“Note to Self” my (so far happy) experience buying (a yearling! 🤦🏻‍♀️) from Bowie Livestock

Any chance you could borrow/board another yearling that needs a buddy instead of buying one?

No, I’m out of stalls now and I’m not set up for 24/7 living out. No run-in sheds and the bugs are torture especially to Tb types.

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They might be very good at keeping each other busy.

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Black you say :heart_eyes:? Someone needs to grab him. I enable you to go get him!
Before you tell me to, I’m on the wrong side of the country, too old and flat broke from vet bills :joy:.

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When I got my first horse 54 years ago mares and geldings were usually turned out in the same paddocks/pastures at the lesson and boarding barns, including the highest end hunt seat stable I boarded at.

I think that the herds looked happier and more settled. The geldings liked the possibility of having a girlfriend, and the mares liked the possibility of having a boy friend.

Sometimes, just sometimes, my gelding “fell in love” with a mare that was in his pasture. The other mares mostly bossed him around. My gelding was gelded LATE (5 years old) and I never heard of him causing any problems with the mares.

It WAS mildly irritating when my gelding literally fell in love with this super cute Welsh mare. When I rode in the ring he was always checking around so he could see her. Even so I rode in the ring, rode in both huge pastures, and went on trail rides. My gelding was SUPER upset for a day or two when that mare left the stable.

It was sort of automatic, mares and geldings shared the same pastures. That way they had more acreage to explore and room to get away from equine bullies.

I was SHOCKED when, after just having horses on my own land for many years, when I got around to riding at lesson stables again to learn that the sexes were segregated. There is only one real advantage I’ve seen to that, I have noticed that the lesson horses nowadays seem to consider group lessons, with beginning riders no less, as quality time since that is the only time that they are in a group of horses of both sexes. Back in days of yore when geldings and mares were pastured together they both seemed to feel that beginner lessons were BORING.

Introduce them slowly, expect the usual squeels and scuffles, and I bet that the filly may well end up being the BOSS.

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I don’t want to derail Nosey’s thread, and you’ll need to put your diamond-in-the-rough goggles on, but yes: https://elkharthorseauctions.com/online/120/item/186300 There’s also a short video of him on their FB page, that listing picture is pretty bad. I’d assume he will likely go through tomorrow night’s auction if he doesn’t sell before that listing ends.

Much like 2bayboys, I’m afraid another horse might put a wee strain my marriage :joy:

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Gray = mare, Chestnut = gelding, in a small mixed turnout herd.

He spent weeks convincing her that they had a future together as BFF’s.

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My three horses lived outside together–a mare and two geldings. One was gelded very late (ten years old, and was probably used for breeding). He knew what girls were for. It was hilarious because this was a 12.2 gelding trying to do the deed with a 15.2 mare. It was a little embarrassing when the neighbors started calling (“do you know what your horses are doing?”), but neither were harmed, and mostly he behaved as a gelding.

Rebecca

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Successful and uneventful turnout tonight with my red mare. She pins her ears and makes nasty faces if Nosey gets too close but she’s way too sure of her place in the world to do any actual chasing. If all goes well for the next day or so I’ll try adding the witchy alpha pony.

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Yay!!!

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Nosey even has a turnout sheet now, so as not to feel chill. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

A lady who has worked rescue for many years shared an anecdote of visiting a horse that she helped rescue in it’s (his) foster home. She was moved almost to tears to see the horse not only looking well-fed and cared for, but also wearing a turnout sheet on a chilly morning.

The lady said that when the rescue had picked up this horse in a LE seizure, the horse was severely under-nourished, had been barely fed, no shelter, no care, no one bothered about the weather conditions the horse was enduring. She described it as ‘the horse was treated like the trash they took to the dump’. The horse was just surviving as best it could, and the owners at the time didn’t think anything more was needed.

And now this foster family were using their own supplies to be sure this formerly severely neglected horse was comfortable. What a change for this horse not just in circumstances, but in humans who care. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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wonderful video :slight_smile: She was born to run!
So happy to have found your wonderful story! (how did i miss seeing this?!)

She is beautiful and you both are very lucky ladies!

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I would try the two of them together before shipping her off. Age doesn’t say everything. He just might find her fun.

My TB gelding kept his younger herd mates running/playing into his 30’s. Herd was 3 mares and 2 geldings. (He was herd leader and always the instigator. :grin: RIP Gatsby).

P.S. A confession. If she stays with you, we get more frequent videos and updates. :wink:

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her profile maybe looks kinda standardbred-y?

with one exception, my geldings and mares all do very well together. Generally the mares all have their favorite male companion…and often when they come into season, they shop around and end up side-by-side for a couple of days with a totally different gelding. My herd is 2/3 geldings 1/3 mares.
Several of the geldings were range stallions well into maturity. Like til age 10 or 12 for a few of them! They don’t fight with eachother over the mares and of course, mares rule.

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When I was young, I boarded at a number of backyard-type barns. Turnout was “in the field” with no options for anything else. Biggest issue was injuries in the barns where horses came and left so the herd dynamics were unsettled.

There were some “romantic” issues. One boarder moved her mare as she was getting sore from a persistent gelding mounting her. My gelding was likely gelded early (no stallion-like physical characteristics and he was grade) but in the herd situation, he tended to forget the procedure. It was funny that he really wanted a mare that was much bigger, but she wanted nothing to do with him, even when in heat. So he turned his attentions to a new girl who was more his size. I looked out in the field to see them doing the deed! OTOH, another boarder had a gelding that was a breeding stallion until 6, but he had absolutely no interest in the girls!

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Mixed herds can work, but I always watch them closer for a bit! My 5yo is in love with the older mare who just tolerates him, and my older gelding has decided the mini is His Responsibility. She would disagree.

We don’t tolerate mounting behavior, but so far it’s usually some squealing and a bit of “MY MARE” resource guarding until everyone settles in. So far no issues with attachment - in fact the biggest problem we had with that was two old retiree geldings!

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Feeling sentimental today and scrolling through old pictures, and I realized that Nosey has an awfully similar facial marking to a :heart: horse of mine who passed a few years ago. Big star, stripe that disappears mid-nose and then reappears again, and snip wandering to the left. Not to mention three white socks.

The chestnut horse was the son of my bay mare I mentioned upthread, and the last baby I raised.

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How long does dna testing take?

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I’ve always had mixed herds and my mares with foals were out with whatever else I had at the time. Never had any issues and generally my geldings made wonderful babysitters. Gave the mares a break and played with the young ones.

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One year my first horse, gelding, fell in love with a foal that one of the boarded mares had. That was the only foal at that stable.

Mommy did not like that at first, at first she would go after him with bared teeth, then she just walked between them when they were in their mutual admiration mode, then she just gave up and let my gelding take over some of the work of raising a little one.

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