My nightmare accident prone horse, to turn out with mixed sex horses??

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siant2

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I have only had my mare since March 08 and I have had nothing but injuries and vets bills galore!!! She is the perfect horse to ride and handle but she is just sooooo accident prone.

In the first week of owning her she managed to get spooked being tied up and reared up and got her leg over the rope and which resulted in a massivley swollen leg, cuts to her head and pastern! She normally is out with a herd of mares and comes in at least every week with a fresh cut on her somewhere (usually her fine TB legs!) depending on how deep they were I would have to keep her in her stable until they had healed enough to go back out with her friends!

Now I would say she isnt being picked on, I would say she is probably trying to be dominant and gets into fights with the other dominant horses and this is how she gets injured???

Anyhow since July, she has been having problems with her sinuses and has recurrent sinus infections, some of the treatment (including drains put into her head) has lead her to have to stay on box rest and since July she has only really been out the odd weeks when she was allowed to, and yet again she would come in with more injuries!

Recently my Yard has changed to winter grazing which means that the fields are now mixed with mares and geldings. Quite alot of the liverys here dont turn out in the winter as there has been a far few accidents in the winter involving fights between mares and geldings!!!

I dont know whether to turn my horse out in the winter field once she is fit enough?????? I just have visions of one day having a serious accident which would lead to her death!????

What would others do??? I know I am worrying about her but she is so much of a risk!!!
 
Prettbay,

Was in a very similar position to you about 10/11 yrs ago - with my TB gelding. He kept being bullied & getting injured, then on box rest, then back out - bullied again....you can see the pattern!

Nothing worked for me on the large livery yards with limited multi-horse turnout. I moved to a small yard with just a few other horses & spent ages letting him get to know his stable mates before turning out together.

Initially there was still pecking order issues, but once established no more injuries. IMHO - if the horses in the field change all the time, how can they ever establish a pecking order...?
 
personally I would move - I never have mixed sex herds as some geldings are always over protective of the mares and get in to fights and some mares are over sexed and want the geldings - i would be looking to move to somewhere where she can go in a single sex small group. I don't like individual turn out as I believe horses need interaction with other horses - but if that is the only way to keep her safe I would be willing to try it.
 
I agree with the smaller 'herd' theory. Horses need to establish where they stand in the herd and, if the horses are frequently changing there will be fights. Some horses are fine with this sort of thing if they have been used to it from a young age but those who are used to a more established pecking order will struggle and end up in fights for dominancy.

Do you know much about the mares history/how she was kept? If not then is it possible to contact the previosu owner to try and establish what the mares routine was before and how many horses she was used to being out with?

I knwo my pony would struggle with horses swapping an changing round as he is used to his herd and he is very dominant. If one is away for whatever reason then there will be a bit of scrapping when that one is reintroduced to the group top restablish a pecking order. This sounds like what is happening with your mare as she is spending time away (due to injuries) then being put back and will then be seens as 'new'.

I think putting her with a mix of mares and geldings would be a bad idea to be honest as in thsi situation there can be more problems with mare and geldings fighting over who's the heard leader. It would probably be safer for your mare to just be turned out with either a couple of geldings (low in a pecking order) or just mares again but not a mix of both. Dominant mares (and geldings) can get very possessive over the opposite sex horses and I don't think this just happens when they are in season.
 
I had a similar problem with my gelding.
12 insurance claims in 18 mths.

We were lucky enough to go and buy our own place and we haven't had a problem since.
The herd is only 3-4 and no mares in it and i won't allow mares on my yard.

If you have an alternative to putting her out in a mixed herd i would do it, even if it means moving yards.
 
I wouldn't TO in this situation. I would either move, ask YO if I could have individual TO or keep in over the winter.

The last thing you want is more injuries and tbh I can't see her lasting 5 minutes from what you have said!
 
I don't normally believe in individual turnout but the problems I had with my TB when I first got him and he was turned out with my other horse made me rethink. He came straight from a racing yard where he had been in training since he was 3. He is now 7. He had no idea of personal space and was constantly harrassing my other horse who got so fed up that he got kicked 3 times, once on his off hind cannon bone which took a fair while to heal and we thought he may have chipped a bone, once to his bum and once at the top of the inside of his near fore. We then decided there was no point in turning him out with anyone else. He is now quite happy out in his own field but he can see other horses at all times and it just means I can go to work safe in the knowledge that he's not going to have his leg broken by another horse who is just, quite simply, fed up of him pestering them!!

If you are this worried I would turn yours out individually if you can even if just for your peace of mind!!
 
We have always run a small, mixed sex herd without any problems. However, last year we had to give up a lovely gelding we had on loan because he persisted in bullying my mare. In the temporary home he went to, he also bullied a mare. He had come from a yard where mares and geldings had run seperately, and had been fine there. He is now back to being in a gelding only herd and is fine.

It is OK if you have your own land as you can judge by individual cases. But from my experience, if I was on a yard I would prefer mares and geldings to run separately.
A
 
I never used to believe mixed turnout was a major issue until moving to my current yard. One of my mares ended up with a hock injury due to the dominant gelding battering her about; another mare jumped a fence to be with him and ended up tearing her stifle; the new gelding has to be kept isolated behind electric fencing as he gets seriously bullied by the two resident geldings; another mare slipped while racing with them and ripped open her ribcage.... etc, etc. This is only a group of 6. It seems to me that some (small) mixed groups can and do work but it only takes one "pest" to spoil it for everyone.
 
I have a mixed herd. 4 mares, 4 geldings and a foal. They all know each other really well, 3 mares are sisters. Never had any problems with them. Wouldn't consider seperating them. The boys tend to stick together and play and the girls hang in a group too.

The only time there is a little aggro is when one of the mares comes in season and annoys the one boy they all think is the bees knees.
 
I don't really believe this is a mixed sex issue, it's that these horse are asked to form a new herd, persumably in a smallish field with not much grass each winter, obviously there are going to be problems in this situation, but with the right management things will usually settle. If ther is one agressive horse I do believe it should be removed from the herd. If you horse is being constantly injured I would move to a yard with better turnout and a more established herd or individual turnout.
 
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