Gelding with a mare

[macisherfield]

Is it a good idea to put a new younger mare with a older gelding that has been on the property all his life? will he hurt her? or just show he is dominant and leave her alone. i dont want him to think he is a stallion again. would that happen also?

 

[Teeah3612]

They should be fine. I have a mare and a gelding on my field. I had the gelding for 4 years and just got the mare last winter. It took them a little while to work out the pecking order, but they didn't do any damage to each other. Jasper likes to pick and Kate kicked him in the head a couple of times because he was trying to bite her butt. Now she just has to pin her ears back and he leaves her alone. You would think that they had been raised together now.

 

[secuono]

He won't 'go stallion' unless the castration failed or he was gelded late in life.
I would have the separated for a week, where they can meet through a fence. Then over a free weekend in a big open space, let her out/or him and watch them for several hours and make sure neither suddenly take it too seriously.

Mine met each other for the first time in the trailer on the way to my house, 19yr mare, 4yr gelding on the trailer for 5hrs. Then put out on 5 acre pasture together. But it was all new to both.
They did not bond until 8-9 months later. The gelding was bossy and the mare followed what he wanted, 4-5mo later, she turned and kicked his butt. Now she will not take his crap anymore and boy am I proud of her for it!
Right now, the gelding cries to her if I separate them. When together, they are fairly equal and no one the obvious boss, other than me. I don't allow them to bicker when I am out there, even when I'm in another yard, if I see the gelding starting to be a butt, I yell at him to quit it.

So, it may be more tricky for you, since you want to bring in a new female to his pasture that he has had all his own for years. But you really won't know until you try.

 

[daisychick]

Geldings and mares usually get a long great. But anytime a new horse is introduced there will always be some sorting out of who is boss of the pasture. My old mare gets along a lot better with geldings than she does other mares. But trust me she sets those boys straight on the "rules" and lets them know she has been here the longest. No one gets hurt, just some nipping and a few kicks the first couple days.

 

[macisherfield]

Thank You! I was worried about it at first, cause one of our pastures dont have shelter and the other does and i didnt wanna leave either one without shelter. and i also didnt wanna end up with horses with bite and kick marks taken outta em... but this made me less worried thanks!

 

[sawfish99]

It depends on the horses. We have an 18yo gelding who always beat the crap out of our pony mare. He would run and chase her until she would break through the fence terrified. It didn't matter how big the area was. We recently added a 5yo TB mare and he gets along fine with her. After the 2 of them were out together for a while, we tried the pony with them and it has been fine. There is no doubt that he is in charge of the herd (we have another gelding as well). He learned how to be top horse in a much larger herd and it has nothing to do with the age he was gelded at.