6months colt living with 18month old filly over the winter?

Kallibear

Kallibear

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Yey? Nay? Most defintinly Nay?

It's all very much undecided yet but potentially we may have a 2010 colt coming to live with our little herd, which includes an 18month old filly, temporarily.

Not worried about the geldings behaviour but we'd prefere no unexpected baby horses next year

Colt would be coming late novermber (so 6months old) and will be moved out to a live with geldings as soon as the weather improves a little in the spring (so early March probably). He'll be gelded asap after that.

Not really up on my breeding and young horses, so would we get away with it over the winter when (in theory) the filly shouldn't be in season anyways?

Otherwise I'm going to have to do some serious grovelling and making things awkwards to try and find a group he can live in with no mares.

On a side note - what the earliest he could be gelded? I know it's mostly timed by the weather/flies but I could arrange a field with no mud for a couple of weeks over the winter........
 
Can't you geld now?? If you can't geld yet and don't have any other options, I think I would turn out toether, the filly probably hasn't had a first season yet and she probably won't cycle over the winter months anyway.

Sayng that, I have my own place, if I was at livery and someone turned out an entire male with my mares I'd be furious..
 
No. I know someone who weaned a colt with an old mare as companion and who had a foal the next autumn. As she hadn't been off the place or near a stallion tests were done and they proved that the seven month old colt was fertile and was indeed as a yearling a daddy!! It is also not unheard of for two year old fillies to have a foal as people didn't think they would cycle properly as yearling and so not get in foal.
 
Interesting reading! I have a colt foal to wean in December when his mam returns home. My other horse is a mare and I want to run them together over winter to save on grazing etc. After reading this it may not be such a good idea! I rang the vets and they only geld until Sept, which of course has past so accordingly to them I have to wait until next spring. His balls have dropped and the vet has confirmed this, but still they are reluctant to chop them off!!
 
i got my 6mth old colt gelded last week as he will winter with an 18mth old filly, & at 5 months he was trying to cover her! Though the vet assures me he could get her infoal the worry was more that he was going to get hurt from his naughty antics.
 
Interesting replies.
Winter 2008-9 I had two weanling/rising yearling colts living out with a rising 2 year old filly with absolutely no problems. The boys weren't gelded until April/May when they were 12 months old, neither of them ever showed any "coltish" tendencies.

Last winter (2009/10) I had a weanling/rising yearling colt out with the by now rising 3 year old filly to the extent that he shared a stable with her overnight as well as being turned out with her during the day - again, absolutely no problems. He was just on a year old when he was gelded and again never showed any coltish behaviour.
 
I have had a colt living with mares and fillys over winter, he was gelded at 13 months old. I had no problems whatsoever with him and he showed no interest in the fillys/mares except as play mates.

Don't think I would do it over summer with a yearling colt but I had him gelded at the end of April.
 
I had my foal living out with my yearling filly until he was 12 months and she was 2 - not problems. He never tried to mount her or showed any interest - he did however frequently mount his mother from the age of 3 months! Apparently that is quite common...
 
Every colt will behave differently and personally I wouldn't take the risk. He may not be interested in the filly now but by March he will be a lot older and it could be a totally different story. Plus at 18m the filly is little more than a baby herself to be put in foal.

I have a Welsh D colt coming to join my two boys at the end of November and I'm hoping that he's dropped so that the vet can geld him within a day or so of his arrival (poor bu88er!!) as we have a tenant mare and I just don't want to risk it. We have a well-draining field on sandy soil and having already spoken to my vet, she is delighted to be gelding him in November, calling it a "good time of year". It's funny how vets' opinions differ, isn't it?
 
Thanks for the replies. See, this is why I asked - there seems to be a widely varying opinions. :eek: I know people who have had their colts out with mares over the winter, and also those who say no-way.

RE his balls drops - can't tell properly as he's unhandled so can't get a good look, never mind a good feel! Looks like it but it may well only be one.

6months seems awfully early to geld :o - following spring seems to be the norm.
 
Kallibear said:
Thanks for the replies. See, this is why I asked - there seems to be a widely varying opinions. :eek: I know people who have had their colts out with mares over the winter, and also those who say no-way.
Click to expand...

Have another look at the replies though - the ones who say 'I have done it' are the ones with experience, the ones who say 'no way' seem to be the ones with no experience of youngsters or breeding.
 
I do this every year and have never had any accidents. All my weanlings live together over the winter whether they are fillies or colts. In the spring of their yearling year the colts are either gelded or sold.
 
Inky_and_Sunny said:
Have another look at the replies though - the ones who say 'I have done it' are the ones with experience, the ones who say 'no way' seem to be the ones with no experience of youngsters or breeding.
Click to expand...
I have experience of youngsters & breeding, as I own a small stud, and I'm in the No Way camp.

All youngsters are different. Some won't be interested, some will. The oldest I've left a colt in with mares is until 7 months, and I really felt we were starting to push our luck. He was getting increasingly sexual.

No one can say for sure that this will be safe. It might, it might not. The only way to be sure is not to put the colt with mares, or to have him cut. If you don't, then you are taking a risk. Only run him with the mare if you are prepared for a foal, and if both the colt & the mare are good enough quality to breed from, should your risk taking backfire.
 
Inky_and_Sunny said:
Have another look at the replies though - the ones who say 'I have done it' are the ones with experience, the ones who say 'no way' seem to be the ones with no experience of youngsters or breeding.
Click to expand...



Excuse me but I have think that I have a little experience of breeding and raising foals, 48 up to this year and I am in the No Way camp. I did reply on the thread . It MIGHT not be a problem and people do get away with it but foals do result from this practice so why on earth take the risk.
 
Inky_and_Sunny said:
Have another look at the replies though - the ones who say 'I have done it' are the ones with experience, the ones who say 'no way' seem to be the ones with no experience of youngsters or breeding.
Click to expand...

I have alot of experience of breeding having run a couple of thoroughbred studs and have much experience of many different breeds and their youngsters.
People do get away with putting colts with fillies in the same way that some people get away with putting horses in fields with barbed wire fencing in ribbons.
 
I have done this very thing on several occasions. One colt lived out with older mares and a 2yo filly with whom he shared a stable at night too and he was not gelded. Sexual interest is negligible through the winter months anyway. At the moment I have a mixed band of yearlings running together colts and fillies - not a bother.
 
It depends on the herd dynamics, too. I went to start a 4 yr old colt and a filly for a small breeder and nearly fell over when she said they'd lived together their whole lives and he'd never shown ANY interest in her. I was sceptical to say the least, until I got there and realised they were turned out with a VERY dominant pony gelding. The colt didn't get NEAR the filly, let alone get any ideas! :D If there is a dominant male horse in the group (or even if the dominant mare keeps the colt under her thumb) you might very well not have a problem. (Apparently, in wild herds, the non-dominant colts actually have lower levels of testosterone but then this will change if they leave/move up/get a few mares of their own.)

The youngest colt that I KNOW impregnated a mare was 10 months, and a friend bought a mare that foaled out in the later winter before she turned 3, so it's certainly possible if not probable. I also know of a colt not much older that bred a mare through a fence :eek: - never discount the power of teenage hormones!

I guess you could try it and keep an eye out for signs of impending trouble. Of course, if they're quiet about it (I had a very randy gelding that only mounted mares at night, when he though no one was around) you might have a problem before you know. Roll of the dice, really.
 
Not read all of the thread, but we put our yearling colt back with his mum when she was in foal again. He is two rising three and now with two geldings. He didn't really start to get interested in the mares until he was well into his second year.

Keeping him with mares and geldings has been good for him because he has been taught manners.
 
I always keep my colts up to the age of 16 months with mares and filles and never had a problem. I believe the colt benefits from being mixed in with mares. I always leave my colt's entire until they are 16 months old and I don't understand what the big hurry is to castrate colts when they are foals. Colt's are very easy to manage.
 
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