# Can a mini horse be kept with goats



## sandy sea

I now know if I get the mini stallion that keeping it with the full sized mare would not be a good idea.  Does anyone kept their mini horses with goats?


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## ksalvagno

You are going to need to be careful with that too. Really, an intact male horse should not be kept with goats no matter what the size. If you are talking a nice gelding, then you could probably try it and see if the personalities work but you would need to feed them separately and have separate living quarters in the barn.


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## Bunnylady

I don't know what this stallion (which I see from another post is 20 years old) is like. If he's the really laid back, I-can't-believe-that's-a-stallion type, the best I could give is a big maybe. I have heard of people gelding minis at 20+ years, but I don't know that you'd see much difference in his behavior at that age. 

I have 3 minis, and 4 mixed breed, large goats, that all share the same space. All of my minis are female, and the only goat that isn't is a wether (Spike). The social structure is pretty complicated. The goats used to push the mini yearling (Blondie) around, but that seems to have changed recently, at least with a couple of the goats.  The 3-year-old mini (Syd) thinks she's the boss of the horses and most of the goats, but doesn't impress the wether at all. The mini mule (Betsy) used to be the boss, but seems content to let Syd call the shots most of the time. Betsy takes no nonsense from any goat, even Spike. If he's stupid enough to stick around when Besty says "move, goat!" she'll CHOMP him. Good thing for him that goat hide is tough! I've seen Blondie sass Betsy a couple of times recently, so things there may be changing as well. I have to separate them all at feeding time, or there would be chaos. I have to spread hay out into at least 3 stalls of a 4-stall barn to make sure that everyone gets a share. It has to be raining pretty hard for the minis to head for shelter, but the goats scamper for the barn at the first few sprinkles. Once again, who can share which space depends on where they fit into the pecking order, some horses/mule and some goats just can't be within the same 4 walls without fighting!


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## dianneS

I kept my mini colt with my full-sized mare for a while, but he was very young.  It worked out fine, she thought she was his mother.  But when the colt hit "puberty" he started driving my mare crazy, so I called the vet and got him gelded and all has been fine since.

I've put my mini gelding in with the goats at times.  He likes to pick on them, because he's a stinker who likes to torment anything that is smaller than he is!  He can't really hurt the goats though.  He did chase the babies and I was afraid he might run them over, but he didn't, and if he did I don't think it would hurt them that bad, goats are tough.

I don't have any really aggressive goats, or bucks at all, so I've never worried about the goats hurting the horse.  Its always been the other way around here at my place!  I've actually had the full-sized and the mini horse in with the goats temporarily and it was all fine, as long as the goats had something to jump up on if that little brat horse would start chasing them!


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## meme

I do not think you should. They might not get along, and the horse might get sick from eating the goats food, and if the pen is very small the horse would not like that.



                                        sorry i could not help much,
                                        bye


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## dianneS

I had my mini in with my goats just recently, for about a week.

I don't worry about the big goats so much, I just worry he will trample the babies.  He tries to and has almost succeeded several times.

My mini also hates my LGD.  He chased the dog a lot too.  Now that the dog is almost as big as the mini, the dog fights back.  Since he's not an aggressive dog, he contains himself until the horse pushes him to his limit, then the dog will snap at the little horses nose.  

My mini is starting to learn the herd dynamics while in with the goats.  I had him fenced with them for a week recently, and everyone was fine.  If he chased the goats, the dog chased him until he would stop.  Eventually he was put in his place enough by the dog that he started to behave himself.

My litte guy is only two, and I swear we must be going throug the "terrible twos", but all in all, he's been better off fenced with the big horses than with the goats.  I have considered keeping him in with the goats full time though, since the goat fence is more secure and minnies can be escape artists.  Also, I don't grain my mini or my goats throughout the majority of the year.  He's happier with other equines though.

My guy is a gelding, but still young.  I do know plenty of "petting zoo" type establishments in my area that keep mini horses, donkeys and goats, all in the same fenced pasture.

I would also be concerned with the horse getting hooked by a goats horn as well.  I've never allowed my mini into the goats portion of the barn either.  I just know he would try to chase them in those close quarters and even possibly corner them.  Someone could really get hurt that way, but like I said, he's a brat.


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