horses better alone?

[jvicars]

i know horses are herd animals and enjoy a mate. however are they better for our use if alone? my horses are for cows and that is their job. i could get by with one. would i be better off with one horse to get more out of her. thanks.

 

[jwhisperj]

Personally I think that horses are heard animals end of story. Would you work better for your boss if he decided that you would get more work done if you weren't aloud to see other humans?

I feel that if your horse was alone when you took him somewhere to work cattle he would just be more interested in the other horses than he would be with the cows.
Just my opinion though, it really depends on your budget and what you want.

 

[branDcalf]

I think they prefer being in a large pasture with other horses. I also think they prefer no riding.

But, there seem to be a whole bunch of horses that have okay lives living by themself. Is yours giving you problems, or anything?

 

[msscamp]

i know horses are herd animals and enjoy a mate. however are they better for our use if alone? my horses are for cows and that is their job. i could get by with one. would i be better off with one horse to get more out of her. thanks.

I don't see how having one horse alone, or two(or more, for that matter) together is going to make a whole lot of difference as far as working cows goes. While it is true that some horses can become herd bound, that is a problem that is easily handled by simply seperating them. We've had one, and we've had 10 - and the number of horses we had at any given time had no effect on their willingness to be caught, work, or give their all when asked to do something. I hope this helps.

 

[grannysoo]

I had one horse for several years and he would bond to whomever he was in the field with. My dog, my cows, my jackass, whatever.....

Didn't matter to him as long as he had some company. He and my dog had always bonded the best.

 

[jvicars]

with my dogs working well i only need one horse to push them. i have 2 and really dont want any more feed bills or grass used by horses than needed. make sense to me that they would bond with other animals. the problems i have is that if my horse sees one of her buddies from affar she is interested and wants to walk over. i end up correcting her to get her back on track. just added hassle at this pt.

 

[Miss Daisy]

how long have you had these horses

 

[msscamp]

the problems i have is that if my horse sees one of her buddies from affar she is interested and wants to walk over. i end up correcting her to get her back on track. just added hassle at this pt.

How old are these horses, and how often are they worked? Have you tried seperating your horses in different pastures, with no common fenceline? Depending on the number of cattle you have, and how often you work them horseback, it could be hard on one horse.