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Not everyone separates mares and geldings. It has not been my
experience that it is a problem one way or the other, though I know
people who do that. I think more importantly is how Alpha a horse thinks
he or she is. If they think they should be top dog, so to speak, there
will be h*ll to pay until everyone else realizes that too. When you get
two of these personalities together, that is when you have real problems.
When I introduced a new 7 year old mare to a 3 year old bottom of
the pecking order mare, the younger mare mounted the older mare. Then the
new mare proceeded to corner and seriously kick the younger mare. If I
had not been there I am sure she would have been killed. This is after a
couple of weeks of introducing them over fences, stalls, etc. The older
mare thinks she is the big kahuna, and so she is.
I then kept her separated, thinking it would be forever, because
the other horse involved, an older Morgan gelding, also thought he was
#1. So I did not want him involved.
One day I came home from work and they had broken down 4 oak
boards between them and were all in together in the pasture. They were,
by this time, calm and no one was hurt.
I figured this was their gift to me, that I did not have to see
it happen, and I have turned the three of them out together for the past
3 years and everyone now knows where they stand and so far so good.
Valerie
Columbia, CT
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