Mares vs Geldings buying & selling

I own a mare and love her to bits. That is fine now but would not have been fine in the past. I used to have terrible pmt and if I was feeling that way and so was a mare it was like world war three kicking off. Whereas geldings just minded their manners a little more because they could sense I was in no mood for any nonsense, mares who were moody themselves seemed to react to it.

I also had friends who owned mares who said things like they got kicked or bitten tacking up or grooming today because their mare was in season, or she performed badly at a show because she was grumpy with the other horses being there because she was in season. That sort of thing. I could only afford one horse initially and I wanted to ride every day, compete regularly and not have wasted entry fees because the horse did not feel like working that day. I think kicking and biting are two of the worst faults a horse can have so it put me off.

Now I am less hormonal myself, in a position to accommodate a horses off days and I do not want to ride daily anyway, it is fine for me to own a mare.

I wonder if there are more ads for geldings wanted because of all the people who cannot be bothered to geld their colts before selling? As a buyer I would not want the hassle (keep horses at livery), cost and possible complications of gelding a colt.
 
kassieg said:
I was like this after I lost my last mare & i bought my current mare as a 2.5 year old, have broken her myself & honestly I can say that I have probably a stronger bond with her, I adore her & she loves me like if i walk to the field gate & she is over the other side she will see me & walk over despite being with the others, I often call her a dog :p
Click to expand...


Thank you for the hope Kassieg, maybe I will find it again!
 
I have just recently bought a mare.

When I started my search, I have to admit, I had ruled mares out. My last horse was a gelding and was very laid back, I had mares before him, good ones and temperamental ones. I tried searching for a gelding, but everything that i liked and thought was suitable was a mare, so I just went with it.

However, I do think if you find one that you like and can bond well with then they will bend over backwards for you.

I find it strange having one now- Id forgot about all their little quirks- forgetting personal space and trying to act like they are the boss- but that said I think I will have more laughs and funny memories with her as she has a lot of character.

She also has much more talent and brain than my gelding did!
 
I have just bought a mare, and she is absolutely lovely :) however i find it is very true when you have to "discuss with a mare, tell a gelding" as I read once. I have had two horrendous mares that would be enough to put you off horses for life, never mind the female variety. My new one is very willing and tries her best, also extremely calm and has the best temperament of any horse I've ever owned to handle and school- never ever gets wound up and she's very clever, but she's not going to jump in to a brick wall like my geldings would have if you told them to :D
 
Cobbytype - I do understand the need to get the right horse due to physical problems. I broke my back and unfortunately now have a damaged spinal cord. All of my horses (two mares and a gelding) have learnt to read when I'm struggling and are calmer and more steady on those days (even if the mares are in season on one of my 'bad days'). Again I don't think that it's their sex that causes them to respond to me in that way, it's more to do with the fact that they all have sensitive, sweet and kind aspects to their temperaments (that sounds a bit sickly, but hopefully it makes sense).
 
For me, I've always tended to gel with geldings and just found them easier. I would tend to favour a gelding if I were looking but wouldn't rule out a mare. I worry about the risk of them being weird when in season. I've seen enough friends struggle with their stroppy hormonal mares that its often easier to just not have that risk! Saying that I have a mare outside as we speak who is fantastic (but the other three are geldings...).
 
I think you get stuck with whichever sex you started with. We have three geldings so it was always easier to buy another gelding rather than run the risk of upsetting the field dynamics. Of course one could keep the mare separately, but then you'd need two...and more land....it goes on and on. That said, I would love to own a mare one day.
 
Faracat said:
I was talking to my vet once about this subject and they said that in their experience, owners of male horses will investigate things like kissing spine, ulcers, sacroiliac issues, bilateral lameness etc... quicker than mare owners do as the symptoms/bad behaviour due to the pain is often dismissed as mareishness to start with. I find this very sad.
Click to expand...

Interesting, Faracat. I've seen this from the other side. I had several vets assured me my 5 year old, just backed mare was simply being hormonal when she went bolt upright under saddle. I had to switch practices to get someone to listen to me. Poor girl had serious ks. Drives me crazy when people pass things off as mareishness.
 
Faracat said:
Cobbytype - I do understand the need to get the right horse due to physical problems. I broke my back and unfortunately now have a damaged spinal cord. All of my horses (two mares and a gelding) have learnt to read when I'm struggling and are calmer and more steady on those days (even if the mares are in season on one of my 'bad days'). Again I don't think that it's their sex that causes them to respond to me in that way, it's more to do with the fact that they all have sensitive, sweet and kind aspects to their temperaments (that sounds a bit sickly, but hopefully it makes sense).
Click to expand...

Yes it makes sense.

I think many people choose a particular gender because it's an easy way to sift and I'm probably in that 'easy sifter' category.

Just taking a quick look at 'All Rounders' currently for sale on this site brings up over 2000 horses, which is far too many ads to read. So there has to be a quick way of cutting that sort of figure down to something sensible. On the law of averages, picking a gender immediately cuts the figure by circa 50%, but that still leaves over 1000 horses to choose from. So, I guess the other prejudices/preferences will have to kick in: size, colour, breed/type and age can help reduce the figure. Then by reducing the selection further by choosing horses within a certain radius from home will hopefully leave a sensible number of horses to ponder over.

I realise this sort of sifting will omit many, many horses that are potentially perfect for the prospective purchaser, but there has to be some way of reducing the field to end up with something like a single figure sum of horses within an hour's drive for the prospective purchaser to make further enquiries. And hopefully 1 or 2 of those may be worth pursuing further.

Personally, I have no particular preference for colour and the smallest horse I owned was 14.3hh, the largest nearly 17hh, so I'm not size biased either (although with my sensible hat on, something around 15hh - 16hh will be easier to get on).

I have been offered the chance (by a yard owner) to hack a little black thoroughbred mare and I'm very excited by the prospect, so I'm not entirely gender/breed/type blind, but a tb mare wouldn't have caught my attention when searching ads for the saintly, safe and sensible 'one more horse in me before I retire' type of horse for hacking.
 
WS - I commend you for listening to your horse and trusting your instinct that something more was wrong. Is there any hope for your girl's ridden career or is she retired now?

CT - I hope it goes well with the TB mare. :)
 
I've had both mares and geldings over the years and have always looked at them as individuals. However, I've have to say I much prefer mares. I seem to have a better relationship with them and understanding of them. I have two mares now and adore them both.
 
I absolutely agree that my general tendency not to like mares is sexist. It's based on my experiences; I will generally like one in a million with mares and find the rest don't have a personality that I can work with. I would say though that I don't blame this on hormones; I just think women and mares are generally strong willed individuals whose primary goal is self satisfaction. There is nothing wrong with that, but I don't have any interest in trying to persuade either women or mares to agree to pursuing my goals instead of theirs! My mare and I have similar goals and a similar work ethic, so we make a good team naturally. Geldings may be equally as self interested but in my experience most of them aren't as strong willed!

I wouldn't discriminate on the basis of colour. There's a chestnut mare at our yard and she's very difficult to ride, but no more so than any of the other mares!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top