My husband and I are new to caring for horses. We have a gelding and a mare. We built a shelter for them, but the mare seems to dominate the shelter.

What can we do?

Nancy

Are you sure that you've created enough space for each horse? I have a mare and a gelding with a shelter in our back field that is 20 feet long. They seem to do OK with this.

Most mares do try to be dominate. Especialy over food. Your horses can be seriouly hurt during feeding time if they are in the same shelter, and one will always get less feed. You might think about giving them their own shelter when not turned out. Feed them apart. They might get along later on but they need theier own space when feeding if they dont.

Yep, mares are always going to rule the geldings, it's just nature. Especially if you have an alpha type mare. Even a stallion would be dominated by a mare unless it's breeding season, and they still tell him when and where,lol. I would definitely at least feed them separately, that way they both get their portion. Is the shelter big enough to put a divider in? that might help a lot too.

If it's big enough you can put up a divider wall, so each can have their own space.
Make sure it is tough enough to withstand kicking. You don't want them to put s foot through it. I used 2 sheets of 3/4 inch plywood framed by 2" channel steel in my stalls.
This way they can kick and it has some give to protect their hocks but they can't kick through it.

Here is a picture of my stall wall. The horses are blurry, but the wall looks okay.
I used 2" square tubing framed to size, then 2" channel on the inside of that. Then just dropped in the plywood. I had to stagger the seams because my stalls are 14' deep.
I added bars also but you shouldn't need that. I prefer a solid wall in close quaters so they don't get any limbs or their head through it.

Just a thought

The divider might work - but if the mare can choose where to go you have to make sure that the gelding cannot get trapped. Each section should have two open sides, so the gelding can get away.

Enough room is the main part. You could also try to feed outside on different sides of the shelter. That way the gelding can get out of the way.

As mentioned, it is totally natural. My lead mare will go from pile to pile - and everybody else just gets out of the way - especially the stud.