Advice on pasturing a Stallion with a Gelding

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Advice on pasturing a Stallion with a Gelding

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  • Pasturing a stallion and a gelding
  • Stallion with gelding

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    08-08-2012, 03:17 PM
Advice on pasturing a Stallion with a Gelding

I need Expert advice on pasturing a gelding and stallion together.
Here is some background info first:

Gelding: 15 yr. Old quarter horse. Former Champion racer before being gelded.. Very large and strong. Laid back easy going sweet demeanor. Arrived on property first. Being bigger and stronger he is the big bully.

Stallion: 8 yr. Old Paso Fino. Much smaller, but feisty, energetic personality. Arrived 5 months after gelding. Being smaller, he is trying to show he can hold his own & be the little bully.

Both have been pastured separately for all 7 yrs. On the farm. When separated by a double fence they are always seen resting near each other. When separated by a single fence they start to do what I "think" is playing....but maybe it is fighting? It consists of biting, rearing, kicking. But never has there EVER been any damage or injury. It is almost like when kids start out gently punching or slapping. We usually go out and put a stop to it fearing the worse can happen before it progresses further.

There are no other horses on the farm. Just the two boys. Occasionally a neighbor will turn out a mare on the adjacent property.

Only time they were together in a pasture: After a storm the fence came down and the mare wandered over to the pasture that housed the stallion...much to his delight. Unknown at the time, another fence also came down where the gelding was pastured and HE wandered over to the other 2. Stallion did what he is suppose to do and the 2 went at it. Eventually the gelding had enough and kept his distance. He eventually came up to the stables unharmed. All 3 were in the same pasture all day. No more trouble ensued as long as the stallion stayed between the gelding and the mare.

Now fences are fixed and the mare is gone for many months now. The two are still separate. Whichever horse is in the smaller pasture, all they do is stay up by the gate ALL DAY LONG and look sad, and unhappy. They refuse to go back down into the small pasture. NOTHING is wrong with that pasture or has changed. We just moved the gate. To be fair to each horse, we switch them out every 3 days. It seems they prefer the larger pasture.

So....To make them happy and make things easier on us, we would like them to live in harmony TOGETHER. So I am asking for advice:
  1. can the two ever get along
  2. how do we go about getting them to live in the same pasture peacefully
  3. will they fight to the death or severe injury
  4. do we just take a chance and let them go and see what happens?
  5. Or should we try it out in a paddock with each horse on a line so we can separate them easily and see how it goes?

Being herding animals, I just think they would be happier I having wishful thoughts?
Thanks for taking the time to read and respond.
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    08-08-2012, 03:25 PM
I wouldn't do it.

I would either geld the stallion and then wait 6 - 9 months before turning them out together, or get them each small companion animal to be turned otu with.

I have only ever known mature stallions to be turned out by themselves, or with mares for pasture breeding. I have never known anyone who successfully turned a stallion out with geldings. It's a pretty high liklihood that the gelding will end up beaten up.
Allison Finch and boots like this.
    08-08-2012, 03:26 PM
I would personally keep a fence between them. I just don't think it's worth taking the chance of either one getting injured.
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    08-08-2012, 03:29 PM
I think unless they're raised with geldings, it's a bad idea to try and introduce them to any after they've matured.
    08-08-2012, 03:47 PM
My Stallion is out with the geldings and a mare who can no longer breed. (long story) he was raised with geldings and the only reason he isn't gelded is because I thought it was "wrong to take off a horsies balls" when I was little and since he was my horse he stayed a Stallion.
    08-08-2012, 04:00 PM
Green Broke
It is possible to keep stallions together, but very difficult if there is a mare in the midst. If you have one nearby, personalities change instantly.
In nature stallions band together all the time and can live in perfect harmony. But again, there are no girls around to fight over.
It also depends on the horse's personalities. When I went to a clinic this spring the trainer brought along his stallion and two geldings and penned them all in one and everyone got along fine.
He was asked if he does it often and he said yes, because they are used to it and they are also well trained to have manners. He was perfectly able to work his stallion acoss the fence from the farm owner's strange stallion and had no issues.
It IS possible, but the scenerio and conditions have to be ideal.
    08-08-2012, 05:37 PM
My stud is pastured with another stud and geldings
And they can see and smell mares. It depends on the horses.
First I got them used to eachother by my cousin and I would go out riding them together. Hand grazed them together. Then shared a fence line. Then let them together for supervised visits, and eventually left them. Now my Stud gets along with pretty much any male. The boys do play very rough. Some marks at times but by looking at their facial expression and little movements can tell they're Playing. They will kind of test each other on occasion, but not serious.
I wouldn't leave them completely alone at first. You said they've shared a fence line, id let then do that for a while, if there's no mares in the mix.. Unless your stud is just aggressive they should be ok.

My stud was used for breeding for 11 years and never met another male horse before I got him. It took Time, and working with them but you'd think they have grown up together now.
He prefers the company, than to be all alone like some studs are kept.
Herd animals... He might enjoy being with your gelding.
My geldings are the dominant ones over the stud.

Friend of mine only had studs. Had 5 pastured together and they acted like geldings together.
    08-08-2012, 05:42 PM
Why not geld the stallion? Is there any real reason that he's still intact?
    08-08-2012, 05:45 PM
Before I bought Royale his interim owner (the one who ended up rescuing him from a bad situation and then giving him to me) did keep him with a bunch of geldings on a property that also had mares (in a different pasture). I think she had him with 3-4 geldings. She is my mentor and what I would term a true expert (though she would argue that everyone is always learning, herself included). She very, very carefully evaluates her horses' personalities and has a total of four pastures that she uses. Each group of horses is very carefully planned and watched for any issues.

The stud (Royale) had been mostly stall kept prior to that and never really turned out much at all. When she initially got him, she had him in a single pasture by himself but he paced endlessly. She carefully selected a small group of geldings to turn him out with and carefully monitored the situation. There were mares on the property but they were a few pastures over.

Once she got a foal out of him and she had him gelded things were a lot easier to manage. He eventually came to live at my house (all geldings) and his stress level decreased tremendously. He became best buddies with my pony gelding.

IMO, unless the horse is breeding quality and there's a reason to breed him, you'd be better off gelding him, both for your sake and his. Royale turned into a completely different horse once he didn't have mares on the brain all of the time.
    08-08-2012, 06:03 PM
I know from experience its not a good idea to put them out together if its a gelding the stallion has never seen or been around before. When I got my second gelding Blaze, the stallion at the farm as stalled at the time. Well someone(ex trainer calmed her ex husband did it but I didn't believe that for a minute. I think her kids did it and didn't want the blame) let him out of his stall one morning into the field with all geldings. Since my gelding was the newest one he chased him all over and he was still recovering from running thru a barb wire fence. It got dangerous and the ex trainer wouldn't believe me when I told her the stallion was chasing him and he was scared to death. She even watched the stallion spook Blaze while I was turning him out from grooming him and took off with the lead rope still attached. The stallion was chasing him so hard he ran into my moms truck, bounced off and continued to chase my horse. All while the ex trainer stood there and watched. Mentally my horse was wreak. It cause him to founder and he still has a scar on his leg where the stallion bit him. So I wouldn't put the stallion in with the gelding unless you plan to geld him.

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