Pet Information > ASK Experts > Horses > Horses Behavior > 7yr old, recently gelded - Rick Gore Horsemanship

7yr old, recently gelded - Rick Gore Horsemanship

20 17:20:29

Question
I am doing something wrong in my attempts to reintroduce Moon to the entire herd.  He is just fine if there are only mares and foals but if I try to put my two 3 yr old geldings in with the whole herd Moon gets very aggressive.  I told myself that they must learn to stay away from him till he accepted them but after 18 days he still would not tolerate them within 200 feet and one of the youngsters came up lame and was having trouble getting away from him.  Should I have just let them be and will they start all over again if I try again?  Am I just trying to get the whole herd together too early?  Moon was gelded October 1st.  There are 3 older mares with this years foals at their side, (2 stud colts and 1 filly), 3 other mares, ages 6,5,&3, and the 2 geldings mentioned above in my herd.  Moon is the father of all the colts and fillies.  
I will gladly accept any advice or criticism.  I do my own training but always try to listen and learn.

Answer
Hard to say for sure, he still thinks he is a stud so he still has his these are my mare attitude and his natural drive is to push the other males out of the herd. It may be your pasture is too small if  they are getting pushed they are not learning to stay away or do not have enough room to give enough space to head horse.

I might lock up the high horse with another gelding so they can herd up and not compete over mares, that way they will have less drive to fight, then add another gelding and make a bachelor herd with no mares, then the geldings will learn to be a herd and work out issues and then put them all with the mares that way the lessons will easier and the high horse will know he is still boss and may not have to show it so much.

I would definitely remove the high horse from mares so he learns how to lead and behave without the extra drive of defending his mares and then work  from there.

Could be other things like your feeding habits or pasture design or size but that is a SWAG suggestion.  (swag = simple wild az guess).  No way to give an answer without seeing or all the facts.