turning horses out together

H

harrihjc

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 January 2007
Messages
3,923
Location
Kent
Visit site
How important do you think it is for horses to be turned out in groups? I have 2 horses, a very playful 4yr old and a 20yr old, neither are overly keen on each other and I am so worried about them fighting and injuring each other! A horse I loaned when I was younger was kicked in the field and broke her leg and a horse I loaned before buying my youngster kicked another horse and broke its leg within a fortnight of being returned to the owner, so it is a bit of a paranoia of mine! They can bite eachother over the fence if they feel like it, but I always keep them in separate fields. Do you think this is the right thing to do?
 
Ithink it is important for horses to have time out with the group as they are natrual herd animals, but saying that it depends on the indvidual horse, my filly has been having 2 hours out on her own 1 cause after just over an hour she starts pacing the fence and then after about another hour when fed up of pacing she tries to get through or jump it. 2 if other horses are in the feild she will not settle at all, though we are trying to introduce her to the others at the moment and have in the past but never any good. Any way what am trying to say it all depends on each horse.
 
My old horse used to be turned out with other geldings til he was kicked in the fetlock, had to have surgery and the vets were unsure if he would pull through. Got about 6 years he was turned out on his on or with his best mate only. However when his friend was sold I was told I could h=only have a small paddock or turn him out in huge field with the others. I decided horses are horses and should be herd animals and turned him out. He was fine we do not have any known kickers. My mare goes out with anything and she is fine
 
Oh I forget to say, the 4yr old is a gelding (although I'm not sure how well he knows this!!) and the 20yr old is a mare. At his previous yard he tended to be turned out on his own as his constant desire to play irritated the other horses and he didn't seem to learn when they kicked him. The mare was initially turned out with a shetland when I first bought her about 7 years ago, but she seemed to think he was her foal and attacked anyone that entered the field. She was then with an old gelding and was mostly OK with him, however she has been horrible with every other horse she's ever met.
 
Horses so enjoy the company and interaction with others that I think it such a huge shame when they are denied this.

Obviously some horses don't get on - and alternative arrangements have to be made. It's usually obvious pretty quickly which ones are going to end up in trouble, and action can be taken to avoid injury.

My mare is now on her own for various reasons, and I'm quite unhappy about it. (Admittedly she doesn't seem too bothered herself).
 
We have our 15 year old mare out with a 3.5 year old and a 4 year old. Our mare pretty much ignores them in the field or if they get to close she will give them a bit of a bit, however if we take one of them out of the field she is the first one neighing at them so I think she loves them really.

I do personally think that horses (if possible as I know it’s not always that easy) should go out in groups as it’s more natural for them to be in a herd environment.
 
As others have said, I think it depends on the horse. One of mine has to go out by herself as she has been known to kick. The other would love to be turned out with her but after a couple of quite nasty injuries I have separated them with electric tape so they have contact but with minimal risk. Ideally I'd like them to go out together but for me the risks outweigh the gain in this case.
 
I think its a case of risk outweighing the gain, I would love for them to get on and be safe turned out together, they do have interaction but both are prone to biting and kicking and I just couldn't bare to lose a horse
 
My horse went out with a new filly this weekend and he is normally the most placid horse ever he will stand up for himself but will not start a fight normally! He loves everyone and will not go out on his own! So he was put out with this filly who is about 1 year old now! He was fine with her until she started to mouth at him and he went ballistic he threatened to kick her and charged at her when she went near him! I was so shocked we had to literally leave the gate open so this filly could escape! I think that it just depends on the type of horse if there are plenty of other horses in the field then i would imagine that they will ignore each other and play with the other gg's especailly if they no that they do not like each other! Id def try and have some people on stand by! Not great advice but hope it helps!
 
I think horses should be turned out together, they are herd animals after all. I wouldn't want my horse to go to a yard now where he was in an individual paddock.

He cames back with scratches quite often but thats just horses for you.
 
Personally I have no onjections to horses being turned out together and really it does them good to have the interaction.

For me, my horses do not EVER get turned out together as they are valuable competition animals and I cannot risk an injury as it would put the training back.

Two of them do go out next to each other and have a play over the fence which is better than nothing and the other one is the kind of horse that if he was a child you wouldn't want your kids to play with him!! I'll say no more!!
 
I prefer horses to go out in a group and have all the fun of being "Horses".

However, I understand where you are coming from and in that situation if they can at least chat over a fence it is something.
smile.gif
 
I have a very grumpy 21 year old mare and was worried about turning my yearling filly out with her. The other mare who is six has nannied my filly and it has been fine.

The filly was surprisingly quick to learn to stay out of the way of the older mare and when bringing in has learnt she is first and it needs to be quick otherwise she could get kicked.

Because you have a mare and gedling mix, I think this would be easier. In the past when I have turned gedlings out with my grumpy old mare she has loved them
 
thanks for your replies everyone, although mine aren't exactly valuable competition horses they are priceless to me, and due to them both being a little on the antisocial side, it probably is best I keep the fence between them! I'm glad i'm not the only person that does this, I think my reasoning is sound but so many people have told me to just put them together I started to doubt myself
crazy.gif
 
Have four out together, three mares and one gelding, they get on really well, the older mare and my retired gelding stick together and the two younger ones tolerate each other, don't have any problems with them, they all know the pecking order and are happy..........
 
It really depends on the horse. My horse clicks with certain horses but not with others. He would rather be alone than with a horse he does't like, but luckily I've found a pony who he gets along with and they go out together.
 
My boy had been on his own when I got him, so he has been fine on his own with me...he does not particularly get on well with other horses and that has been the case since having him. He talks to my neighbours horses over the hedge but it is rare I see him interact with them...he prefers to doze and eat!
 
When i first got Archie i was desparate for him to socialise with the others, as where he came from he was out on his own
frown.gif
Ive had him around 4months and hes been going out in a herd of geldings. However from this weekend hes having his own paddock (right next to his 'friends' field so they can still talk over the fence). The reason for this is i can no longer risk him getting kicked as hes out competing everyweekend with me now.

My mare used to be out with others, but she HATES other horses with a passion (bites and chases them) so she has her own paddock aswell.
 
I put my 3 colts in together and they playyed none stop. They are all gelded now and dont play so much now but are all good buddies. A mare I use to own didnt like other ponies, but when she came in season she loved all of them!!!!
Cant win....
 
It really depends on the horse and the situation. At the first yard I had Louis at he went out in a herd with other geldings and he's such a nosey muppet that he kept coming in with hoof prints on his face and bite marks! At my second yard he went out with my other horse I had at the time and they were great together but when I sold Murphy Louis went out on his own for a while. I didn't like it as he became quite anti-social with other other horses. He started going out with a mare at night and an old gelding during the day and was much happier. New yard has separate turnout but all the horses can talk over the fence. This seems like a good compromise for Louis as he can still "talk" and play over the fence but he doesn't get kicked so much as he used to for being nosey! His field neighbour does like taking chunks out of Louis' rugs though!
 
I couldn't keep horses in paddocks by themselves, just seems really wrong to me. There is always a risk of getting kicked, but I wouldn't have an unhappy horse for many years because I was too worried he'd get hurt, so its a risk well worth it for him. They do adapt to being by themselves, but you only have to watch a herd for a couple of hours to see how much they interact and enjoy the company - getting groomed, having a play, someone to watch while they sleep, have a gallop around - what horses do.
 
Yeah but Chex, i agree with what you are saying but from the other side of the coin, if you ahve a horse that is competing all the time, and in dressage where the training must continue, you have to reduce the risk of injury. I can't think of many top dressage horses that go out together (some don't even go out!!)
 
Diffrerent perspective I guess, to me horses are a hobby, not an income/business (or whatever lol) so the horses needs are as important as mine (or more so actually lol). As I say, just a different perspective
smile.gif
 
My two can see and touch each other if they chose, but they have their own fenced off areas of the field/field shelter as my Welshie is a terrible bully and my old girl lost a lot of weight through this.
 
both my horses are in a 'shared' field, the field is split in half with a fence and they have half each. There are also horses on either side of them in other fields. They are both perfectly happy! As with dresage spain, Archie is a competition horse,and so to reduce the risk of injury hes now going out in his own paddock, next to his 'freind'.

Blossom has to go on her own as shes an evil moose!!!! she hates all other horses and YO wont let her back out with the otheres anyways as she attacks and chases them!
grin.gif
 
we used to keep a very playful 2 yearold colt in a field separate from our older geldings as the boss of that herd was cut late and whilst the herd was settled we thought that if we put them in the field our older gelding would kill the colt (the older boss gelding is very stallionish, and about 6 times the size of the colt).
The little colt took the choice out of our hands when he jumped the fence into the field with the other horses. I saw him jump and thought he's going to die as he went straight up to the boss horse and challanged him. Boss horse squared up to him and the little colt backed off rapidly, everything settled down and the boss horse and the little colt could often be seen grazing close to each other.
In that same field was a 24 yearold gelding, and he was the worst of the lot, he used to wind the little colt up untill the colt was absoutely knackered from playing! the 24 year old always kept going for longer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top