If you can, keeping the weanling in a place where you can work with him for at least a week (2-3 would be better), would be a good idea - you can get him used to the idea that people are purveyers of good things, and teach him a few ground manners such as getting his feet picked up and being groomed, along with standing still when held and maybe even tieing up. Getting him to come when called, or at least stand still when being approached, would be good too. And having him halter broke and trailer broke would be excellent.

If you absolutely can't do that, then I hope your gelding is good about coming and being caught, as trying to catch an unwilling horse in 100 acres is a REAL pain!!! Especially a youngster who will think you are playing games with him! Leaving a 6-8 in. length of rope off the halter will help, in giving you a handle to grab, although do NOT try to hold him by it if he tries to leave - you wouldn't succeed, and he would learn he doesn't have to be caught if he really doesn't want. If you just let go, and have the longer lead ready to snap on as you use the short length to steady the halter, then he doesn't learn any not-so-smart ideas.

If you can set up a small pen, either using round-pen panels or a wood fence, that you can securely close up, and feed him and the gelding in it so he traps himself, then you can work with him in that at the pasture, without walking a marathon while you try to catch him. And feeding him every day, or every day you work with him, will both make him easier to catch, and give him the idea that being caught is a GOOD thing.

Since you asked about putting the 2 horses together, I assume that the gelding is OK with other horses. Also, if the weanling has been with other mares and foals or only with his mom makes a difference. If he's been with other horses, he should have the social skills to meet another horse. If the gelding also has them, then they should be fine - the weanling should give them and most older horses will respect them - mouthing, being babyish, etc. If he's a pushy colt, then the gelding may give him a few sharp lessons, but if the colt IS pushy, he NEEDS to learn them. Since the pasture is so big, the colt can probably move away if he needs to. If the colt has only met his mom, things should still be OK, if the gelding has good social skills. A lot of "baby" behavior is innate, and most adult horses, mare or gelding, respect it.

Having the initial intro over the gate, gelding in and colt outside, is probably good, just make sure no-one, human or equine can get hurt, and if the colt's not pretty well halter broke, forget it, as holding him could lead to a major mess up and if he gets loose with a rope trailing, there could be a truly major trainwreck! Just turn the colt out, while someone holds the gelding, and then turn them both loose after the colt has run around a bit. Turning the colt out in the pasture and having the gelding on the outside of the gate might work for the initial intro, if you can't hold the colt securely, and you want the intro to be a bit slower.

You make no mention of gelding the colt, and I assume you will be doing so at some point. If you can have him reasonably groundbroke at that time, it would be good, so he doesn't associate people only with bad things happening, and if there IS any problem, you can catch him and deal with it. If you aren't going to geld him, I hope only because he has wonderful bloodlines or some other valid reason, all the more reason to get him REALLY well ground-broke, with really good manners. Next spring, when the hormones start circulating is NOT a good time to teach him to respect people.

Enough, and probably more info than you wanted! Good luck!

I would probably be equally concerned about teaching him where the fenceline is so he doesn't end up running through it. 100 acres? That's a ranch, not a pasture. I wouldn't want to be chasing a horse on 100 acres.

Is there any way you could use some portable fencing panels to make a corral, so you could handle him every day for awhile?

I'd worry about turning him out with a halter on. He could catch it on something or hook a leg in it.

Carol's right, and I weighed that in to my considerations and advice. But, thinking about having an almost unhandled weanling out in 100 acres without a halter was truly not a pleasant scenario. I am assuming that aneokly will keep an eye on the fit of the halter, and that she will have a breakaway one on him in the first place, minimising the risks. And that she will leave the halter on him only until the colt is comfortable with being caught and haltered. Turning horses out with halters is something people have been doing for years, mostly with minimal to no problems, but the potential for major problems is there; you have to balance risk against risk - can you catch him and hold him, until he learns well how to be caught, or do you worry about him getting hurt, when you CAN'T catch him to deal with it? I opted to advise to turn him out with a halter on....

Good point, dibbit. Catching him without a halter could be difficult, especially on 100 acres!

I always see horses turned out with halters on, and they seem perfectly safe. I'm probably being overly cautious, I tend to be that way.

Please dont let your youngster run with a halter on - keep in mind its like dealing with a three year old in a thousand pound boby - If he should get stuck and he will - it could hinder your future attempts to train him - Id rather deal with a wild adult than a frightened one - If you get the break aways - Youll be buying them constantly - If you older guy comes to you - even if it means you holding a feed bucket then more than likely so will your little guy - Be kind loving and understanding - I hope you have the ability to SPEAK and understand your babies - good luck

Just wanted to post a follow up to my original message. I put some portable panels and kept him inside for the past two weeks. I worked with him every day and he is doing wonderfully. I ran into some bad luck over the weekend when the temperature dropped to -13 with -35 wind chill. The automatic waterer quit working and I had to bucket water and pitch hay off a bale. The guy where I keep the horses was out of town and didn't help me out before he left. Anyway, it actually turned out good since I fed and watered both horses in the same area. I turned the baby out with the big guy today and everything is going okay. Neither one of them ran or acted up at all. They have been spending a lot of time together and I think they were both glad to finally be interacting with each other. I did not put a halter on the baby and they will have all day to walk around the pasture. I plan on feeding them in the same place everyday and don't anticipate any problems with catching either one. Of course that doesn't mean that there won't be any. Both of my guys have been alone for about a month and I think they will both enjoy each others company. The pasture where they are has 3 different pastures that can be closed down to smaller ones and that is my plan if I run into problems catching either one. With the temperatures being as cold as they are I know they will be coming up for food every day and that will give me a chance to interact with the baby. Not sure when I will geld him but I know it will not be until spring.
I will update you as we progress on this journey, I want to thank everyone for their advice and suggestions. I appreciate each and every one of them!

You have it in hand I am looking forward to your updates. Glad you took the halter off, my dh had been a horseshoer for 25 years and we saw too many haltered pasture horses run into problems.

Sounds like it all went well.

On the subject of haltered horses, I stand by what I said earlier - for a short time, and for a specific reason, weigh the risks and decide. For a hard-to-catch horse, a breakaway halter is much the lesser of two evils. In general, I agree that halters and turn-out do NOT go together.

Aneokly, it appears that your gelding is quite catchable, and your work with the colt has made him much more amenable to handling and people in general. Please do keep us updated. And I do hope your winter isn't as long and nasty as it seems to be starting out to be!!!! The up-side, as you said, is that both horses will be very glad to come and be fed!!!

Sounds like this really worked out well. I have had young horses before that had not been handled, which I turned out on 7 acres of pasture, and just having them come up for dinner everyday was the ticket. And, they always came for dinner. I didn't halter them either. Maybe it took them a little longer but they were well adjusted and well balanced horses. However, I am not sure I would have done that on 100 acres. I am glad that you can divide the 100 acres into smaller areas. 30 acres still sounds like a lot to have to chase a horse on, but, like some of us have said, there is always the call of dinner.

By the way, one other thought. I gelded my horses when it was cool, not necessarily cold, so that I didn't have to deal with the flies.

Update: I have been going out everyday to feed and things are going great! They haven't left the smaller pasture yet and are waiting for me when I get there. I have caught the baby every time I am out there and he is doing so good. My older gelding is usually not to hard to catch but has been acting standoffish towards me which I assume has to do with me putting a baby in the pasture with him. I'm sure things will get better after they are together for a month or so. The little guy doesn't have any battle scars so things must be going okay.
I don't think I will get a breakaway halter for the colt, he has been easy to catch so far and it would just be something else to worry about.
I talked to my vet and he said that Jan-Feb is a good time to geld a horse so if there is a semi-warm spell I plan on doing it then.
Has anybody heard of spraying Pam oil spray on the bottom of horses feet to keep the snow from building up? I heard that the other day and was wondering if anybody has tried it. Can you post pictures here? I have some pictures I took over the weekend and thought if I could share them I would. Hope everybody is staying warm!

If horses are barefoot, with well trimmed feet, not too long nor too short, then mostly the balled-up snow will fall out. The PAM does work, but only for a short time - for 24/7 turnout, it isn't worth it. Unless you get a spell of warmish weather, with very soggy snow that can pack down into the hoof and then freeze, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Although the colt will be more playful than the gelding, if they aren't over fed, and he gets to move around pretty well, as well as "work" to keep himself warm, the colt is the only one to worry about slipping on a "high-heel" hoof of snow (the gelding should know all about snow by now!), and I wouldn't worry too much. If the above conditions happen, then you had better have taught him to stand to have his feet picked up and fooled with, as well as teaching him to tie, as wrestling frozen lumps of snow out of hooves can be a job that is neither quick nor easy!!!

I hope your spoiling your gelding a little to make up for the attention the new youngster is getting! If he were mine, I'd be sure he got fed first, treats first, etc. so he doesn't feel like a second fiddle. JMHO.