Help with stallion

Pinkvboots

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Thanks for the reply’s guys. I want to geld but the choice is my dads and he doesn’t want to. I will warn him of the pregnancy risk and hopefully that will chance his mind.

I’ll try get him gelded which will stop a pregnancy but at his age I doubt it’ll do much for his attitude.

No it probably won't my gelding who was cut at 4 is very dominant in the field I have to be careful who he is put out with, he lived on his as a stallion I wouldn't ever have put him out with another horse.
 

HeyMich

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Thanks for the reply’s guys. I want to geld but the choice is my dads and he doesn’t want to. I will warn him of the pregnancy risk and hopefully that will chance his mind.

I’ll try get him gelded which will stop a pregnancy but at his age I doubt it’ll do much for his attitude.

Tell your Dad to read these replies.

I agree, gelding the stallion at 20 won't do much for his attitude. He could still seriously hurt the other gelding or mare, so if I were you I'd stick on the safe side and keep the mare totally separate.

Good luck, let us know what you (and your Dad) decide to do.
 
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I know of a little poodle dog managing to mate with a leggy lurcher bitch by standing on the bench seats in the back of the landrover


Completely irrelevant to the discussion but for incredible cases of 'where there's a will(y) there's a way' male chinchillas can impregnate females from up to 6 inches away lol.
 

HeyMich

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Completely irrelevant to the discussion but for incredible cases of 'where there's a will(y) there's a way' male chinchillas can impregnate females from up to 6 inches away lol.

Our 14yr old Splab (springer x lab) was a 'love child' on a gundog breeder's farm. The springer was in an outdoor run with 8ft high mesh fence... and the horny lab obviously reversed up to him whilst he was up on hind legs splatted up against the fence! Where there's a will(y)...
 

paddy555

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I have a 14.2 16 yo stallion who has covered many mares and 2 small mares who I don't want breeding. I keep them with a field between them. The stallion lives with a pony gelding for company and the mares live together. The boundaries have electric fencing on the rails.
It is working fine. I wouldn't geld a 20yo as I doubt you will get rid of the behaviour. I would keep the gelding and stallion together and find a companion for the mare and arrange for that pair to be kept a good field or perhaps more away. I don't think you could ever let the mare and stallion live in the same field.
 

Gloi

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Now that the stallion has got a sniff of the mare lon your property when you hopefully move her away it will probably take a little while, maybe until winter, before he goes completely back to his old self.
 

Winters100

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I think I’ll be safe as the last pair I kept where put together for breeding but the stallion was too short. The stallion was a miniature Shetland and the mare a standard Shetland.

Is this a thing in the UK to just turn them out together for breeding and let them get on with it? We have 2 stallions at our yard but when they are used for breeding it takes a few people, plus boots etc to protect them. Isn't it dangerous to just turn them out together? I know that someone will probably say 'well it happens in the wild', but in the wild I suppose they have many offspring, so dying young from an injury or something else is nature's way of controlling the population. Also the yard has stallion boxes and paddocks, far away from mares and with 'jurassic park' fencing.....
 

TheMule

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Is this a thing in the UK to just turn them out together for breeding and let them get on with it? We have 2 stallions at our yard but when they are used for breeding it takes a few people, plus boots etc to protect them. Isn't it dangerous to just turn them out together? I know that someone will probably say 'well it happens in the wild', but in the wild I suppose they have many offspring, so dying young from an injury or something else is nature's way of controlling the population. Also the yard has stallion boxes and paddocks, far away from mares and with 'jurassic park' fencing.....

In a well-managed way, yes. Important to keep them settled and away from ‘threats', but many stallions run with their mares very successfully. Most of the problems people have with stallions is due to the poor way in which they are kept and managed IMO
 

paddy555

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Is this a thing in the UK to just turn them out together for breeding and let them get on with it? We have 2 stallions at our yard but when they are used for breeding it takes a few people, plus boots etc to protect them. Isn't it dangerous to just turn them out together? I know that someone will probably say 'well it happens in the wild', but in the wild I suppose they have many offspring, so dying young from an injury or something else is nature's way of controlling the population. Also the yard has stallion boxes and paddocks, far away from mares and with 'jurassic park' fencing.....

yes stallions run with mares.
In the case of OP's original post then I think the problems will be the stallion will be upset he can't mate, the mare will be equally upset and they will goad each other with one possibly getting hurt. The real villain of the peace however will be the gelding. He will be the stallion"s possession. If the mare tries to go near him or take him that will cause upset.

Just a silly situation IMHO trying to break up a pair who get on by adding another and especially a mare. At worst an accident waiting to happen or simply 3 upset equines. I guess the mare could well be the one hurt as the stallion could go in quite low with his teeth
 

popcorn1

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Is this a thing in the UK to just turn them out together for breeding and let them get on with it? We have 2 stallions at our yard but when they are used for breeding it takes a few people, plus boots etc to protect them. Isn't it dangerous to just turn them out together? I know that someone will probably say 'well it happens in the wild', but in the wild I suppose they have many offspring, so dying young from an injury or something else is nature's way of controlling the population. Also the yard has stallion boxes and paddocks, far away from mares and with 'jurassic park' fencing.....


A stallion who has been brought up correctly, allowed to run in a herd so he is sociable, provided plenty of turnout and been handled firmly but fairly should have no problem running with mares.

It's those who are treated like a 'big bad stallion' and whose basic needs simply as a horse are not met, who will be a concern.
 

Cammr

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Hi. Sooo I’ve made my decision. I spoke to my dad and he said he was going to be looking for another mate to bred with the stallion. (Something I didn’t know!)

We are moving stallion and gelding to another field, and when we find the second mare we will breed safely and let her live with my riding mare.

In response to the person asking about turning out stallions for breeding, in my experience mates are introduced to stallions gradually and are turned out with the mares fully when the mares have accepted/want to bred with them.
 

oldie48

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My mare literally used to sit down so my 11 hh section a (gelding ) could climb on her back (she was 17.2) ...
Yup that is exactly what Rose did with sect A who was gelded but still coltish. They had lived together but at a distance all through the winter, I looked out of the window one sunny spring morning and could hardly believe my eyes! Fortunately Fatty is only interested in food but when Rose is in season she does like to cuddle up to him instead of threatening to kick his head in!
 

laura_nash

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Is this a thing in the UK to just turn them out together for breeding and let them get on with it?

You wouldn't just turn out a stallion whose led a stabled, individual turnout type of life with a visiting mare and leave them to it. In that type of situation it would be multiple people, boots etc and carefully controlled as you describe.

It is though quite common to have a stallion running with a settled herd of mares, with the occasional new one introduced carefully. The stallion needs to have been well brought up and properly socialised, but providing he's not been ruined this is usually safer for all concerned than the heavily controlled way (IME).

I also worked at a yard that had an older stallion (previously running with the herd but now replaced) living out with a single barren mare and would occasionally add another mare for a while to get her covered. It worked fine and there were never any injuries.
 
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