A friend tried hard to find a way to work her schoolmates into her turnout groups. The problem was he loved everybody and loved to play, hard. Lots of rearing. Lots of chase me chase me. Lots of bitey face and bitey knee. Both he and her 8 yo gelding had a series of fairy significant soft tissue injuries over the course of many months. He just loved it too much after many years of stalls and solitary turn out
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I have a happy herd of 4. All coexist well. When I introduced my last mare I had “mare wars” for a couple weeks. No injuries but lots of posturing and chasing. My new mare would talk back to the boss mare and that would start it. Now they are best friends and you would never know they didn’t like each other. They can all share a small paddock and are best buddies.
My friends gelding was 5th horse that occasionally joins the herd and he was immediately accepted with no fusing. He just got along with every one the moment he stepped on the property.
I had one gelding that the boss mare absolutely hated and she did not accept him at all. Gaining her approval is the key to a happy herd. He was a bit neurotic and she recognized that and did NOT want him here. I sent him back. She would have chased him off the property if she could.
Close observation the first few days is the key to making sure they are working out herd dynamics well.
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If a gelding is just super playful, and not dominant, mares make a better turnout companion as they don’t want to play and set up boundaries.
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Her horses were all geldings.
My only problem with 3s was with one horse who just flat out tried to kill #3. Add a new one to the mix and he made it his mission to destroy. And if he didn’t physically hurt him, he would channel his inner cutting horse ,(he was a TB) and keep the poor horse pinned in a corner all day, without access to water or shade. We called him Thug Life for a reason.
But just in case you think it was because he was so attached to his other pasture mate, just…no. For 8 years he had one other pasture mate. And when that horse left the property for hours/days/weeks, he didn’t even nicker for him. This did make him the best part of a 2 horse setup ever, but he’s the only horse I’ve ever had that was that much of a lone wolf. Tons of other 3 and 4 horse set ups have always worked well.
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I like groups of 4 or 5 if the pasture is big enough, but 2 and 3 work well.
There is one big boss b* mare per group.
Some mares really just don’t like each other.
Some mares think the geldings are dumb.
I have a pony that is size appropriate to go with my older gentler horses, but needs to be turned out with a warmblood dominant mare to keep her ego in check or she will be very mean my old horse.
Buddy older horse younger horse in groups of 2 or 3 works well.
Old senior horses usually go well together.
Some geldings get too studly if with mares.
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I will add to all those stories the words of our old vet.
He said that half his work as a veterinarian was patching up horses that owners insisted had to get along and some did, for a while, until something or other set them off and they tried to kill each other.
According to him, domesticated horses made to live with others in smaller places, where they can’t get away and no see another they don’t care for any time they desire, or if they are chased away, are safer and happier if they don’t have to live having others to contend with in a close and personal way.
As a picked on or lower status, is a constant source of stress.
As the bossier one, also stressful to have to keep an eye on things and enforce them.
Horses thrive in company, but when choices of company and space are restricted as we do for domestic horses, we need to listen to their needs for having other horses around, but also consider how to manage for least stress.
For many horses, their own safe space and still other horses around them seems a good compromise first step, then maybe careful introduction to a group if that is what we think will make them happier and keep monitoring the situation very closely and be proactive to step in before things escalate.
Letting them work it out has caused plenty of distress and injuries, one stray badly placed kick can kill a horse.
One of our high priced show horses was in another trainer’s care when another half kicked it in a hock and he was permanently crippled.
Accidents when horses interact are going to happen, but we should be careful not to put horses where accidents are more apt to happen.
If OP’s horse is fine turned out alone, does it really need to be turned out with another and another until finding a match that will at least tolerate each other?
I have seen people happy with how their horses get along so well together, while ignoring that one is always dejectedly on the edge, being chased away most of the time, not getting to drink or eat in peace, is how horses live, especially when they don’t have much else going on in their lives than pushing each other around.
Every one of us have different ideas what is stress and how much acceptable and are lucky to be able to care for our horses as we see best and that won’t be the same with every horse or in every situation.
Doing our best after careful consideration is all we can do and hope for the best outcome.
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Not always possible but I feel like an older broodmare is such a good match. They don’t put in unnecessary energy but are happy to do an ugly face and warning shot if they are done with shenanigans. The ones that have gone through a few rounds of raising young ones seem to be extra good at setting boundaries without being a bully
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I used to help pull manes at a qh barn. They stood a difficult halter stallion who was just an almighty prick to handle. We got there one day and there he stood in his hen pecked glory, turned out with three old battle axe broodmares complete with platter feet and no effs left to give. Coosa was standing wellllll back from the water tank where they were dozing. His chest was a roadmap of bad decisions.
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OMG…y’all are making this out to be way more complicated than it needs to be. I am at a hunter facility. 95% of the horses have hind shoes. Only 1 has borium (mine). There is only one horse on individual turn-out (mare). The rest are in groups of 2-5. There are 35 horses on the property.
We have had 2 major injuries in the 3 years since I have been there. One horse broke his pastern. He happened to be in the field by himself. Probably found a ground hog hole or ???
The other ran into the corner of a 3 board fence and got a 1 ft by 2 inch portion of the broken off fence lodged in his shoulder. He was out with 4 other horses. However he had neuro issues and could not see well out of his eye on that side. He was scheduled for euth for about 2 weeks after that. Maybe they ran him into the fence or more likely he misjudged and ran into it during the night.
Yes I was at a farm that a horse with hind shoes that broke the leg of another horse. They had been field mates for 2 years. But the incidence happened when they were both being led to the field. One horse kicked the other.
I actually asked my BIL, who is a physics professor, if shoes would make that much of a difference. He thought force was a bigger differential. FYI he has had at least 2 experiments go to the space station for research.
Yes, it is nice if they can meet between stalls or over a fence first. IMO it is more important to match personality types. I prefer to not put 2 very high energy types together- they just egg each other on and they play too hard and get hurt.
I have had a few geldings that cannot go out with mares and few that get attachment issues or want to herd the other geldings from the mares.
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Are they all your horses? If not, I’d be surprised if most high-level dressage owners would agree to group turnout based on the multiple barns I’ve been at over the years. And if one horse in a two- horse group leaves, you may have a bad bonding nightmare for the remaining horse. But if they’re all your own, then that problem is avoided (until you sell one of a pair).
Hind shoes are bad for group turnout, especially for the first couple of weeks, and if anyone adds borium for winter that makes injuries worse.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for maximum turnout in groups but it’s not something that most dressage owners seem to want.
I was blase about turn out with hind shoes until my horse was kicked and had her back leg broken. Now it’s a hard no for me. Lesson learned the very, very hard way. I don’t believe it’s as much about the force as it is the steel shoe. I’ve had horses kicked hard and while they got dinged up, nothing was broken.
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