How Do You Pasture Your Stallions

[MountainWoman]

Just curious how people pasture their stallions. Do you keep them totally separated from other horses? Are other horses visible to them? Do you have a turnout buddy for them? If so, is it a gelding? Thanks.

 

[targetsmom]

Our 30" stallion is kept by himself, partly because we feel he is too valuable to risk injury from playing/fighting with another mini. Normally we keep 2 fence lines between him and the rest of the herd but he can see them. He is very laid back and never runs the fence line and seems quite content this way. Right now though, his three 2012 foals are in the turnout next to him and he adores having "company". He especially loves to play with and sleep next to his son, who already towers over him! Because his son hasn't been gelded yet, Clyde will stay in the run next to his dad until that happens, while the 2 fillies will be moved in with herd as soon as they recover from Equine Affaire. This works for us because of our stallion's temperament.

 

[MountainWoman]

Thanks!

 

[MindyLee]

My 2 stallions are seperate. They are side by side BUT with a 22 foot drive between them or they will tear the fence down and kill each other. Then across from them about 45 feet is the mares pastures. That way everyone can see each other and all is peacefull.

 

[Kendra]

In the summer, they're pastured with their mares. In the winter, the old boy is in a pen, because he has no teeth left and has to eat mush, but he's next door to the mares for company. The youngster is turned out with the geldings, learning to be a real horse. ;-)

 

[Kendra H]

I have my rising two year old alongside my two mini mares and my Perch/QH mare... Solid wood fence and Hotwire in between.

He hasn't shown any stud-ish behavior yet, doesn't even seem remotely interested in them. I have no intentions of breeding him, but I was hoping to get both "boys" dropped prior to gelding.

 

[Lucky-C-Acres-Minis]

My stallions before were pastured on separate dry lots, each had their own and shared a split barn.. I'm now down to just Doc and since the day he got here in fall 2008 he's been my spoiled boy, has his own stall in the mare barn with all his girls and then he has his own large pasture.. I keep him by himself as I don't want to risk him getting hurt with a mare or playmate.. He can see all the mares/other horses and is quite content

 

[Magic Marker Minis]

Right now, all five of our senior studs are together with our mares on the other side of the fence... They get along fine during the non-breeding season/s. The two (almost) two year old boys are also with them. But, come next breeding season we'll have to separate them. Two of them think they're alpha (I have to remind them every so often that I'M ALPHA!) so those two have to be further apart.

Kari

 

[Jill]

IF we are breeding, I keep them with the mares and if the plans include re-breeding (when we have past examples), they stay with the mares until foaling.

IF they haven't been bred, each of our little super stars has his own paddock (50x75 or so) and stall (8- 12x12). It's big enough to keep a couple mares with them, but right about now, they're all three in there alone as we have no one bred for next spring.

 

[REO]

Ours are in their own pen/pastures. They share fences with mares. I have different mare groups that get along nicely. So it's stallion, mares, stallion, mares etc. So my boys are not alone.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

We've down sized and sold our last stallion this past June but we had adjoining pens that shared a fence line for them for spring/summer/fall and then they all went into a winter pen together with the geldings. There was never any problem with them fighting through the fence and they played nice all winter together. The pens were all fairly large, 80 x 120 or so with run in sheds. They were content to have each others company across the fence and 'knew' each other well when they rejoined for the winter. Worked for me.

 

[dannigirl]

I let my mares and geldings out to pasture during the day for 8 to 10 hours and then bring them into a dry lot for the night. Since the side pens are next to the pasture and the fences are not great, the stallions stay in the stalls during the day. We let two stallions out over night in two pens that are seperated by a 5 ft section of fencing. The third stallion gets to use the round pen. When we had more than 3 stallions, we had to rotate them and that is why we only have 3 stallions now. They get out for the 14 to 16 hours that the mares are in drylot overnight. The only nights they miss are the ones that are rainy/nasty and I am afraid they will get sick. Fortunately, there are a lot more nights that are clear.

We only pasture breed and then only for up to 45 days. Then the mares that are being bred go into lower pens that have lean-tos and the stallion goes with those mares. I just hate going that far to feed and keep an eye on them all year round so don't use those pens unless we are breeding. They also make good isolation pens if need be because we can close up and keep 100 feet between the farthest one and the barn area.

 

[supaspot]

Absolut has mares with him all year , first for covering and then once in foal they stay with him until the last few weeks of pregnancy , we alternate our mares so when the open mares are ready to be bred and theyre swapped round

 

[chandab]

Due to many circumstances, my boys are separate. The two stallions have too big of a size difference to let them together at anytime of year; one is 31" and the other 35.75". And, the two geldings have different dietary needs so they have pens side-by-side (one is chunky, the other has Cushing's and is thin). I haven't tried the taller stallion with the healthy gelding, not sure I want to risk it for either.

The mares are in three paddocks.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

All mine are in together form September until the end of March or possibly April (I have to keep an eye on Carlos, he will start fence running if he gets stressed, and also attempts to keep the others off the fenceline.) There is a bit of squealing when they first go out but they know each other well enough now so they settle quickly. The trick is mainly to give them enough room and make sure that Carlos' mares are a field away to start with. I also have a double hot wire between the boys filed and the colts next door- it is not really necessary but it is just peace of mind!

I take Carlos out from his mares on the first of September- there is no way of saying if a mare will lose the foal early on, even if I tested, which I don't, and I don't want any "Oops" foals in the middle of winter- I learned that lesson the hard way and one 27th Dec foal is quite enough for this lifetime.

Once in a lifetime you find a horse you cannot do this with, at all, no way, not going to happen! Rabbit is my "loner" no way will he mix in or play nice so he has his own paddock. Even in summer he has to be kept seperate, although he does have his round pen in the mares field!

 

[Magic Marker Minis]

For those of you who pasture breed, how can you know when the mare will foal? How do you keep track of them in case they have problems foaling? I REALLY hate not knowing when they're due.... We lost a beautiful silver buckskin filly two years ago because she was a redbag. I never want to go through that again!

Kari

 

[Kendra]

For those of you who pasture breed, how can you know when the mare will foal? How do you keep track of them in case they have problems foaling?

We found that our mares would foal healthy, normal, "term" foals anywhere from 305 to 365 days, which meant that knowing exact breeding dates wasn't really narrowing it down a lot. We go primarily by udder development, and while they fool us from time to time - mares are tricky! - we don't miss any more than we did when we had exact "due dates".

I see lots of people keep their stallions on their own to avoid injury, and I can sure understand that. This fall, I certainly did consider the risk of injury to my colt (in my avatar). He'll be 3 in the spring, and just starting his driving and breeding career, but I believe that the benefits of him running out with the geldings for the winter outweigh the risks. Not only is he building strong bones and muscles running and playing on pasture, but he's learning to fit into a herd (there's 21 geldings and him), and respect for other horses.

 

[Equuisize]

Our single stallion has been kept by himself except for when he's been with his, in foal, mare or he's been a weaning buddy for a foal.

He's very mellow and laid back and loved having the company. He seems to get along with everyone.

We bought him a gelding once, for a buddy, and that gelding ran the britches off him and was very much the alpha horse of the two of them.

In 2011 we finally got a colt from him and now they are constant companions. The colt is coming 1 1/2 years and they get along famously, even though he's larger than his dad. He's mellow like his dad so as long as that continues, it will remain that way....

We're no longer breeding but not sure I want to geld him, at his age.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I agree with Kendra- you know when the foal is due by watching the mare. I worried about not knowing the due date for ages until I finally worked out that the only one who really knows the due date is the mare and she rarely tells!

 

[MountainWoman]

Just wondering for those of you who run stallions in bachelor herds or together with other horses, do you have fighting? Play fighting? Were the horses used to other horses?

Thanks for all the responses on this thread. Very interesting to read and giving me lots to think about.