Splitting into a gelding herd and a mare herd vs mixed…

[maya2008]

As the weather gets colder and we need to provide more forage, it is always the boys causing aggravation - they want to inspect every pile of forage, have two just for them, chase the others away… while a few feet away there can be three mares contentedly chomping on the same pile.

I am kind of running out of patience with it, especially as one injured himself being a selfish whatsit to the point where the mares lost their rag, went for him and he slipped getting away. So… thinking of separating geldings and mares. Then the girls can peacefully live their lives in their ‘sharing is caring’ mode and the boys will have to put up with each other and not inflict their food grabbing tendencies on others. I would add to this that the boys are probably the most well covered so they are very far from starving!

Any disadvantages to doing this?

 

[Arzada]

Generally I don't like mare/gelding herds but separation during hay-in-field season sounds like a good idea for yours

 

[Crugeran Celt]

I have one gelding and five mares, the biggest trouble maker is the 30 year old mare. She is a monster. All the others will share hay and the gelding will even happily share his feed with the minis. I bring the old mare in for feed time and put hay out very far apart so they can be away from each other. The gelding usually has at least one mini sharing his pile of hay and sometimes all three of them. He is such a gentle boy.

 

[AmyMay]

It’s more likely to be the hay that’s the issue as opposed to the geldings themselves.

If you’re putting piles of hay out, always ensure there’s three more piles than there is horses. And always spread very well apart.

 

[maya2008]

It’s more likely to be the hay that’s the issue as opposed to the geldings themselves.

If you’re putting piles of hay out, always ensure there’s three more piles than there is horses. And always spread very well apart.

Picture 6 ponies, hay spread as far apart physically as possible and two geldings playing musical piles of hay with the others, shooting around, chasing everyone off what they have settled at, and sliding through the piles, trashing the field and upsetting everyone. 2 geldings who are ridden daily and are not at all thin. Gelding 1 is currently on pen rest so gelding 2 is now doing that all on his own…. Both are angelic to ride so I have no other complaints. Just the ‘hay manners’ issue!

 

[meleeka]

Picture 6 ponies, hay spread as far apart physically as possible and two geldings playing musical piles of hay with the others, shooting around, chasing everyone off what they have settled at, and sliding through the piles, trashing the field and upsetting everyone. 2 geldings who are ridden daily and are not at all thin. Gelding 1 is currently on pen rest so gelding 2 is now doing that all on his own…. Both are angelic to ride so I have no other complaints. Just the ‘hay manners’ issue!

I’ve had two cob geldings like this. I’m not sure if it’s because they are geldings, or cobs ?. My shetland is a gelding yet he’s not like it, so it might not be because they are boys.

As tempting as it is to split them up, I don’t have enough land and even if I did, I don’t think they’d be happy with their dysfunctional little family being split up. I’m sure none of them would choose to go in with the cob and leave the mares.

ETA - Mine always have more piles than horses, well spread out, but the cob just wants to continually check each pile for the best bits. Luckily he spends so much time moving between the piles that he actually eats less than the others.

 

[AmyMay]

Picture 6 ponies, hay spread as far apart physically as possible and two geldings playing musical piles of hay with the others, shooting around, chasing everyone off what they have settled at, and sliding through the piles, trashing the field and upsetting everyone. 2 geldings who are ridden daily and are not at all thin. Gelding 1 is currently on pen rest so gelding 2 is now doing that all on his own…. Both are angelic to ride so I have no other complaints. Just the ‘hay manners’ issue!

That may well be the case. But having spent years ‘haying’ in the field issues are far less likely if you put more piles out than horses. If the field is not big enough to truly spread it out (although I’m assuming it’s at least 8 acres), then yes splitting the herd makes sense.

 

[maya2008]

Well…it came to a head this morning when one mare was apparently not allowed to eat…at all. Second she tried to eat a blade of grass, a leaf, a blade of hay, he was on her. So gelding 2 is now in a separate paddock, accompanied by the one mare who felt sorry for him and requested to join him.

ETA: 8 piles, only 4 ponies in the mornings (as yearlings go in for munch time). Spread out widely, trees etc in between.

 

[Starzaan]

Personally, I much preferred single sex herds. I have kept horses in herds my whole life, and they seem the most settled in single sex herds rather than mixed.

 

[maya2008]

Thanks all. I only ever had mares until husband and son fell for geldings and so we now have two. Herd of all mares was so unbelievably simple. I spaced out my hay as standard with plenty of piles, but mostly they all shared one, only lead mare having her own. Having many piles just saved the land more than saved arguments. Husband used to just dump the bale in one pile and leave it, as they all just stood and ate as friends.

And now there are geldings…

Life will be simpler once everything freezes and I can put them all out in the biggest field - there is enough grass there not to need to more hay than they get when we tie up (well ground tie with a pile of food!) to tack up, but that field lasts best in winter if we wait until it’s frozen most nights. Only a few more weeks to go!

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

As the weather gets colder and we need to provide more forage, it is always the boys causing aggravation - they want to inspect every pile of forage, have two just for them, chase the others away… while a few feet away there can be three mares contentedly chomping on the same pile.

I am kind of running out of patience with it, especially as one injured himself being a selfish whatsit to the point where the mares lost their rag, went for him and he slipped getting away. So… thinking of separating geldings and mares. Then the girls can peacefully live their lives in their ‘sharing is caring’ mode and the boys will have to put up with each other and not inflict their food grabbing tendencies on others. I would add to this that the boys are probably the most well covered so they are very far from starving!

Any disadvantages to doing this?

We have always had mixed herds as it was the norm in the 70's and 80's. Now we do have a few who decide not to come in fact one yesterday. We find mixed when they are used to it is fine, and have had many same family mare and gelding who would not be separated. My mare is in with 2 geldings now, no issues at all.


We have found we have more issues with single sex herds, like mares being bitchy and such, if they are introduced at early stage or u deal with the first months season then it settles, one gelding who joined never been with mares, and he turned them on and mounted one a few times, now a year on he does not give a rats about the mares at all.

Personally I would only ever buy mares.

 

[Leandy]

I've never been bothered about mixed herds, its the individual characters which matters not their sex. But in your situation I might well separate the troublemaker(s) if easier.

 

[Arzada]

Personally I would only ever buy mares.

I would willingly and gratefully accept one or more as a gift. And not just at Christmas

 

[maya2008]

Troublemaker is now miserably on his own, because his single mare friend had had enough of him after 4 hours and decided to stay with her buddies when we popped them back in after riding. She even nuzzled the mare he had been picking on and checked she was ok. So it’s very much a case of him making his own ‘bed’ and having to lie in it too!

I very much agree that I would only BUY mares for myself (or for my daughter). I have never had issues with them due to seasons or hormones - I find them easy to back, to integrate into the herd and to deal with in general. Sadly, the male members of my family quite like geldings… ?‍.