When do you re-introduce a gelding back with mare and foal?

[Spot_the_Risk]

My mare Risky and gelding Harley were best mates from the first day they met, and weren't seperated until the day she foaled, 18 months later. He is very good natured, and he, foal and mare hang around close together but seperated by the electric fence. I've seen him and Risky grooming over the fence too recently, and she is less and less bothered by him and foal staring into each others eyes with only a couple of feet and a fence between them! I want to put him back out with them, as the filly is fairly bored with her elderly mother, and Harley loves to play, and he and the foal call to each other a lot.

What do you reckon to sticking them in together? I would leave the mare and foal where they are, to give the foal the peace of mind of knowing her environment, they would have a 4 acre field to play around in. The foal was born 8 June and is strong and healthy.

I've put some pics of the foal on breeding, if you want to check her out!

 

[kerilli]

as long as he's not usually a bully, and hasn't got back shoes on, i'd put them in together. i did this with my old gelding and my mare and foal, when the filly was a couple of weeks old. they all stayed in together from then on... she loved playing with him and he was super-tolerant. she'd rear and buck in his face, climb all over him, and he just adored her. i'd keep headcollars on so you can grab him out of there if it doesn't stay calm, though, just in case!

 

[Spot_the_Risk]

Thanks kerilli, he is normally at the bottom of the pecking order, and is tolerant (or scared!) of other horses. I had thought of the head collar thing, I guess I had just better get on with it!

 

[kerilli]

he'll love the foal to bits then i guess... something about up to his weight and bravery! maybe make sure they're all a bit hungry (or at least, he is) when you introduce them, so he thinks about eating grass rather than charging around, at least at first.
good luck!

 

[Tia]

We had a foal born on Thursday to the lead mare in one of my herds. Her and her foal were separated overnight and then the following day, the rest of the herd including the foal's father and sister, were allowed back in the field. This is only a small herd though and 2 are mares with foals at foot. They have lived with each other for a fair while so they know each other very well.

I generally like them all to go back in together within a week, but if I was worried about the foal I would likely hang off.

I'm sure yours will be fine.