6 month old colt turned out with a herd?

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rachelandcassie

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A 6 month old colt has been introduced into a herd including my own very tarty mare.
He's as tall as she is and I wasn't told that a young colt would be joining the herd.
Is there any reason to worry or am I just being daft?
I know they're capable before 2 years old but what about a 6 month old?

Thanks for reading.x
 
Hit the roof! Not all colts are randy little *****s at 6 months - and few would be capable of actually covering a mare - but most will try! I have a group of 5 mares - all with colts at foot aged 5-6 months - and 2 of them are already trying to bounce onto mares. The mares are all in foal again so they tell the colts where to go - and it's a stable group so no real harm done. BUT - a 6 month old colt being put in with a strange herd?? Chances are he WILL harrass mares - and chances are HE will be hurt when one of them tells him to ******* off in no uncertain terms!

Can he get one in foal? Probably not for a month or two - the YOUNGEST I've heard of one getting a mare in foal was 8 months!
 
Thanks for your reply. The owner is a teenage girl and I've had someone tell me he's just over 1 year old and she says 6 months..
I'm very angry as I wasn't told there would be a young one going in with the mares.
He does seem a sweet boy but he's very confident with people and the herd.
I'm worried as he's tall enough to easily 'go for a ride' and she's too soft to tell him where to go, she's a timid little lady. I'm gonna move fields in the morning!
 
And what sort of yard manager allows this situation to take place?? You are right to be concerned, this is a similar situation that happened on a yard some years back. The result
Lucia

breed Welsh Part Bred
color Chestnut
sex female
height 160 cm ~ 15.3 hands
date of birth 24 DEC 1989
land of birth UK United Kingdom
land of standing
owner

sire unknown colt not a planned breeding

So not a good move!
 
Owners of rigs or colts will come up with any story, and YO may have to take a firm stance, you should be aware that he can jump fences to get to a mare, so really you need to make it clear you do not want a foal and related costs not to mention loss of use and other problems.
 
The youngest successful accidental covering I know, the colt was 10 months! Even if he is only 6 months now, he'd be well on his way by spring and if he's any older could be fertile now. Even leaving that aside, he's likely to cause trouble.

Have you asked the YM what the thinking is? If you have the option of moving fields, it's probably a good idea. But, as above, if there is no plan to cut him even being in another field might not keep you out of trouble in the spring. There's a good reason most public yards don't allow colts/stallions, at least not without very careful controls.
 
this is very very stupid, he will 99.0% get hurt at some point. most horses are not furtile until yearlings but it has been known for them to be furtile younger. when i turn my yearling colts out i put them with an old mare i have got, she isn`t furtile, i do this so they have some respect for older horses when moved into a heard when gelded. if i was you i would be asking to move fields or bring your mare in because if your mare kicks the colt and breaks its leg or causes any damage they can hold u reliable because u knew the colt was in there and did nothing about it, u need to do something asap before anything serious happens. :)
 
That's a fairly crazy thing for any YO to do. It will cause a lot of scrapping in the field, mares being chased by randy colt = injuries. I cannot think what YO was thinking of. He will be a complete nuisance, through no fault of his own, and there is a good chance he will be able to get mares in foal.
 
Yes I agree too, he will hassle and upset the mares at least and he could well be "practising" on the quieter mares which can cause infection.
If you haven't moved her yet I would write a letter to the YO saying that you will not be held responcible if someone gets hurt.
 
I would be fuming too!!! Tell the YO that you and all the other mare owners in that herd will be getting the vet out to jab all the mares as they could potentially be in foal and you will send the bill to them if they were the one who put the colt in in the first place - if not send it to the colt owner - money usually makes people think!!
Also ask the colt owner is he well insured as if he gets injured badly enough, which is highly likley, then she needs loss of use cover as he may end up being a very expensive pasture pet for the rest of his life - see if that puts the frighteners on the dumb idiot!!!!:(
 
I keep my 6 month olds with nanny mares over the winter, colts and fillies together. However these are MY foals and MY nanny mares and my foals are in view of me at all times so if I ever saw one of the colts showing any signs of impending hanky panky then there would be changes made. I've never had a 6 month old show anything other than being a baby however my foals are brought up with a fairly tough herd of mares so they tend to know their place. The nanny mares, although very gentle, are good teachers to my foals and tend to keep them in order. If a mare did come into a transitional heat during the winter months then I would revise the situation but they never have.

In your situation OP you are on a livery yard with other owners involved and if you are concerned about the colt covering your mare over winter then I would speak to the YO and ask for alternative accommodation to be arranged for your mare or the colt.
 
I would absolutely flip! This is potentially a very serious situation and it has to change or someone is going to get hurt. Speak to your YO and be VERY firm about changing fields. I would also calmly and kindly make the colt's owner aware that they will be liable for any vet's fees resulting from your mare being covered if it turns out they have lied about his age.
 
Thanks so much for all the replies, sadly some people don't take horse owning as responsibly as we do!

It's a stable yard set in a public park with a supposed yard manager, a livestock manager, general manager who all shift the blame and none take responsibility. I have been trying to move off this yard for a long time. Ringing everyone I can find, asking friends of friends and calling in favours everywhere all year and now it's winter finding a stable really is mission impossible.

There are constant problems so to minimise these issues my mare lives out 24/7. She's happy to live out. I havn't signed my updated contract yet as issues still havn't been dealt with.
I spent the day there today, called every number I had for people and got reassured that a manager was coming up but they never showed.
I plan to do the same tomorrow.

I could not move my mare as I think there are a few colts scattered about the fields of the park. It's such a huge stables and badly organised place that I don't know which horse lives in which field and who the owner is. A point I raised at the yard meeting and still hasn't be resolved. This is need to know information especially in an emergency situation like this-you need to have contact numbers for people.

In the morining I'm going to give them Hell as this is really not on.
My mare is very special to me, my horse of a lifetime who I rescued 10 years ago, I was planning to put in foal next year if all the vet checks go well. She's a finely built, 14h Arab, a maiden mare who will be 19 next year, this colt is already as tall as my girl and looks to be a chunky Warmblood type and the other poss colts in other fields are Sec D and Warmblood. There is no way she'd pass a foal that big at her age as a maiden.
I do not want to lose my mare!
 
Spring Feather said:
I keep my 6 month olds with nanny mares over the winter, colts and fillies together. However these are MY foals and MY nanny mares and my foals are in view of me at all times so if I ever saw one of the colts showing any signs of impending hanky panky then there would be changes made. I've never had a 6 month old show anything other than being a baby however my foals are brought up with a fairly tough herd of mares so they tend to know their place. The nanny mares, although very gentle, are good teachers to my foals and tend to keep them in order. If a mare did come into a transitional heat during the winter months then I would revise the situation but they never have.

In your situation OP you are on a livery yard with other owners involved and if you are concerned about the colt covering your mare over winter then I would speak to the YO and ask for alternative accommodation to be arranged for your mare or the colt.
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Interesting, as you say your mares. I put my colt back with his dam and another mare between one and two years old. Both were in foal and he was very happy with them. When his dam neared foaling we put him with the geldings.
 
I think keeping a colt in a "family unit" particularly when the mares are in foal, is very different though, and can be super for the colt's socialisation if he's the right type. I even know people who keep colts in with a herd with a stallion BUT they have a huge area, it's a very stable herd and the stallion - and his sons - are very easy going. Plus the owner watches them closely and the colts never stay until puberty as they are either sold as stallion prospects or cut.

I went to see a colt once where the woman said he'd had him out his whole life with a filly the same age and he "knew" not to breed her because she was his adopted "sister". Um, okay. What she failed to mention is they had also lived their whole lives with THE toughest, bossiest pony I have ever met. He didn't even let the colt NEAR the filly and I'm sure he would have squashed any amorous thoughts in a second.

I read a study recently about "bachelor colts" which suggested the presence of a dominant stallion actually inhibits testosterone levels in the other colts within the herd. Even in bachelor groups levels tend to stay low when there are no mares around. (Hence why stallion shows are not free for alls.) But again, this is not relevant AT ALL to a livery situation.
 
I agree, I'd be worried about my mare too. If I was the owner of the colt I'd be worried about him too. The foal my filly was weaned with last winter was put down this summer after being sold and turned out with a strange group of adult horses. He sustained a nasty kick to a growth plate, very sad as he was a super chap. Not an ideal situation all round.
 
I must be incredibly fortunate with my two 6 month old colts (cousins) who are turned out with 2 6 month old fillies, one is a half sister to one of the colts, the other filly is related to the other colt. I bought the fillies 3 weeks ago, so they are still a bit of a novelty.

There is no "forward" behaviour of any kind. They all play nicely with each other and live together very peacefully indeed. Most of the time though they are just quietly grazing whilst they are out in the field. They behave like babies, not sex obsessed teenage boys (although I do expect that to come later). They really are not that interested in girls yet.
 
Thing is with colts/stallions they tend to do the deed after dark so they can be cool as cucumbers during the day and turn into sex mad teenagers at night!!!:D
There are too many yearling fillies at sales etc that are in foal - so I'd never risk it for that reason alone as fillies start cycling at around 8 months old onwards and can be total slappers!! I've had a 4mnth old foal actually physically getting one of my slapper mares and she was 15.2Hh - so it is do-able, he was gelded at 5 months old on the mare!!:D
 
Alexart said:
Thing is with colts/stallions they tend to do the deed after dark so they can be cool as cucumbers during the day and turn into sex mad teenagers at night!!!:D
There are too many yearling fillies at sales etc that are in foal - so I'd never risk it for that reason alone as fillies start cycling at around 8 months old onwards and can be total slappers!! I've had a 4mnth old foal actually physically getting one of my slapper mares and she was 15.2Hh - so it is do-able, he was gelded at 5 months old on the mare!!:D
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I shall take comfort in the fact that for my foals there is a boys dorm and a girls dorm when it comes to bedtime arrangements then LOL.
 
Alexart said:
Thing is with colts/stallions they tend to do the deed after dark so they can be cool as cucumbers during the day and turn into sex mad teenagers at night!!!:D
There are too many yearling fillies at sales etc that are in foal - so I'd never risk it for that reason alone as fillies start cycling at around 8 months old onwards and can be total slappers!! I've had a 4mnth old foal actually physically getting one of my slapper mares and she was 15.2Hh - so it is do-able, he was gelded at 5 months old on the mare!!:D
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I knew a colt who got it done through a fence! They knew it was him because he was the only Appaloosa on the place but he'd been turned out next to the mare in question for months and no one had noticed anything untoward until it became evident she was in foal. . . .

I know another small breeder who kept their stock altogether. Her first colt was fine well into his yearling year, the second was trying his luck as soon as he was tall enough. It can be a very individual thing.

Anyway, it's all moot when you're talking about a livery herd.
 
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