need advice: turning out a studdy gelding with a mare

[onelove]

This probably is impossible but I am going to ask anyway. I have a 13 yr old gelding who was castrated last :)year. He sired 4 foals. He still drops, still can produce an erection etc. The girls still think he is Mr. All That.

So I have rented a small barn with only a run in and a small pasture. There us no way to section off any separate paddocks. The horses have 24/7 TO with a run in. We move in on Halloween.

Tonight a friend offered me a nice draft x mare to event with. Haven’t met her yet but am very interested in her. But I don’t know if I can even consider her with my other horse.

There is no way to separate them. They would have to be turned out together. There would be 3 horses: my studdy gelding, my daughters gelding and this mare.

Is there any chance to make it work?

[katiehorse]

I take care of a gelding who was gelded late and he acts studdy. I have to put my mare in her stall when she cycles because he mounts her and I am afraid she will get hurt.

Is it possible to keep the mare in a separate location?

[onelove]

No not at all. They would have to be out together. I think it would be impossible. The mares seem to start cycling when he is turned out near them. They still line up at the fence for him. I don’t think this can happen…

[JB]

Can it work? Yes.

Guaranteed? No.

Can you really not put up a temporary section of fence to separate them? If not, there’s no way I would do it

[Tasker]

Personally I wouldn’t do it and here’s why -

We had rescued a small, OTTB teenage gelding about a decade ago. He was a PC suitable mount. We knew a family that needed a horse (6 kids, not a lot of $$), so we free leased them the gelding. They did mixed gender turnout and we sent him with the caution that we did not do that but as he wasn’t studdish, it might be ok - just keep an eye on the situation. Long story short, their half Clyde mare was in heat a few weeks later and he got blasted on the radius & ulna and it was the point of impact as she was backing up, throwing pee, kicking out and he was trying to get away from the flying hooves. The family had the vet out, x-rays confirmed the fracture which wasn’t displaced, they tried stall rest and about 2 weeks into it, they had to euthanize him. And then they sent us the bill for the vet care and body removal. :eek:

So IMO, do not do it unless you can separate them - and a single line fence might not be enough if he’s really studdish. The mare might get hurt, the studdish gelding could get hurt or your other gelding could get caught up in the mix.

[oliverreed]

I would not. My gelding is very studdy, cut late, and will actually do the deed with mares in estrus. He’s a serial rapist. Cannot EVER be out with mares. I’m very lucky he and the mares did not ever get hurt during the short time it took us to figure that out at my old barn where they had one pasture and a mixed herd.

[clint]

I wouldn’t do it. Not only is your mare at risk, but so is the other gelding, when he becomes possessive of her. My experience with studdy geldings and mares is very dismal and includes one fatality, so no, don’t do it.

[selah]

I think mixed herds are a bad idea. It does not matter what age/stage the boys were gelded. I have friends who have spent $$$ trying to diagnose whether their staggy boys were “proud cut” by any chance. They were all found to have “normal gelding” hormone levels.

[SanJacMonument]

You may need more than one fence and maybe need hot wire on both paddocks.

Then the horses may run and pace the fenceline; kick the fenceline, and have behavior issues.

It’s a tough call, but I’d vote no unless you can somehow take the mare on a trial basis.

[danceronice]

My somewhat studdish, cut-late old OTTB gelding could only be turned out with mares. He fought other geldings constantly (and heaven help you if you put him in a mixed group, unless there was a REALLY dominant alpha mare who’d put the smackdown on him so he wasn’t motivated to start fights.)

Quite, older, gelded early new OTTB has to be with other geldings or with a very securely dominant mare whom he gives a wide berth as he’ll get beaten up with a mixed group or with a mare who isn’t as confident and needs to run him around to prove she’s in charge.

You never know, but if you’re stuck with her if it doesn’t work out, might not be worth the risk.

[Marla_100]

No, No, and No- don’t even try it. I have never, ever seen a late gelded horse who did not still have studdish behavior and it can lead to dangerous situations for other geldings and mares especially in a small pasture. You really are asking for trouble. Not worth it.

[onelove]

Yeah…this is what I was thinking but I was hoping for some miracle trick I guess. I just don’t want to pass this mare up. Sigh…I guess I will have to.

[alto]

@Tasker;5895528

We had rescued a small, OTTB teenage gelding about a decade ago. He was a PC suitable mount. We knew a family that needed a horse (6 kids, not a lot of $$), so we free leased them the gelding.
They did mixed gender turnout and we sent him with the caution that we did not do that but as he wasn’t studdish, it might be ok - just keep an eye on the situation. Long story short, their half Clyde mare was in heat a few weeks later and he got blasted on the radius & ulna and it was the point of impact as she was backing up, throwing pee, kicking out and he was trying to get away from the flying hooves. The family had the vet out, x-rays confirmed the fracture which wasn’t displaced, they tried stall rest and about 2 weeks into it, they had to euthanize him. And then they sent us the bill for the vet care and body removal. :eek:

Hopefully you kindly returned the bill with an explanation of how free lease situations normally work :rolleyes:

[jumpymeister]

I have a TB that was gelded at 6. He can still be very studdish. I originally had him out with my other gelding and mare, no problem at the little 3 arce barn I rented. Had him at a boarding facility last year and told them he can go with mares or geldings, but not both, as he will beat up on the other geldings trying to “protect” his mare. All went fine there until the gelding feild got moved to a shared fenceline with some mares - then he ripped a giant hole in one of the gelding’s necks. (The horse healed up fine thankfully!)

Now we keep our horses at home, in my landlord’s 40 acre feild. It’s cheap and fabulously convenient, but the compromise is that our 3 are out with the 15 or so other polo ponies that live there during the off season. Well, the polo ponies came back a few weeks ago, and I wasn’t able to catch my horse for 3 days! He took all of the mares in the feild and created his own harem, even mounting a few, and would not be removed from them under any circumstance, even when there was grain involved. It’s all settled down now, and he comes in to eat his meals like a good gelding, but it happens everytime the polo guys swap new horses into the feild. Thankfully the polo owners don’t care (they don’t even come to check on their horses unless I call them if I see someone bleeding), but it can be a pita!

All I can say is try it…you’ll know in a few days if it will work or not - I think it really just depends on how dominant each gelding is in regard to “their” mare

[camohn]

been there done that. It depends on how alpha the other gelding is (It will NOT work if the other gelding is alpha/won’t defer to him) and how much room there is in the field to get away from each other,

[jcotton]

If you were to take the mare, your studdish gelding goes in his own paddock and your daughters gelding could go with the mare if they get along. Or everybody has separate paddocks.

Why can’t you re-inforce the existing run-in fenceline and the pasture fence? Have you talked to the property owner about fence improvements?

Can the mare stay at your friend’s? And not put into the mix with the boys.

[Bogie]

It depends.

I had a Trakehner who was bred for two seasons and then gelded.

I was able to turn him out with mares – he did not try to mount them – and with other geldings.

What I could not do was add another gelding to an established herd. He got very possessive of “his” mares and the one time I tried it, he chased the other gelding with bared teeth and that gelding jumped out of the field :eek:. They had all been turned out as a herd before with no problem but had been separated for several months and the herd dynamic changed.

I would ONLY try this if you figured out a way to very slowly introduced them to turnout together. I would NOT attempt this if you just plan to put them out together right away.

Right now I have a TB gelding who has been turned out with four mares. We have another gelding on property who came to the barn three weeks ago and have not yet introduced him to the herd – we are introducing him one-to-one with each horse and then will progress to smaller groups. It’s just too risky otherwise.

[China_Doll]

I had a late gelded very well behaved stallion that acts studish when loose around a peeing mare. I have a very dominant mare that kicked a gelding and broke his shoulder. I was reluctant to put them together or her with any horse.

I put them in seperate runs for a week and they got along well over the fence after a while she got over her initial being in heat every time she saw him. I turned them out together and they get along very well and she minds her manners around him and he is in charge and she doesn’t challenge him 1 bit.

[ToiRider]

[QUOTE=clint;5895545]
I wouldn’t do it. Not only is your mare at risk, but so is the other gelding, when he becomes possessive of her. My experience with studdy geldings and mares is very dismal and includes one fatality, so no, don’t do it.[/QUOTE]

No, don’t do it. I am more concerned about the other gelding. I put a young gelding in with my mare and older gelding, who was a stallion until 3.5 years old. Older gelding got possessive of mare and badly hurt younger gelding. I am still rehabbing 5 months later. I was able to put a female mini-donkey out with mare and older gelding with no problem. He will accept other mares put in with his mare and him, but not other geldings.

The mare will change the dynamics completely and someone will get hurt. Now they get along relatively fine across a fence, but they cannot be in together.