Gelding mounting mares

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Help ! I need advice please ? I have a lovely mare who I have had for a few years now. Anyway I got my daughters a gelding on full loan. He's lovely. But our yard they are in a mixed herd of 7 and every so often when a mare is he season we have caught him mounting them. It's not all the time. The yard owner is not happy as one of her filly is only 14 month so don't want her getting hurt !. Only had him 8 week could this settle down ?? There is 5 mares and 27 year old gelding pony.
His owner has never seen him do this ! But he hasn't lived with mares for a few years. He 14 and was gelded at 3 year old.
I have some rig calm on order.
Thanks in advance. X

 

[Peglo]

We have one gelding in with our mares and he’s always mounted them when they were in season. He is only 11.1 hh and can barely get his hooves on them so we never worried much. Sorry that might not be what you wanted to hear. I think he was gelded late though.

 

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Thanks for your reply. Has any of the mares ever got hurt ? So worried we will be asked to send him back. My daughters love him already !

 

[AmyMay]

Thanks for your reply. Has any of the mares ever got hurt ? So worried we will be asked to send him back. My daughters love him already !

It’s less than ideal. And it may well be that you’re going to need to put him on individual turnout, or just out with your mare.

 

[Peglo]

Thanks for your reply. Has any of the mares ever got hurt ? So worried we will be asked to send him back. My daughters love him already !

no they’ve never been hurt but they were all bigger than him. He gets bullied by all the mares the rest of the time. It’s the only time he’s popular.

if it comes to them wanting you to return him could you ask if he can be turned out with either your horse or just geldings?

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

You need to separate him are there no other geldings?

 

[The Xmas Furry]

Get a decent electric fence up (even a double fence) and split him off asap.
I'd be very much on your YOs side. Its dangerous for the mares if this carries on. I'd not want a mare sliding and slipping and causing injury if a gelding was trying to mount her, let alone the potential for any physical internal damage if he is successful in mounting her.

 

[Zoeypxo]

occasionally geldings do do this .
Really you need to seperate him from mares as he could also get a pretty nasty kick if a mare is not interested in him.

 

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Thankyou for all your advice. He only does it when the mares are in season and come to him. But still I would want any injuries. X

 

[magicmoments]

I've had this issue with my mare this year, after another gelding has arrived. Have to say I wasn't happy as I'd only just bought her back into work after over 4 months off. I separated her for the few remaining days of that season, but have come to an arrangement with YO. The resident gelding who would mount other mares doesn't get chance with her as she is scared of him, but not this new one unfortunately. One of the problems with mixed herds.

 

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I've had this issue with my mare this year, after another gelding has arrived. Have to say I wasn't happy as I'd only just bought her back into work after over 4 months off. I separated her for the few remaining days of that season, but have come to an arrangement with YO. The resident gelding who would mount other mares doesn't get chance with her as she is scared of him, but not this new one unfortunately. One of the problems with mixed herds.

What have you ended up doing ?
It's such a shame because they are such a quiet happy herd 99% of the time ! Xx

 

[Zoeypxo]

That’s difficult. We have 1 gelding who will mount when the mares are offering it to him, completely uninterested at other times. We just keep him away from them in a different field as he is a huge heavy cob and just cant afford any sore backs/kicks etc

 

[magicmoments]

We've arranged that she will go in the corner field for the duration, although to be fair I don't see why the gelding couldn't instead of her, especially if she doesn't settle. When it first happened I said I'd put her in the lunge pen for 1/2 the day, and the other 1/2 in stable as normal, but that meant she was off grass, without her friends, and created extra work/hay for me, so wasn't going to be doing that again. Fortunately she hasn't come into season since (to my knowledge) so maybe it was the last season of the year.

 

[DizzyDoughnut]

My old pony used to do this in his younger days, luckily he's only 12hh and the only mare that would let him was huge so no damage was done and he had no idea what to do really and would often be found trying to climb up her shoulder then he'd just stand there looking round till she walked off and he got down. He also used to try it with my shetland mare, when she first arrived he was beside himself with excitement and a bit obsessed with her, luckily she was more than capable of standing up for herself and getting out of trouble, the novelty soon wore off and they lived uneventfully together for nearly 20 years in the end.

 

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My old pony used to do this in his younger days, luckily he's only 12hh and the only mare that would let him was huge so no damage was done and he had no idea what to do really and would often be found trying to climb up her shoulder then he'd just stand there looking round till she walked off and he got down. He also used to try it with my shetland mare, when she first arrived he was beside himself with excitement and a bit obsessed with her, luckily she was more than capable of standing up for herself and getting out of trouble, the novelty soon wore off and they lived uneventfully together for nearly 20 years in the end.

Maybe it will calm down then. We have only had him 7 week. And the new filly only went in with them a week ago. He has lived with Mares in the past with no issues xx

 

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We've arranged that she will go in the corner field for the duration, although to be fair I don't see why the gelding couldn't instead of her, especially if she doesn't settle. When it first happened I said I'd put her in the lunge pen for 1/2 the day, and the other 1/2 in stable as normal, but that meant she was off grass, without her friends, and created extra work/hay for me, so wasn't going to be doing that again. Fortunately she hasn't come into season since (to my knowledge) so maybe it was the last season of the year.

Hopefully this will be the mares last season for a while now. Xx

 

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That’s difficult. We have 1 gelding who will mount when the mares are offering it to him, completely uninterested at other times. We just keep him away from them in a different field as he is a huge heavy cob and just cant afford any sore backs/kicks etc

Hes only 13hh but he's so chunky x

 

[MissElle]

I had this issue with my old gelding. I had a lot of success with rig calm supplement.

 

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I had this issue with my old gelding. I had a lot of success with rig calm supplement.

Thats reakly good to know. I have bought some on our 3rd day of it now. He doesn't like the taste though! Fingers crossed it works.xx

 

[Fransurrey]

It may be that the filly has come into season as a result of the move, even if from one field to another. My old Exmoor used to mount mares in season, but they were always the really hormonal squirty mares (he never hurt them). My own mare never got a look in, but she's silent in her seasons. You could separate, but if she's only been there a week it might settle down. I would ask for a contingency plan for the spring, though, as she may well be a squirty tart!

 

[onemoretime]

I had this problem with my Sec A companion pony that is a mare! She was kept with my old mare for years and kept well under the thumb by her but when I lost my old mare and bought a new young filly the pony was always mounting her until the filly grew up enough to give the pony a good telling off and i never saw it happen again.

 

[maya2008]

Years ago my TB was injured in this way, and I have now a little Welsh A who has signs of trauma from mounting behaviour having been in a herd of all geldings except for her. I would split him off.

 

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It may be that the filly has come into season as a result of the move, even if from one field to another. My old Exmoor used to mount mares in season, but they were always the really hormonal squirty mares (he never hurt them). My own mare never got a look in, but she's silent in her seasons. You could separate, but if she's only been there a week it might settle down. I would ask for a contingency plan for the spring, though, as she may well be a squirty tart!

Yes she is definitely a bit of a tart all are mares are. Think they are a bit excited about a new gelding in the field ?

 

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We have separated them for now. He's just in with my Mare and another Gelding for now. Going to retry them again in a couple of week when hopefully they have all stopped coming into season ! Xx

 

[Hallo2012]

rig calm worked very well on our old gelding who was the same.

 

[Cortez]

They will probably settle down after a while. Mares will often start cycling when a new male comes on the scene, but they'll usually stop once everyone has got acquainted. It's quite common for geldings to do this, not something that I'd be overly worried about unless there was fighting going on as well.

 

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rig calm worked very well on our old gelding who was the same.
Thats great to know. Hope he does too. Did you put it in his feed ? He doesn't like the taste so he's not having the full dose really ! X

 

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They will probably settle down after a while. Mares will often start cycling when a new male comes on the scene, but they'll usually stop once everyone has got acquainted. It's quite common for geldings to do this, not something that I'd be overly worried about unless there was fighting going on as well.

Thankyou I am not worried as he has lived with mares before and I do think it's because he's new. But people on my yard are not happy xx

 

[Errin Paddywack]

My pony did this just once. I had moved him to a friend's yard and he was turned out with her little dartmoor mare. She told me he had mounted her. I was stunned as he had lived with various mares up till then and never shown the remotest interest in them. He never did it again. Yours may well be the same.

 

[Birker2020]

I've not read all the replies so apologise if this has already been mentioned. Sounds like the horse in question is either a rig (has retained some testicular tissue) or is a false rig (was gelded correctly and completely but stallion behaviour is in his mind).

The owner can sort this out easily enough by getting the horse blood tested to find out.

This happened with a previous horse of mine, who I was told was mounting other geldings - we had about 40 geldings out in around 60 acres or so. My gelding had been gelded at 7 so fairly late. I spent hours down the field with a camcorder trying to tape any activity to show it wasn't my horse but of course none got injured whilst I was there. He had a blood test although I was certain it wasn't him causing the injuries to the other horses and he was declared ' a false rig'. The vet said I could use a product unlicensed for use on horses if I signed a disclaimer. It was called Depo Provera. So he was injected with this so he could go back and join the other geldings as he was on permanently stuck in his stable 24 hours a day as the YO wouldn't let him out with anything.

My horse and I were at a show one day and one of the liveries horses got absolutely battered in the field. Turned out it was another horse mounting the horses and injuring them. I left the yard as I felt I'd lost all faith and trust in my so called friends who had made my life so miserable saying it was my horse all the time when it obviously wasn't.

My horse dropped dead about a year after the final 3 injections with a suspected heart attack in the paddock. I will never know to this day if I signed his death warrant by agreeing to get him injected with this hormone. I spoke to my own vet years later and he said that horses gelded late often have issues with their heart and can be at increased risk of sudden death.

OP get the horse tested.