My gelding is biting my mare

by kim green
(willow spring)

I bought two horses and I'm boarding them in the same pasture and when my mare gets close to my gelding he bites her and runs her off, what do I do to stop him from doing this?





Hi Kim,

How long have you owned these horses then? I can assume that these two horses didn't come from the same place so they are strangers to each other? How were they introduced to each other and how long have they been together now?

The reality is there is nothing we can (nor should we) do to stop horses from discovering for themselves how the herd's pecking order will be established. What you are seeing is completely natural to horses they are simply trying to determine who is the strongest to lead the herd even if it is only a herd of two. It is a necessity for their safety concerns.

Providing these two horses have had a reasonably natural upbringing meaning they have been with other horses long enough to learn how the social aspects of a herd are developed they will figure this out amongst themselves. Given enough time which is much longer than we think (I have noticed that true harmony in a herd can take a few months) the challenges amongst them slowly diminish. As long as this mare has lots of space to get away from the geldings challenges they will work this out. If the gelding is dangerously aggressive then you would want to remove him and start over by introducing slowly. I have discussed that on this page called Introducing a new horse to an overprotective dominant mare.

Elaine Polny