Horse people - Advice needed!!

[Lorije1]

Ok.. so I have posted previously about my 28yr old mare, Skye, and her heaves. She is still coughing and still not sweating so we have increased her "VentiPulmin" for her heaves and she has a few more days for the 1AC to work for her not sweating.
I have also posted pics of Buddy, my new foster yearling. He is fresh cut - gelded about a month ago.

They have been in seperate fields seperated by about an acre... they could see, hear and smell each other. The last couple of days I have turned Buddy into the main pasture so only a field fence seperated them. I wanted to do that until the weekend when I am off work, but we are expecting bad weather tonight / tomorrow (tropical depression) and Skye doesn't have any shelter access where she is at, so the time line has been accelerated.

My options:
Leave Buddy in his small pen, let Skye into the main pasture. The problem - the only thing seperating them would be a barn gate in the aisle. Our barn was originally a cattle barn so it has a low ceiling. If Skye rears, she hits it.. though I like to think she has enough sense to not do that.

or

Turn them both into the main pasture, leave both gates to Buddy's pen open (so no traps are created) and just let them go.

THE PROBLEM wiht all of this? My old hussy 28yr old mare has gone "cougar" on me and is in full blown heat. I figure this is either the best time ever to turn them out together (she is in 'love') or the worst.

What is your opinion ?

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Absolutely not. Don't let them in together!

Colts can impregnate a mare anywhere from 8 months onward. Freshly gelded colts can still impregnate a mare because of a "store" of sperm in a reservoir in/near the vas defrens. I forget the name...

 

[itsachicken]

How are they acting towards each other across the fence? Are they tearing down everything to get together?

 

[greeneggsandham]

RoPo is right. That little guy could very well breed your mare and not saying she couldn't take or he might by some chance not have any swimmers, but I wouldn't take the chance right now. Plus either one of them could be hurt if he did try and breed her.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Is there any way you can set up a temporary shelter like a car port or something? I know you can rent them for fairly cheap and I've seen many people use them in all different kinds of weather.

Are there any trees in your pasture? If all else fails, I would say leave the young gelding out in the pasture without shelter. Horses are pretty tough and he should be able to handle the rain and wind. In fact, our horses prefer to stay out of the barn when the weather is nasty. Then I would switch your older mare to the pasture with the shelter. I would be worried, as two posters mentioned previously, that the gelding might still breed the mare, or at least stress her out trying to do so.

A little bit of bad weather will not kill a horse and bothers them less than it bothers us! Most of the time our horses will just turn their backs to the wind and fall asleep, even in the pouring rain! The only time we stall our guys is during ice or very bad winter weather.

 

[Lorije1]

Thanks for your replies. I put Buddy back in his pen before I left, and if it gets bad my dad will let Skye into the main pasture so she can go to the barn.
I have left her out just during rain because she has 2 huge, old pecan trees she can get under if she wants to, but she usually grazes in it because it is so much cooler. But after Saturday's storm - where lightning struck my trailer, my neighbors water wheelhouse, and a transformer about a 1/2 mile up the road, I am afraid to leave her out in a thunder storm. This way she can at least get in the barn.
Buddy's pen has a monstrous old Mulberry tree, but again the issue with lightning.

They have been fine through the fence, for the most part - as in , not tearing it down or anything. If she puts her head over the fence Buddy "makes out" and nibbles her neck etc and then he starts getting.... excited.... but otherwise he just watches her like she has lost her mind and will wander away occasionally to graze. I am hoping and praying that the weather holds until tomorrow - then I will rig up a 2nd gate in the barn so there is nowhere that they can actually reach over to each other.

I will for sure keep them seperated though because I SURE don't need her getting bred!

ETA - the carports don't hold up well here (Florida) during rough weather. This storm is expected to have 25mph winds and 45mph gusts and the one we had Saturday was jsut a summer storm - it blew a 14ft aluminum john boat about 25ft to rest against a fence.
I dont' have one anyway LOL

 

[Knight Hawk Ranch]

I just had a 3 year old gelded back in May. Vet told me to keep him away from mares for 6 weeks.
After that, I put him in with the mare (NOT in heat) just so she would stomp him for getting fresh.
He now goes out with her regular and ignores her other than usual play stuff.

 

[Lorije1]

looks like I have been granted a bit of a reprieve.... the tropical depression is falling apart so we will be getting mostly rain, and mostly tomorrow. So I will work on the barn after work tonight or first thing in the morning. I also have to put in a fence post as Buddy pushed over a section of field fence (it wouldn't have taken much, I went too far between fence posts and the fence was sagging).

Hopefully Skye should be over her heat by the time I am off again and I will turn them out together. She never go worked up over my old gelding I had wiht her for years - maybe because they knew each other?