This is a really interesting thread. Something different.
Really neat to hear of all these different situations.
I have a 7 mares, and two geldings. One older gelding lives down the
street at a neighbors. His name is "Pops". Some of you might
remember his story. Anyway, we had him here for a bit but he, even in his
very late 20's and coming back from being in an emanciated state,
actually would act very studdy around the mares. So we had him in the
adjoining pasture area. Then we later moved him down to our neighbors who
had flatter terrain and were missing having horses (their last horse died in
it's late 30's..they hadn't been w/o horses since l968 and really missed them)
so he is down there now thriving. But, later we acquired another gelding,
younger and a little more passive. We had thought about mixing him
with the mares then decided he'd be "taken over" by my mares. All 7 are
dominate, but have worked things out. We figured throwing him in would
really put things in a whirl and also figured he wouldn't get any food!
So we put him right next to them in the adjoining area. He can
socialize safely over the fence, get nice grooming sessions from the mares, in
turn (they all take turns with him!), and we ride them with him which has never
been a problem. One on one they all accept him and he is happy with their
company as well.
For more socialization we take him down the street to "play" with Pops and
they get along great and have fun. He likes his "sleepovers" there.
But he does seem to show signs of missing his mares when he first leaves which
is really cute.
I almost decided to put him in with my mares a few weeks ago. But
decided against it. My big mare Spirit is the boss in there and I just
didn't want to risk getting anyone hurt. If I had more
acreage, and another gelding or two then would most likely work. But just
decided it is harmonious as it is now and wasn't going to stir the waters.
They all seem very happy with the current arrangements. No sense rocking
the boat.
I think all situations are different and all horse's personalities are
different as well. So you just have to test the waters to see what works
and what doesn't.
Also, my mares have a small "herd within the herd" as three of them are
family; mother, daughter, granddaughter. That makes for very interesting
pecking order situations. Very interesting to watch the interaction on a
daily basis.
