mares and geldings compatibility

Question
We had gotten a mare from our sister in law in MN. The horse grew up the the last 10 years of it's life in the woods of their back yard and last fall we brought her to ND. She is hard to get a halter on, once removed,hard to get the bit in and when she goes out she is gun shy about everything, even though she was used to fourwheelers running past the corrals and lots of loud noises. Now that she moved to ND we are pretty quite and we have a lot less actiivity going on then she used to. Our landlord had a bull in the corral next to hers and he was in heat and the bull across the pasture would bellow back and forth with this bull and now our horse is totally different. She is even more gun shy and starts to shake when we get on to ride. The bull seemed to mess her up and make her more chicken. Then we decided to get our horse a buddy so we got a 4 year old gelding and have had him home for a week and when we went out to ride him he tried to buck and he always want to hang with our mare. The thing is our mare is in heat and we are thinking that she is causing him to have bad habits and we are wondering can this happen. Because the 4 year old is suppose to be gentle and sound and since he's been hanging around her, he has picked up bad habits in just a week. Is she the cause of the problem? Do you think that she is worth keeping or would we be better off getting rid of the mare that is causing all the caos. How far can a horse push your buttons, before you decide to either sell him or keep him. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. Me and my husband are beginner riders and the mare is green broke and with all the little quirks she has, is she able to be fixed if we were able to take her to the trainer or is she a lost cause. The gelding we bought because the guy said he was gentle and level headed/ Like I said with this one week being around our mare he is back firing and not impressing us. Please try and help answer some of our questions!!

Answer
Hello Adrienne,

Thanks for your  question. The mare being in heat should not effect the gelding at all. He may be acting out due to the new surroundings and he is still getting used to his new owners and testing to see what all he can get away with. The gelding is still fairly young and will still be "playful". If you like the mare I would suggest working one on one with her under a confident horseman or trainer. It sounds like she would go far with some ground work training to get her over her fear and spookiness. A green horse is a lot for a beginner rider to take on if I may I would also suggest joining a riding stable and take point in lessons so you can get a better feel on what to do when things go south of the hayfield. I hope this has helped you out if you have any other questions please feel free to ask.

Thanks and please keep me posted on how things are going.