have only had a problem when two geldings (in a gelding only field) didn't get on.

I think like all things in life, its a matter of try it and see. Some horses don't like being out in mixed sex fields, others get on fine.

I have a stallion and gelding turned out together and they get on brilliantly. The gelding is the boss, and the stallion respects that.
 
completely separate and at least a field between. I have found that putting them in together always causes problem. One mare will be a real tart and one gelding is bound to be possessive and drive the others away. Causes fighting, injuries and general discontent

I have 23 horses here, all in small herds of about 3 - 4 horses - total harmony. We have not had any injuries caused by horses fighting- and that is in 3 years
 
Yup ours go together. My mare used to live with a gelding, and my OH's gelding used to live with a mare.

My mare is now with my filly, and OH's horse is now with a gelding but only through horses moving around etc as happens on livery yards.
 
We put horses that get on together irrelevant of sex. We have more mares that geldings and have 2 geldings that cant go with mare so we have one field with 5 mares and 1 gelding and the other field with 6 geldings.

It works really well for us and we have one lucky gelding that gets to go out with all those girlies...
 
We now only have two mares, but when I moved my two horses to their current home, I had a gelding and a mare, and the other three already living there were mares. Obviously i wasn't going to make my boy live alone, so he had his little harem of four mares.

He had previously lived in mixed herds, but could on occasion get a little possessive if there was a mare he really fancied!
 
All ours go out together, there is a bit of a gallop etc when new horse is turned out but they soon settle down, we have three gates to get in the field so I just call the coblets , they come over to which ever gate is free (the horses stand round by the gates mostly as there are lovely trees) and I just make sure i turn them out at the free gate to save fighting, as i was charged at by the lead gelding the other day, when i dared to walk in the gate he was standing by!!
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My old share horse was turned out with 1 gelding and another mare, IMO it didn't work. The gelding was very close to the other mare, and the horse I shared always seemed to be a little distant from the others, grazing on her own, but would never be caught- it was as if she didn't want to leave them together.

New share horses are in one big field after the kept breaking the electric fence (that wasn't turned on!!). 3 geldings and 1 mare who is the matriarch, they all get on fine.

Think it depends on the horse, but from what I've experienced, it's better if there's more geldings than mares in the field.
 
I dont at the mo because it's the yards policy that there are in seperate fields.
But I wouldn't have a problem with my mare being turned out in a mixed sex field, although she really does get on with everything
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Before we moved yards she was out with another really dominant mare and a little sh!tland gelding and they all got on really well together.
And before I got her she was in a 20 acre field in a mixed herd
 
My mare is out with other mares. Simply because of the grazing arrangements on the yard. However my mare has been turned out in a mixed heard and she was fine
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I've always been on yard where they've been mixed, apart from one where they were seperated and for some reason in fields next to each other - only at the latter were there problems. Never had a problem in mixed herds, horses will sort themselves out with regards to pecking order etc no matter how you mix them. Yes, you do get the occassional tart of a mare
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but horses will be horses and unless it's causing a problem, eg she's getting mounted all the time and it's causing her damage, then leave well alone. The only other problem I can think of is if there's a rig in the mix, he may get too aggressive and start fighting the other geldings.
 
My gelding is in a field with just geldings, but my kids pony is in a pony field wich is mixed; that's yard policy. I don't have a problem either way, although there was a riggy gelding in the pony field that caused problems, he would herd his alpha female away from the others and if you went towards her he would chase you away. He then was mounting all the mares as they came into season. For that reason I think that mares and geldings should be separared- he's now been put in a geldings field.

Don't think the kids pony or my gelding would know what to do with a mare tbh, bless them
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The reason I am asking for views is basically my opinion is that .... I have always turned out mares with one gelding , Its never been 2 geldings and one mare as this has always caused quite a big problem .

I am now going to go on a rant ..... as another livery has been told not to put her gelding in along with the mares as hes been seen to mount the mares . ( I have seen with my own eyes) . This lady just won't seem to listen as another livery has had to move her gelding out of the field of mares . My 3 year old is in the mare field and I really dont want her to get hurt .
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Having words with the yo today as the said lady was saying that she hadn't been told , She bloody well had been .

Anyhoos ....I wouldnt mind if he was to behave himself but hes not and I am not taking any chances with him being in the field with my mare .

Pointless post but Im feeling better
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We put our mare, my lad and the yearling out together, they all get on, the yearling and my lad like to play games, mare is the boss & doesn't seem to see either of them as worthy of flirting! Only time we had a prob was introducing another gelding to them, they all disliked him, the only one that would stand up to him was yearling and he got a kick for his efforts, nasty gelding left, we now have happy yard again and 4th stable will be used for storage only now!!!
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My new share horse (gelding) used to share a field with a mare. The used to get on like a house on fire. Apparently the girl who owned the mare, was nervous of Monty and didn't like going into the field to catch hers, so they put them in different fields, but the mare would always jump over the wall to get back to Monty.
 
QR- when I was on livery they had single sex fields, however there seemed to be exceptions made for certain horses (mainly youngster put in with mare to learn manners).

Now I'm on my own place I had 2 mares and 1 gelding out together. They got on fine but 3 is never a good number as 1 was always left out.
 
My geldings have always been with mares with no problems apart from mine always seem to get a 'girlfriend' and pair up. Doesnt cause any issues, they dont even care when the mares come into season.
On the yard I am at now the horses have their own seperate paddocks but all next door to each other. There are pros and cons to this.
Quite frankly, if it was a gelding that mounted or a mare that kicked, then no I would not want them in the same paddock as mine nor would I put them in the mixed paddock if they were mine. Common decency surely???
 
I do what works for me (and them) at the time.
Old ponio was in a mixed herd field, but got picked on constantly, and the severe stress caused him to crib.
When we took him on, I put him in a field with my mares who are all of about the same height (all little welshies).
He now is able to mooch about without being bullied, and as a result has stopped cribbing.
 
yes, cos we only have 2 so they go together, gelding is in charge which suits the mare who is def a submissive sort. Though he is not allowed to get as close as he would like, he is very honoured to manage a neck scratch, shes a bit of a tease to him really.

edited to say that I have only known problems to be caused when putting multiple geldings in with mare(s) I would not put another gelding in with frank and the mare, he would fight. When out and about he can try and be possesive over her and you can rate the status of other geldings quickly by his reaction.
 
The mares and geldings on our yard are turned out together during the summer when there is lots of grass to keep them occupied The only trouble we have is the alpha mare giving the alpha gelding what for during the first day or so, usually ears and teeth no kicking etc. They are all happy together and we now have no problem going in and catching any of them. I had never turned out mixed before and was a little nervous but it seems fine!
 
I have always found mixing them keeps the peace in the field. Having known various yards with boisterous gelding fields and b!tchy mare fields I never understood splitting them.

At our yard we have 2 boys in a field on their own away from the ladies as they fret over the fence at the sl*tty chestnut mares (yes mine is included in the sl*ttiness
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) but the rest of them happily mingle ladies and gents all happy together.

The girls tend to run the separate fields, we have oldies in one field, an gentlmenly 27 old TB with his hareem of 23 + yo girls, all unshod and unwilling to career around.

We have the bullies field, a mix of mares and geldings who are all a bit above themselves, this field is run by a 20 yo coloured cob mare, they all behave themselves for fear of her getting mad
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Then we have the young ones field, at the moment it is all boys but that's only cos we don't have any young mares. They all play and mess about, it's all fun and no one gets hurt as no one is getting annoyed!

Cookies for getting this far...I think to sum up it's more about personality of the horses rather than what they do or don't have between their legs!
 
If the horses get on then there isn't an issue. At my yard it is usually 2 horses to a paddock. if the owner owns two then they go together regardless of sex. For instance last year I owned a mare and a gelding and they went together. this year I only own a mare and she has gone out with the only other mare on the yard for no other reason that this year my horse hasn't got an established partner and the other mare is new
 
At our yard we have big 25/30 acre fields that get split in summer. We also have a few smaller paddocks and they are usually mixed, although all get on together (mine is in a paddock).

We also have a 'naughty field' where horses that dont mix or cause problems can go.
 
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I am now going to go on a rant ..... as another livery has been told not to put her gelding in along with the mares as hes been seen to mount the mares . ( I have seen with my own eyes) . This lady just won't seem to listen as another livery has had to move her gelding out of the field of mares . My 3 year old is in the mare field and I really dont want her to get hurt .
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That's totally not on, geldings known to mount mares should never be allowed in with them even in the winter!

My sisters mare (another sl*tty chestnut) was injured by a gelding doing that. She lost part of her heel on her hind leg and has permanent scars on her quarters and back where he bit her that hard.

Hopefully YO will get it sorted, it's up to her to make sure horse's are being put in the field they are supposed to go in, hopefully well away from all girls.
 
Before moving to the UK, I had never even heard of folk seperating mares from geldings. If horses don't get on, they get seperated, but not necessarily by gender. My first yard here in the UK, it was seperated fields, end of. My current yard is okay with mixing genders which I personally prefer, though there are several horses and some horses are seperated by gender. My mare is turned out with a gelding and is the boss...and has been the boss of a herd of mares. No problem as far as she's concerned. She's also been middle of the pecking order and bottom...
 
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