Hudsons Bolt

I was just wondering, would it be a bad idea to own more than one horse?

Just the reason for asking this is because wouldn't having one horse mean that he/she have no one to communicate with? Or could they just end up fighting and hate each other?

cherokeemyluv

Every horse is an individual so it would depend on the actual horse(s) you owned. I've known horses who were depressed without a companion (be it equine or a goat or cow) and others who were more than happy to be by themselves unless their owners were there. Sometimes horses don't get along and no amount of training will undo that, sometimes a horse will get along with anyone you put in the same pasture. It depends on their personality and early training and socialization. If you only have one horse thats not in a barn with others you just have to make sure to give it enough attention to not get lonely. Dogs are pack animals also and they can live happily as the only dog with their humans. Horses are no different. You just have to be the rest of the "pack" or "herd" for them.

Hudsons Bolt

It's just that this'll be my first horse and I was just concern sort of thing and I'm the same way - or lets just say that the majority of human nature is like that. Majority of us like to talk to people (I can't speak for everyone...)

Bucker

There are two horses on my farm, one is mine, and one is my wife. My horses name is Bucker, and hers is Lady They are almost inseparable, like me and my wife. We ride together all the time.

alexis

I think as long as you have the room, the finances, and the time to tend to them, more than one is fine. I would not like it being a horse and being the only one like me around, think about it, it could get really boring. Unless of course you have an anti-social horse, then I guess its okay.

Right now my Aunt has 1 mini horse, but the horse does have company. 1 lab dog about 2 years old, and 2 mini goats. They are also thinking about getting a mule.

crazyhorse

We have two horses in our farm. Sometimes they get along, sometimes they just want to be on their own. But as of the moment we really don't have any problems having 2 horses. We just hope they won't get sick at the same time. Caring for a sick horse is very hard for they are so much sensitive to touching and hard to feed.

Willow

I strongly believe, keeping a healthy horse w/o psychological/social problems alone, is close to cruelty. A horse is a herd animal, we humans cannot replace another horse, no matter how good we understand "horse-language". Since the time I lead the "trigeminal neuralgia board" alias "Headshaking" for horse owners, I'm even more aware of it. Lots of illnesses and disorders are caused by keeping a single horse, because it causes too much stress, which leads to disorders.
As a stallion owner I had to deal with this problem again. If Sandavi wouldn't have been able to integrate in the small herd of geldings, I would have castrated him that he can lead a "normal" life. I'm glad it worked out just fine after a few scratches and swollen legs from kicking and biting in the first days

Replacing a second horse by a goat or other animal is still better than keeping it alone, they learn to "understand" each other body signs and behavior like cats and dogs do.

lovethemall

I tend to agree with Willow. I'm not sure I could handle being the owner of just one horse, I would feel like that horse is missing out on things I can not provide or do for her/him, but another horse could. We can do our best to imitate certain things, but a human defiantly can not replace a horse. Plus I think it would be sad for the horse, even if there are no other horses around, they still need some type of company.