What are your experiences with mixed herds?

PurpleSpots said:
With a colt foal, the ideal companion post-weaning would usually be a tolerant gelding who will create boundaries.

Although unlikely, a young colt could offer fertile cover to a mare, especially coming into his yearling spring. Added to which, colts are annoying to girls and need other boys to play with!
Click to expand...
After weaning my colt will go in with another slightly older colt and an older gelding.
 
Most of my experiences of being in places with mares & foals as part of a mixed herd involved them being born there and so already considered a part of the herd from day 1 (pluses & minuses to this of course but it worked in this particular circumstance, possibly because there was a lot of space for them to break up into sub herds and avoid each other if the wanted)

I’d say in the circumstances you’re in your best bet if available would be a horse who’s been in with foals before as an adult (as yes of course the majority have met other foals when they were one themself) and is known to be good with them as some that are confused by them / don’t understand what they are can be a bit weird with them.

If this isn’t possible then something generally known to be calm, sensible and not too large with good social skills.

Would advise letting them meet over the fence for a few weeks first and gauge how your mare feels about it / if she’s happy to be near the other horse or is constantly trying to herd the foal away and be nowhere near.

What suits right now might be different to what suits when foal is weaned.
 
Firstly it is excellent that you seem to have sorted out what will happen to your foal once he is weaned :)

I was in a different situation to you in as much as I have my horses at home in a stable mixed herd - all have either been here since they were born or as just weaned foals. Probably worth mentioning that they are all 16:2 plus warmbloods so a similarish size to each other.

When I was breeding from my mare I kept the mare and foal in a field adjoining her usual herd for the first few months. At about four months she seemed to want the company of her usual herd so I would put a quiet gelding in with the mare and foal. Gelding would quickly become uncle to the foal. After a few weeks I would introduce more of the horses into the group until they were all in together. For weaning I would start by just taking the mare out of the field to just outside the gate and then gradually take her further away over a period of days until she was out of sight of the foal and then the time she was out of sight would be extended but always with some-one keeping an eye on the foal. I would also buy a just weaned foal to be a companion for my foal (at the time I fully separated the mare and foal) and the two foals would then go in a field adjoining the herd for a couple of weeks before putting 'uncle' in with them.

In your situation where the gelding will be new to your mare I would not want to risk putting them all in together. I would want to split the field with double fencing to keep them apart (if using electric fencing you must be sure that it is on and the foal is used to it first). It might be that the mare and gelding are kept separate until after you foal is weaned - I wasn't sure from your post if he will then be going away from where you are keeping your mare.
 
I have a 17'1 mare, 16'1 gelding and a 31 inch mini gelding (ex stallion) together! they all get on great. I did however keep them a fence a part for a couple of weeks before letting the together! first of all the mini came in with my mare while I poo picked! then I eventually let my big gelding in and there was never any issues! been together 3.5 years, no kicks or anything!

they do all shoe each other around when I put hay out! big gelding pushes the mare off her hay net, so she pushes the mini off his net until they all have a net they're happy with! but never any nastiness!

never any mounting or anything silly! but I've had my boys for 13 years so I know they're all okay. the mini did get quick excited when my mare first went into season, but soon realised that was an impossible task.
 
Update: there will be two mares with one colt each together. Will keep an eye on when to geld to prevent mishaps. I ended up taking a mare with foal on loan to create a little herd that will hopefully get along. My friend wants to take her time with buying a horse so we decided to take responsibility for our own horses’ wellbeing. My mare has always been with other mares and I couldn’t wait potentially many months for her to have a companion.
 
I haven’t had an issue with mixed herd but I do own a mare who is a complete bully to her field mate. I know the general advice is to let them work things out, but I’ve ended up separating them because the victim was being prevented from drinking and was constantly herded from wherever she was eating.

I only mention this as regardless of the gender mix of herds I personally don’t allow bullying past the initial days of pecking order shenanigans. The mixed herd I had before had none of this until my old mare lost an eye to a kick from a stroppy gelding.

I do individual turnout now because of these experiences. And I appreciate I’ll get flack for this but it’s all very well until you have to deal with the consequences. They’re all separated by tape and groom over it and graze together sometimes, but equally the bully will randomly try and attack the other one over the fence. I would have loved them to get on but it just didn’t happen.
Kirstineridesagain said:
I’m thinking ages, sizes and genders. And how do you know if horses will get on before introducing them to each other? What happens if horses don’t get on but the owners have decided to share fields and help each other out?

My mare is a bit fussy with other horses (she’s a chestnut mare, after all) so I want to make sure she will get on with my friend’s horse. I have read up on how to introduce them and will follow all the tips. If they really don’t get along then we will have a problem on our hands, but how often doe
Click to expand...
 
Babypony said:
I haven’t had an issue with mixed herd but I do own a mare who is a complete bully to her field mate. I know the general advice is to let them work things out, but I’ve ended up separating them because the victim was being prevented from drinking and was constantly herded from wherever she was eating.

I only mention this as regardless of the gender mix of herds I personally don’t allow bullying past the initial days of pecking order shenanigans. The mixed herd I had before had none of this until my old mare lost an eye to a kick from a stroppy gelding.

I do individual turnout now because of these experiences. And I appreciate I’ll get flack for this but it’s all very well until you have to deal with the consequences. They’re all separated by tape and groom over it and graze together sometimes, but equally the bully will randomly try and attack the other one over the fence. I would have loved them to get on but it just didn’t happen.
Click to expand...
Both mares are used to living with other mares, so I don’t think this is very likely. How tricky to have to separate them!
 
Kirstineridesagain said:
Both mares are used to living with other mares, so I don’t think this is very likely. How tricky to have to separate them!
Click to expand...
Absolute pain in the proverbial. I was gutted, as I bought the “victim” to be a companion to the bully. Both have lived with other mares and been fine. Luckily the victim mare is a darling to ride and I’ll be competing her next year. I love the bully mare but still make a face at her everytime I have to adjust the electric fence. She knows what she did 😄
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top