# mares and geldings turned out together opinions please



## juevans (28 March 2008)

as it will soon be summer turnout time on our yard i was wondering what everyones views are on mixed grazing iv never had any problems with it myself but some of the dominant geldings were fighting over the mares last year (not mine i hasten to add) so the owners want YO to split mares and geldings up this year anyone else have this problem???


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## brackenhappy (28 March 2008)

never had a problem at my yard, we turn out mixed groups together. the only ones that dont mingle with the main group are the mares and foals, they have a seperate field, the YO horses they have a seperate field and in that one the more dificult to catch horses!! we turn out year round although the horses on the yard have to come in of an evening. the winter turnout fields are about a mile away and next week the horses from them fields come to our fields for the summer! the fields are large enough not to have to many problems!!i dont think my mare would be happy being out with just girls shes a bit of a tart!!!!


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## rema (28 March 2008)

My gelding is out with my mare.They have a very close pair bond.The field has now been split into to paddocks and there is a pony gelding in the other half of the field and my two do not take any notice of it.To the point they completely ignore the little fella.


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## sammiea (28 March 2008)

My mare and gelding will go out together with another mare.  We cant put my gelding out with the others as he bullies them but the mares keep him right in check


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## DiablosGold (28 March 2008)

Our grazing isn't mixed, but they are small herds.  I don't have a problem with it, and likewise not bothered if grazing is seperate.


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## Mbronze (28 March 2008)

Our grazing isn't mixed. but i do find that my mare fights alot more with other mares anyway so perhaps its only for the best that thy don't bring any boys in, however she'll happily go out with my older gelding and not bully him at all..probably because she knows mummys watching her!!
I don't think it would cause any problems turning out together, maybe a few teething problems at the start but once they have established their hierarchy then they should settle ok but its like that in any herd.


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## miller (28 March 2008)

Had far less problems on a mixed turnout yard then on the yard that was single sex - personally I much prefer mixed.

My gelding and OH's mare are turned out together and get on brilliantly - too well infact when you come to take one away


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## vennessa (28 March 2008)

We run mares and Geldings together.
 We have the odd problem mostly which can happen with mares running together and Geldings running together. We have a Hooligan field where these go.
 It is more natural for them to run together.
 We do have the head of the herd a Dutch Warmblood Gelding - i think through size as he is a big softie and a matriarchal [I know that will be spelt wrong] mare. 
 They all work well together.
 Any bolshy horses sooon get put in their place - not by kicking - but by facial expressions and body language from the mare.
 The only real problem one we have is a gelding that was gelded at 5 and thinks he is still a Stallion.
 He is in the hooligan field as he behaves better in a smaller herd with a Polish warmblood mare, a show pony mare and a show pony gelding. They all get along well together but not in the main herd.


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## vicm2509 (28 March 2008)

Ours is mixed and they get on well. We have about 50 horses all turned out together in acres and acres of field. Yes some come in with the odd kick but nothing worse than if they were seperate. I actually had a gelding mount my gelding when I was trying to bring him in one day (must be all the pink I dress him in  
	
	
		
		
	


	




 ), so that proves to me that if it were just geldings in the field then they can be just as silly!

I wouldnt mind if they were seperate, but it works for them to be together on our yard, and I love the natural environment, all together in huge fields.


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## kerilli (28 March 2008)

if they have shoes on, i would never mix them. 
when i was 17 i found my friend's horse in the field with a broken leg. no-one else was around, i had to leave him there, drive to a phone (days before mobile phones!), ring the vet, ring the owner, ring the hunt, and then hold him to be shot. he was the sweetest, loveliest horse. it was awful beyond words.
when the huntsman came to collect the body, he had a right go at me because the poor horse had been turned out with other shod horses. he said something like "you lot think we're all so hard on our horses, but we NEVER turn them out together once they're shod. if they have shoes on, they only have to tap bone for it to break."
i have never forgotten that, and i have never turned shod horses out together since. too risky.


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## neigh (28 March 2008)

Ditto Kerilli. Our horses are turned out together, but none of them have back shoes on. If they are shod all round, unfortunately they have to go out on their own.


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## ecrozier (28 March 2008)

My gelding and my mare go out together.  Since I have J he has only been turned out with geldings twice and both times got bullied, so now he is with my mare and two other mares and they seem fine!  One of the other mares is a bit mean to him but he just stays out of her way so not a problem.  I have always found that geldings 'play' more than mares so accidents more common.  
We just dont have the facilities to turn out individually, but having said that the geldings field where there are 7 of them and none have back shoes has had 2 kick injuries in the last fortnight.


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## tabithakat64 (28 March 2008)

We have a large mixed age, sex and size herd, the two fields they use are very large which helps, we have only ever had two serious injuries (both when new horses were introduced) in the ten years I've been there.  I have one mare and one gelding and would only have have mixed sex grazing as my mare tends to be picked on by other mares and my gelding is very dependant on her.


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## Heidi1 (28 March 2008)

Livery yard I'm at has split grazing, but as I have three mares and one gelding I get to have a couple of fields of my own and they all go together, I also have one of the other liveries mare in with mine too and they are happy as can be, think really Moge thinks he is a mare............


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## Britestar (28 March 2008)

Never had a problem. 4 mars and 4 geldings together, always have been, like a little herd. Problem is can't really introduce anyone new as they all gang up together.
Geldings play happily with one another. The mares like to gallop around but never play with the geldings


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## Apalacia01 (28 March 2008)

Pony is fully shod but as yet (touch wood) in her 9 years of life has never hurt a fly. I know that that is lucky, but just the way things go.

She has had a mixed bunch - mares only, on her own (after her surgery, was turned out on own for a year), then out with a herd (for 4 days I hasten to add, as there was no method of integration, she was in mud up to her knees and there were 30 other horses in her field...I moved yards sharpish)

She is now out with a 13hh mare who doesn't bat an eyelid (my girl likes to chase her around a bit, but they are friends) and a 16.3hh hunter, who bullies her like there is no tomorrow.


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## Damnation (28 March 2008)

As I discovered a month ago my mare can't go out with geldings. She corners them when she's in season! But she is very dominant. She needs other mares to say "Oi get away missy!". I think it very much depends on your own horse as to weather it will be ok with single sex turnout, or not as the case may be.


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## jesterfaerie (28 March 2008)

Never had a problem with this myself, all the horses I have ever had have been turned out together, sometimes we had more mares than geldings other times more geldings than mares and they all worked it out between themselves never had any serious problems.
The college yard I used to be on used to just turn all their horses out together, at times you would have around 20 or so horses out in one field and they never had any problems either.
However at uni they are separated, mares with mares and geldings with geldings.


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## AnnaJ (28 March 2008)

We have mixed groups and everyone gets on brilliant.  In fact there's a mare and a gedling who are inseparable!


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## asbo (28 March 2008)

we have 2 mares &amp; 1 gelding in together


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## Bosworth (28 March 2008)

I own a livery and have my mares and geldings completely seperate - at opposite ends of the farm. I have seen far far far too many instances of possessive geldings fighting to keep their mares. Splitting them this way has done away with  the issue of sex and seasons. They are then in small single sex herds of no more than 5 . Works well we have never had horses kicked or injured by the others. Can't say the same when we tried mixed herds


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## Donkeymad (28 March 2008)

Mares, geldings, shod, unshod, we have never come across a problem.


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## juevans (29 March 2008)

thanks everyone for your input seems on speaking to YO yesterday that she is adimant they will all turn out together i personally have no problems with this as my 3 geldings are not fighters but some ppl on yard arnt happy but then cant please everyone....


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