Lou,
It sounds like your QH is trying to warn off the new addition from his mare. The idea of putting "Beat" in the round pen
while the other two graze is a VERY good one.
The next thing to try would be to turn the two geldings out together and keep the mare in the round pen for a week. This
will show you how the boys will interact together without ANYONE worrying about what the mare is doing.
I advocate that horses should be allowed to be horses as much as possible. SO....As long as their shared pasture is at
least 2+ acres(.5-.75 acres for each horse) with no corners that are less than 90 degrees... Let the boys get used to
each other. Let them each see the other’s strengths and weaknesses. Then introduce the mare. Just make sure you can
keep an eye or ear on them and you keep a lunge whip handy the first week the mare is introduced.
The main danger is the new horse getting pinned in a corner or along a fence. This is the ONLY time you should interfere.
There may be rearing, kicking and biting and hopefully they will settle into nothing more than "play fighting" like normal
gelding herds.
Should there be problems between "Beat" and the QH you will then have to either change horses or create two pastures. One
for the QH and Arab and the other for "Beat". The other option is to do what many boarding stables do: Separate the mare from
the geldings. With your situation this would require a VERY sturdy fence between the two pastures though and possibly a second
mare.
The reasoning is this... you have created a "stallion" and boss mare herd or in human terms a husband and wife relationship.
Introducing a third male or female into a marriage is tricky business. :-) ESPECIALLY since in the horse society it is perfectly
acceptable that the new person is attacked and driven away or the original is set aside... the marriage doesn’t break
up politely and the three live as friends. :-)
Normally, an initial truce will happen and one of the boys will "get" the mare and the other will have to keep it’s
distance. Eventually the distance will lessen and the herd is formed.
The best case scenario happens about 30%-50% of the time. This scenario is that the boys become buddies without
the mare and then when the mare comes in there is an immediate settled herd.
This is my best recommendation and things to be prepared for. I hope it helps.
Thank you for the Question!
Ann Smith
