Old horse, young companion, stupid idea?

marmalade76

marmalade76

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My mare, 23, has been on her own for the last 12 months. Yes, I know it's not fair, ideal, yadda yadda but she's been ok. It was better than having her regularly beaten up by her previous companion who belonged to someone I shared my yard with (separating them didn't work because neither of them would respect electric fencing, he'd jump it and she'd go through it). Up until recently I have been a lady of leisure so have had plenty of time to spend at the yard and give my dear horse some company and attention but now I have a full time job (yes, it is a bit of a shock) and my poor mare is not getting enough company so I've been looking around at loans and cheapies and one has caught my eye. A two year old Sec B, pretty (chestnut with 4 whites), not far away and a reasonable/comfortable price. My kids & I have a soft spot for Bs and they're becoming a rarity.

Concerns would be that whilst my mare is no old fuddy duddy stick in the mud, she likes a hoon and a buck, would a youngster be too much for her as a companion? Thoughts please :)
 
My boy was in the field with another 20yr old gelding when he was young basically from 18months to 4yrs and it was great education for him 😁 the old boy played with him but when he was done taught him no as well 😁
 
My old retired horse is late twenties. He's always got on well with my young mare (now 6 but was 2 on arrival) and he now has a little 3 yr old cob foster gelding as a companion as well, so that I can get out and about with my mare. Old lad is the boss, and he's loving it because he was always subservient in other herds.
 
With two females, yes, as long as they get along. Young Boys seem to need to bite/rear etc with each other so not always suitable to match with older ones
 
When one of my old boys (sadly long gone now) I was offered two unbacked youngsters to "keep him company" after he lost his field pair-bond.

He was very much missing his pair-bond and was very morbid, and being desperate to try and help him, I accepted the offer.

Frankly it was the worst thing I could have done. It didn't help him having two youngsters - who were pair-bonded to each other - whizzing around his field and wanting to play all the time. It seemed to make my poor old lad even more morose and sad. Poor old chap. I wish I had made a better choice: think of a situation where you have two young teenagers sharing a house with an elderly vicar, and you've about got the situation which existed.

What I would say is think very very carefully about the sort of companion you choose for your mare. You've already had one problem companion for her, and you don't want another one like that do you. She's an old gel now, and needs a gentler existence. If I could choose again for my old boy, knowing what I know now, I would have "asked" him what he wanted (or even have got a Communicator in to ask him), rather than put two horses in with him without really thinking about it, just because they were "company".

If your mare is OK on her own, I wouldn't feel pressured to rush. If something comes up which might suit, all well and good, but I wouldn't stress if she isn't.

You never know with horses what can arise: at my yard we have one field which is all-mares: four in total, separated out into different bits of the field under different owners. One owner bought a very nice OTT TB gelding two months ago. He just hasn't settled with mares in the field. Every time anyone does anything (and I mean "anything" - even something so innocuous as leading one of the other mares across the field) he just stresses, badly. Recently we had a mare colic. Owner called vet. But the main concern was this particular horse who couldn't deal with the fact that one of the mares had needed to come away till the vet could get here. His behaviour was so dangerous that the owner had to ask another livery to walk her horse up and down, as she was so concerned that he was gonna hurt himself badly in his frenzy at the situation. Horse is due to leave my yard next week for another home where he won't be with mares!

Hope this helps.
 
I suppose it will always depend on the individual, but if your mare is a horse and generally confident in herself, she should be big enough to not be pushed around by a section B.

I currently have a 16yo mare, 28yo mare and 4month old colt in my field (16yo is the dam of the colt). The colt hangs around with my 28yo a lot (I think mum has delegated some parental responsibilities!). He is starting to do the biting and rearing and trying to climb on the older horses at the minute (planning to get him castrated in autumn) but they put him back in his place easily enough. Hoping to soon procure a foal closer to his age for him to play with, but the older girls will still be around.
 
While it might (or might not) work for the mare, is it the best decision from the youngster’s point of view?

I’d be wary of turning a young small breed pony out with a mare who has not shown a maternal instinct or sensible nature with young ones before.

My personal preference is also to have youngstock out in herds, either mixed age or youngstock specific. My current 2yo gets so much out of herd life.
 
rhino said:
While it might (or might not) work for the mare, is it the best decision from the youngster’s point of view?

I’d be wary of turning a young small breed pony out with a mare who has not shown a maternal instinct or sensible nature with young ones before.

My personal preference is also to have youngstock out in herds, either mixed age or youngstock specific. My current 2yo gets so much out of herd life.
Click to expand...

As an ex polo pony she has great social skills but yes, that thought had crossed my mind.
 
I have my 20 year old pony Baggs in with my 2 and a bit year old youngster Rabbit and they get along fine.

The first introduction was rather hairy, so I had to split them for a bit and reintroduce slowly, but since then it's been plain sailing :)

They play fight, rear, play bitey face, chase each other around and generally have a good laugh together. But Baggs will also tell Rabbit when he's had enough and Rabbit's learnt (through a few well aimed kicks and bites from Baggs) that when Baggs says enough, it means enough.

Just be aware that it's not always plain sailing and sometimes despite our best intentions things can go wrong x
 
my mare was 27, still fit, when I got my gelding, who was 20 months old at the time! he was annoying to her but she defo put him in his place once or twice! they were together until she was 30, then I had to move him due to injury and I think she was grateful for the break by that point. that said they did get on soo well, but he was just a bit too playful at times.
 
When my (late😢) mid 20s mare was bereaved of her companion of 20 odd years, I thought she wouldn’t get over it. To the point where I considered letting her go at the same time. But I managed to find a companion for her who could arrive the next day. Once the ‘just turned 5’ pony arrived, my lovely old mare didn’t call any more and within a few days, had completely bonded with the new arrival. I think she was just so happy not to be alone. It can certainly work.
 
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