# Mares only?



## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

No.

Why mares only? 

Geldings are nice, and they don't have the hormonal fits that mares do.


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## My Beau (Jan 2, 2009)

Sure, it's no different than a barn who does not offer "mixed turnout". 

If it's a small barn, with only 1 or 2 fields and you don't want mixed turnout groups, then yes, it's okay to offer mare only boarding since you own one.


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## englishrider (Feb 4, 2010)

No, but at a barn I rode at they turned them out by gender. The lady pen and the men pen. But if you want to go for it!


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## Seahorseys (Nov 14, 2009)

Well I could split the pasture, but I like big grassy turnouts and I don't really want to. I don't want to do mixed, there's just too much risk from what I've heard. I guess I'm just lucky, my mare is not too bad when she's in season.


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## Honeysuga (Sep 1, 2009)

I dont see the risk of having geldings around... I can understand no stallions, but what is so wrong with geldings?


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## eventerdrew (Mar 13, 2009)

I think instead of having mares only, you just don't allow stallions. That's what most barns do. Geldings are pretty quiet most of the time and can be turned out with mares for the most part (depending on the combo of horses)


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## thunderhooves (Aug 9, 2009)

I know MARES who would beat up GELDINGS and HATED other mares. It may be safer to just allow geldings,lol.


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## qtrhrsecrazy (Aug 2, 2009)

It's your place and you do it however you want to


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## Honeysuga (Sep 1, 2009)

Agreed, BUT if you are wanting to make some money because a LOT of people have geldings, you might want to allow them as I said, What can they hurt? Completely understand about stallions though, tooo much liability!


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## starlinestables (Nov 24, 2008)

Instead of just mares, ask about the horse in general. Take less dominant or destructive ones. Also, concentrate on finding boarders that you like and be sure you get references from the current boarding facility (even if they are at odds.. get their side of the story) farrier and/or vet.

I have 22 boarders and they are all mixed... I have mares that would kill each other if put together. I try to put horses together that get along. OR instead of grouping them by gender.. horses in the same age group are likely to get along better. Young horses with young horses and old horses with old horses.


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## Honeysuga (Sep 1, 2009)

Great idea Starline!


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## kevinshorses (Aug 15, 2009)

I don't know how this myth that mares are so awfull when in season started but it is just a myth. If you allow your horse to act stupid don't blame the horses gender. I have mares turned in with geldings and I have riddeen alot of mares and I never had a problem with them rather they where in heat or not. One convienience to having an all mare barn is that they only ruin one spot in the bedding where a gelding will soil two spots. I would not hesitate to turn mares and geldings out together.


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## justsambam08 (Sep 26, 2009)

Kevin, you're signature is hilarious!

I do think its a little weird, but I have a gelding  And its your property, so you can do what you want.


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## starlinestables (Nov 24, 2008)

ROFL KEVIN! That was the only actually funny thing about that thread...


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## kevinshorses (Aug 15, 2009)

My sig line will probably be back to something more serious tommorow but I had to go with the flow tonight.


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## kmdstar (Nov 17, 2009)

kevinshorses said:


> I don't know how this myth that mares are so awfull when in season started but it is just a myth. If you allow your horse to act stupid don't blame the horses gender. I have mares turned in with geldings and I have riddeen alot of mares and I never had a problem with them rather they where in heat or not. One convienience to having an all mare barn is that they only ruin one spot in the bedding where a gelding will soil two spots. I would not hesitate to turn mares and geldings out together.


110% agree with this. I love mares, I prefer them. Geldings are kinda goofy, the ones I've met anyway! LOL

I think boarding mares only is...kind of weird? But it is your barn so obviously you can do what you want. But remember there are alot of people that believe "mares are horrible when they go in heat" blah blah blah and own geldings instead, so it might be harder to find boarders that have mares.


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## Wallaby (Jul 13, 2008)

I think that's a great idea! I've never seen it done that way before but if I had the choice between keeping Lacey somewhere where it was mares only and having mixed genders, I'd go with mares only. When there are geldings around, at all, she turns into the most ridiculous flirt when she's in heat, and it's just silly. 
She behaves perfectly fine with me, but I'd really prefer to not have to shield my eyes all the time when she's out in the pasture with geldings...if you know what I mean...

I think you'll probably have the most luck finding boarders by grouping the horses by age groups though, like Starline Stables said. =)


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## Reiterin (Mar 28, 2010)

kevinshorses said:


> I don't know how this myth that mares are so awfull when in season started but it is just a myth. If you allow your horse to act stupid don't blame the horses gender. I have mares turned in with geldings and I have riddeen alot of mares and I never had a problem with them rather they where in heat or not. One convienience to having an all mare barn is that they only ruin one spot in the bedding where a gelding will soil two spots. I would not hesitate to turn mares and geldings out together.


So true. - I don't Ever even know when my mare is in season. 

Most of the mares that I have dealt with in my life I have preferred over most of the geldings I have dealt with in my life. 

I don't see anything wrong with a mare only barn. - That said, I think it still depends on the individule horse.


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## Seahorseys (Nov 14, 2009)

The barn I board at currently separates genders. I just watch how the girls act when they are in heat and it made me wonder. People kind of seem to be prejudice to the fact that I had a mare - it wasn't difficult perse - but you could kind of tell they would rather she be a gelding, well that is, until they met her. Most of the time they'd say "sure, you can board her here, but you better be prepared to fix some boards." I think I'll try it out as an experiment, and in the future, I'm not opposed to mixing, I guess I'm uneducated about it right now. It's really just a matter of wanting my horse to have a large turnout with horses I know she'll be able to live in symbiosis with.


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## ponyboy (Jul 24, 2008)

I worked at a barn once where the owner believed in single gender turnout. There were two dominant mares that kept fighting but she refused to separate them because they were mares. *shrugs*

The way I look at it is, in the wild there are all-male herds but not all female ones.


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## heyycutter (Sep 26, 2009)

ive been to many barns that alow mixed feilds and its always worked out fine

youll always come across that mare OR gelding that simply likes no one else, but alot of them get along with either gender


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## Gillian (Aug 2, 2008)

Kinda weird, but like everyone's saying, it's your property. I'd go with all but stallions allowed and just find the right boarder with the right horse rather than just mares. You could just as easily end up having a bunch of mares fighting all day as you could have with geldings. My gelding can't be out with mares, but all the others I've had could, as well as most of the ones I worked with at my last barn. It's more about the individual than their gender.


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## flytobecat (Mar 28, 2010)

Our barn has both geldings & mares. It really just depends on the horses. Some of the geldings get along with mares & vice versa. If you stall 2 dominant mares beside each other, you get problems too.


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## Honeysuga (Sep 1, 2009)

I agree with Kevin on the mare prejudice, just *complete hooey*. It stemms from ignorance and manifests like the plague.

If you train your horse to be respectful regardless the season, it will behave itself. And even if you did get the rare witchy heat spelled mare, they are only geldings, the worst that will happen is she is given a little male attention and calms down... Or you could keep track of her cycle and just keep her segregated maybe with another mare when she gets bad...

Really he only drawback to having mixed genders is...well..none. The drawbacks to having only mares, less clientele+ less money+less choosey you can afford to be about your boarders.

Here, hope this helps you: Equine Legal Solutions - Running A Boarding Business - What You Need To Know


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## Seahorseys (Nov 14, 2009)

Thanks alot. Right now she gets turned out with three other mares, but your right, it is the perfect mix. You have the old, tired, fat mare, the slightly stupid but easy going mare, then you have my mare, who's technically second in command, somewhat bossy but seemingly fair, and then the lead mare, who's just kind of a b**ch, but she keeps every one in line.

Not that you can tell who's who, but here they are:


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## mls (Nov 28, 2006)

Honeysuga said:


> Agreed, BUT if you are wanting to make some money because a LOT of people have geldings, you might want to allow them as I said, What can they hurt? Completely understand about stallions though, tooo much liability!


Yes but a lot of people also have mares. I have 30+ horses on the place. Only 6 are geldings.

As was previously mentioned - some mares do beat up on geldings. As well as some geldings mount mares in heat.

It's the OP's property and she can do as she pleases. I have a friend who will only take geldings. It does happen.


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## RoadRider / Rios Dad (Jul 2, 2009)

We never mixed mares and gelding together so if you have a mare and only want 1 field then stick to mares.


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