Herd Dynamics

[Girlwholovesherhorses]

Hi Everyone,

I have Cooper (who is about a year old, 35" and I gelded him about 4+ months ago), Kiwi (who is 2 years old, 35" and gelded a month ago), Karamo (8 years old, 16 hand, gelding) and Cora (8 years old, mare, 15.2 hands). I currently have my two minis at my house and board Karamo and Cora at a different barn. My situation may be changing so that they can all be together, but I am a bit nervous because Cora is currently in heat and squirting at geldings at the barn and her already sassy attitude seems to be worse.

Do you think that it's okay to have all the horses and minis close to each other (in adjacent paddocks) even though some are recently gelded and there's one mare? Do you think with her hormones so nearby, the geldings will fight? I see other people having mixed gender herds so I'm wondering if maybe it'd be fine to have Karamo and Cora in one paddock or two separate paddocks next to each other with the minis then next-door in another paddock and maybe they'll all just settle into a routine and dynamic/ be fine?

I'm considering putting her on regu-mate- has anyone had any experience with this working to tone down mare-ish behaviors?

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[Taz]

I dont think you'll have any problems with the boys fighting. The only thing to be aware of is she will probably be all over your fence. You will need electric wire to keep her from pushing on it if she's over flirting. Regulate normally works but you have to be careful not to touch it with your skin. Is it just the flirting you're worried about or is she hard to handle? I have a couple that are real hussies but great to handle so I just let them do their thing.

 

[Girlwholovesherhorses]

Haha unfortunately she’s overall bit hard to handle— ear pins and sometimes threatens to kick and can be stubborn with moving forward or wanting to be antsy and not stay back when you back her (like you back a step then she rebounds forward the next second). But she’s gotten better after 3 months at a trainer and it doesn’t feel dangerous to me. I sometimes get a kick out of her big personality and enjoy working her through challenges. But I understand that some barn staff and other’s don’t. Thanks for letting me know you think it’s okay to have them together. I was considering a wire at the top of the fence already so very helpful to get another vote for that. Thank you!

 

[Kelly]

I think the 2 biggies will be fine out together. Have they ever been together before? Where they are now, do they know each other across the fence? If they don’t know each other across the fence I would go slow introducing them. I would keep them across the fence for a few weeks before putting them together in the same paddock. I would definitely keep my minis separate from my biggies.

Good for you for getting a trainer involved! If she ever gets out of line again or you ever feel unsafe, get that trainer back out! Biggies are so big and I’d hate to see anyone get hurt, it just isn’t worth it.

Good luck!

 

[Taz]

You could try a hormone balancer for her, it can helpbif her issues are from hormones. It could just be who she is. Feisty Mare works well but there are others out there, your tackstore should have some.

 

[Girlwholovesherhorses]

Thank you so much! Really appreciate both your thoughts

 

[Standards Equine]

@lkatz212 is she always a bit nasty or only when she's in heat? I wonder if she's got an issue with painful ovaries. If you're not intending to breed her, perhaps it might be worth having a conversation with a veterinary surgeon regarding a transrectal spay?

 

[Silver City Heritage Farmstead]

Had to look up the Feisty Mare herbs, as I didn't know anything about it. I like that it's herbal based.

I agree with Standards Equine. You may (if you haven't been already) want to jot her seasons and corresponding "nastiness" on the calendar to see if there's a pattern. If you find one, it will help in deciding what to do.

You've also already received recommendations that I'd have given. I hope your new horse-keeping situation works out as you want it to!

Good luck and feel free to share pictures.

 

[Cayuse]

Regarding the Regumate. I have used it. It was about 10 years ago and if I remember correctly (I may have this wrong) my mare retained follicles and would bleed into her ovaries every time she ovulated. We had an ultrasound done during one episode and her ovary was huge from the blood. It was either spay or Regumate. Since she was in her 20's we chose Regumate and it worked very well to stop her cycles. You have to wear gloves handling it. It was fairly expensive but fortunately she was a small mare so the dosage was small. If you miss a couple of doses, the mare will cycle so you have to be consistent. Hope this helps a little.