Mare or gelding

[farleyv]

To all the TCS'ers out there who are horse people.

OK, Lizzy is a QH mare as you know. The man where we are going to board is leary of us getting a mare. You know, the whole "cycle" thing.

I have ridden geldings mostly, but rode one mare, Cindy, who I absolutely loved and as far as I can remember, never gave me a lick of trouble.
DH had both mares and geldings and a couple stallions. Never one mare gave him a prob.

I am on a horses site now. I posed the question and got lots of replys. Pretty much even between the two.

On a scale of 1-10 (10 being "hot") Lizzy is prob a 2. We will go over this with her owner, but just wanted some feed back from you guys.

That horse forum is great. Very active too.

Thanks for reading!

 

[sk_pacer]

I personally prefer geldings, fewer problems with the squealing, squatting and other oddities that go along with heat cycles; heck, an entire can be nicer than a mare but that is another story. If she is really marish, you can give Regumate to stop it, standard proceedure for many competition horses.

Which forum did you join? I am at quite a few of them.

 

[farleyv]

I joined www.horseforum.com.

They seem to be quite active. I got many answers in a short amount of time.

I am Farleyv there too.

 

[sk_pacer]

That's one I sometimes read but never bothered to join for some reason. probably because there is no racing part

 

[jennyr]

I personally prefer geldings on the whole. Mares can be moody and unpredictable and I have usually managed to build a better relationship with geldings. But as with cats, there are so many factors to take into account, and I suspect you will know as soon as you find the right horse, whatever it is.

 

[orangeishcat]

Billy

was a QH gelding and he was wonderful. We also had a Foxtrot gelding who was the sweetest, dumbest horse in existence.

I only rode those two- we did have a Tennessee Walker mare that we rescued from an abusive situation and I rode her a couple times, but I couldn't tell you if her gate was more from what kind of horse she was to her gender.

 

[sk_pacer]

orangeishcat - Gait, particularly in TWH is bloodline dependant, meaning some likes are more gaited for pleasure and work riding and some are more show gaited. I've ridden mostly gaited horse: TWH, Standardbred (yes, they can be ridden, and pacing bred horses can be trained to rack as well as do a running walk).and once to my delight, a Peruvian Paso - delightfully smooth to ride and the one I rode was a firey little horse and beautifully trained and a slight movement of a foot, leg or a shift in weight would change speeds, direction and stop him, no need for a bridle on that boy.

 

[klusner]

Mare never creates problem because we may say gentle in behavior but the geldings are more powerful and you may get more services.Basically they are for war and tough jobs.

 

[farleyv]

We did pass on Lizzie....for reasons other than her being a mare. She did not neck rein and had a turned out front foot. Lovely girl though.

We now have Big Al who we think is TB/Quarter horse cross. Wonderful, steady boy.

He is a "been there...done that" horse. Solid as a rock.

 

[EnzoLeya]

I know I'm a bit late, but we have had nothing but mares, 7 on our farm in total. I suppose I'm used to their heat cycles and them being a bit witchy during those times, but it's nothing you can't deal with. You usually just have to be a bit more demanding during their heat cycle or they won't do what you want. Geldings can be just as temperamental though, I've rode plenty of geldings that could have fooled me.

 

[farleyv]

I used to ride a mare when I was about 16. She was a joy.

But I have ridden more geldings now, and my horse when I was a teen was a gelding.

I would have bought a mare if she had been like Big Al is. He just happened to come along first. But I know there are great mares out there. I ride with a gal at the barn who has a mare. She is bomb proof as well. Uh, except the other day when she thought a white tarp was going to eat her!!

 

[resqchick]

I'd go with a gelding for a more predictable temperament. I haven't had huge problems with mares, but they can get a little "funny" like I do once a month, if ya know what I mean.

My boy, Cider, is even steven all the time.

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[farleyv]

Yea, we went with a gelding. He has a mare next to him who either loves him or detests him everyother day!

And he is the same guy day after day.

Then there is a mare down the barn a bit who you'd swear is a gelding. Go figure.

But I don't regret our decision to go with him at all.

Oh, Cider is a steady looking boy. No surprises with him I bet!

 

[sk_pacer]

Originally Posted by MartinJames

Friends i have the mare horses but i do not have experience of geldings.So please let me know the experience of that person who has both.I want to know that who can resist more and have more strength.

That depends more on the individual animal than the fact it is a mare, gelding or an entire (stallion). Having worked with everything, I have seen all tough, sturdy horses and some weak willed and no desire to do much. On the whole, geldings are more consistant in temperament, behaviour and performance than mares or entires. Many of the fastest racehorses are entires, although there are some very speedy (and consistantly so) geldings and mares.

Not sure what you mean by resist.....are you talking about hard to train? If so, it is again an individual thing.

 

[feralvr]

I am really late in posting On this thread only because I just saw it tonight. I have been in horses my whole life and have owned horses and trained horses for over twenty five years. I do prefer geldings. But having said that, when you do find a good even tempered mare, you have struck gold. They will go way above and beyond for their owners and I have known only three mares like that. You can have a very special deep bond with a good mare. But I do know that some smaller private barn owners do not want mares because they can cause damage to stalls and paddocks if they are moody when in season.

 

[farleyv]

Our BO is one such person. He really pushed we get a gelding. There are a few mares at the barn, most are pretty docile. But one is an example of why we decided to get a gelding!