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  Discussion on How to handle the Stallion(s) next door
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Posted on Wednesday, May 8, 2002 - 11:03 am:

I have a mare and a gelding. I have several pastures that I use (rotational grazing). One of my pastures is about 1/4 mile away from my house, down a dirt road, on a river bottom. It is wonderful grass, wonderful footing. Problem is, my neighbor occassionally keeps a stallion down there. His pasture (high tension electrified wire) is about 60 feet away from ours (electric tape).

Usually he keeps geldings down in that pasture, and we have no problems. However, the other day we took our two down there and on the way down, our mare and gelding got very excited. It was difficult to get them (especially the mare) to the pasture safely. When they got to the pasture, my horses ran around like maniacs (the mare winking, the gelding keeping very close to the mare - head down moving her along). We noticed that one of the stallions was in the adjacent pasture. My husband and I stood and watched for about 15 minutes as our horses galloped about and bucked - our gelding trying his best to keep the mare away from the fence the stallion was close to.

Later that evening, the gelding was off his feed. His temp was a little high. He looked very depressed. The vet injected some banamine just in case we were having an early colic episode, but the vet concluded that our gelding was "worn out." (He is 18)

We moved the horses back to our upper pasture, where they have been since.

While our mare is not the most docile of horses, she certainly was a handful when the stallion was in the next pasture. And my poor gelding was worried to death.

I am really consdering selling the mare because I'm worried about the stallion getting out of his fence (ouch-high tensile wire). I don't want my gelding to get hurt if the stallion comes to my mare. I don't want my mare to get to the stallion, either. (If the stallions weren't grade horses and were dutch warmbloods, I wouldn't mind so much ;>) (No offense to grade horses - I just don't like the thought of breeding horses just for the heck of it)

My husband thinks we just need to concentrate on reinforcing her ground training. I think nature is too strong. I wonder if regumate could help solve our problem, but the expense!

Anybody else have these problems? And how do you deal with it?

Posted on Wednesday, May 8, 2002 - 5:39 pm:

I would talk to the neighbor and work out a rotation with them so you can have your horses down there while they just have the geldings out if possible.

Posted on Thursday, May 9, 2002 - 6:49 am:

I agree with your husband, if you found the horses hard to control under "any" circumstance there is room for improvement on ground manners and a chain over the nose a great correction device.

I suspect given time that your gelding and mare would adapt to their new neighbor without the daily histrionics however your concerns about them getting closer together are possible. You might want to check out the high tensile fence to be sure it is well built and high enough and, assuming it is, I admit more concern that your mare might make it out of the tape. I have seen 2000 lb bulls challenge well made high tensile fences without success.
DrO

Posted on Thursday, May 9, 2002 - 8:31 am:

Thank you both.

The neighbor's fence is probably not a "safe" high tensile. T-posts and two strands (not the kind a horse would "bounce" off ). This is in a river bottom which floods every 5 to 10 years, so permanent fencing is not an option.

We did use a chain on the mare (and then a bridle with a snaffle). We plan on refreshing her ground training and getting her to pay attention to us.

We will probably keep an eye on the pasture and rotate ours down when the stallion is rotated out.

Thanks again
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