My horse is a picky eater
We asked horse training expert Dr. Ron Meredith.
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Question
I have an eight-yer-old old morgan gelding who is 900 pounds and acts with pure love with me. However when I’ve turned him out with my neighbor’s nine -year -old morgan gelding, they immediately begin to posture, draw their ears back and nip at each other. I know horses have to establish a pecking order, but we are afraid one of them will get seriously injured. Any suggestions?

Answer
A few points to make on this subject:

Not all geldings are geldings. If a horse was mature and had practiced breeding behaviors before he was castrated, he would be what we used to call a stag. Stags do tend to be more stallion like in their behavior with other horses.
A good place to allow them to discuss their differences would be as “neighbors” in the barn.
When/if you decide it is safe to turn them out together remove the shoes first. I have seen horse buddies play together and I have seen horse enemies take the whole matter too seriously. You will have to decide how far you wish to take this.

Ron Meredith
Copyright © 2001 Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre