Keeping a stallion as part of a herd?

[Patterdale]

I have 5-8 natives that live out as a herd. I usually buy one or two foals and sell one or two youngsters each year, but they are generally in the herd 2-3 years so it is a fairly stable group.
I only buy colts then castrate as yearlings. However - I have an absolutely beautiful Connemara colt this year that I am in no rush to get cut as I think he could genuinely be a good stallion. He is from little-used bloodlines, near-perfect conformation, very good nature and absolutely floats.

What would the implications be for keeping him entire until he is 3 and can be graded? I’ve never known a stallion that lived out with company 24/7, but I’m not sure if this is because it can’t be done, or just ISNT done iyswim.

I don’t do stabling. It is 24/7 turnout on a large area of varied terrain. No other horses nearby.

I’d really appreciate any thoughts on this! Thank you

 

[ester]

I don't see a problem, rara's pony stallion has lived with various geldings all the time.

 

[Cortez]

I have 5-8 natives that live out as a herd. I usually buy one or two foals and sell one or two youngsters each year, but they are generally in the herd 2-3 years so it is a fairly stable group.
I only buy colts then castrate as yearlings. However - I have an absolutely beautiful Connemara colt this year that I am in no rush to get cut as I think he could genuinely be a good stallion. He is from little-used bloodlines, near-perfect conformation, very good nature and absolutely floats.

What would the implications be for keeping him entire until he is 3 and can be graded? I’ve never known a stallion that lived out with company 24/7, but I’m not sure if this is because it can’t be done, or just ISNT done iyswim.

I don’t do stabling. It is 24/7 turnout on a large area of varied terrain. No other horses nearby.

I’d really appreciate any thoughts on this! Thank you

I have kept stallions in herds together until 3 or 4, and kept a stallion in a gelding herd quite happily, also run covering stallions in with a mare herd. Try it and see? You can always take the colt out if things start to unravel. Be aware though, that some colts are sexually mature from as little as a year old, and if running mature stallions with a mare band they can attack and kill foals.

 

[stangs]

Stating the obvious, but as long as your herd doesn’t include any mares/fillies, there shouldn’t be any problems with it.

There’s an Arabian stud (can’t remember the name for the life of me) that maintains a bachelor band with breeding stallions and younger colts - so it is completely doable, just not common, presumably because so many stallions grow up being turned out alone and never have the chance to learn how to socialise.

 

[scruffyponies]

I keep a herd of geldings and stallions exactly as you describe. They're ridden from the field, with most of the riders being children. Other than the odd bit of striking out and squealing when we put them back and they greet their friends, you wouldn't know gelding from stallion. The other give away is the huge pile just inside the gate, where they compete to have the last poo.

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

If there are no females about then there should be no problem. Many people run colts out with a herd of other colts and geldings with no issues. Sometimes they get a bit boisterous in their play but usually no more so than any other youngster really. I've always had my colts and stallions turned out with geldings when there are no mares around.

 

[ihatework]

It’s the only way I’d want to keep a colt.

This life of stabling and isolation most stallions have is heartbreaking.

As long as it’s a boy herd I see no issue. If the colt gets too tricky then there is an easy solution involving a scalpel

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

I've had a boy herd in the past, made up of adult stallion, older gelding (who lived together all Yr round) and a couple of colts aged between yearling and 3.
Never a bother, the stallion would put the youngsters in their place if they got too boisterous.
Always a decent sized paddock between them and any girls.

 

[meleeka]

What a lucky boy he’ll be if he gets to live like this. I find it so upsetting when young stallions are denied company or stuck in stables, yet never actually used for breeding. What you describe is the only way i’d ever considering owing a stallion.

 

[tda]

If the foals you buy are only Colts then yes why not. Like others say, if he starts getting stroppy it an easy fix , if there are no ladies around he might not even realise he's still entire ?

 

[Polos Mum]

I kept my colt entire until 3.5 not by design but there seemed no rush. In with 3 other boys 2 young and 1 retiree who kept the peace.

You wouldn't have know he was entire, although I suppose he was technically a stallion I didn't treat him any differently and he didn't behave any differently.

 

[Auslander]

Been happening in the wild for quite a few years!

 

[Snowfilly]

We kept both our stallions out with geldings and colts, and I like to think it was an ideal life for them. There’s the odd bit of shouting and leg waving on occasion but we never had any fights other than boy wrestling matches and you’d often find the stallions doting on the young colts, mutual grooming and playing with them. I watched him one day teaching a weanling how to break ice on a puddle, and it felt like I was watching a glimpse of how horses should live - they had perfectly unfrozen water a few foot away

And that was with grown stallions who were being taken out to cover and compete, your little lad should be fine.

The poo mountain is a thing though!

Edited to say these were both Arab stallions, we sold one at 13 because we wanted to breed with a couple of his daughters and the other lived with us from a weanling to 26 when age caught up with him. They all lived out 24/7 with access to open front barns.

 

[I'm Dun]

I've worked on a couple of studs, both ran on herds of colts, and one used to turn several of the stallions away at the end of the season, together and just chucked out in a big field. It worked well.

 

[Auslander]

I had a hunt for this lovely video from the Swiss National Stud, of a group of breeding stallions who were turned out together as an experiment. The experiment worked so well that that's what they do there now. Just lovely to see

 

[MotherOfChickens]

Lucy Rees has done some fascinating study on bachelor herds- stallions are more sociable than mares and it’s very sad the way most of them end up being kept. Provided resources aren’t limited-and it sounds as though they aren’t-it should be fine.

Lusitanos are run on in groups of colts until backing at 3-I’ve had two started out that way with one cut at 3 and the other at 4, and I have to add that both played extensively as geldings-one was pretty full on even at 8, 9 yo and seemed to appreciate my then Exmoor colt to play with (there was never a mark on either but sometimes the hoolying made me close my eyes or walk away). The other was just a complete pain in the backside for removing and then wrecking everyone else’s fly masks/rugs/muzzles-not sure if that was a later gelding thing or a Lusitano thing!

 

[Peregrine Falcon]

NF's stallions run as a batchelor herd when not on the forest.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

I hate to be the fun sponge, and excuse me if I am stating the obvious, but just one thing to double check is fencing - it sounds like you run them over a large area of ground, and a sexually mature stallion might be more determined than most to join a mare hacking along the road for example. I couldn't think of a better life for a stallion than to be out with a herd though, I have seen it done successfully at a few places albeit a long time ago now.

 

[Patterdale]

Thanks for all the replies, really positive thank you!
I agree that this is the only way I’d consider having a stallion. Most I know are in 12x12 stables with 20 mins in the round pen whilst they’re mucked out. Must be a crap life, you wouldn’t get away with it with a dog

Re hackers, there’s no road nearby (the last mile to the horses is tracks then fields), and no other horses within miles. So hackers, although not impossible, are a slim chance. I’ve got plans to re-fence the

with 1.2m horse net though so hopefully that would be sufficient.

I think I’ll just see how it goes and how he progresses. If he’s still looking good at 3 and I take him to get graded and they don’t like him, I can always cut him then. Although might lose a bit of height. I’ll just play it by ear!

Thank you!

 

[jhoward]

I've turned a stallion out with geldings they have urges, personally what I'd look for in the company inwas turning out with is that there was at least one that will put him in his place, ultimately he will be dominant but it just needs imo the one that will give him both back feet and tell him to bog off when he's trying to mount them.

Herd dynamics I've always seen soon settle down.

 

[windand rain]

Friend has stallions colts and geldings running on conservation grazing She even swaps and changes with the stallions going out to cover mares before being returne to the conservation grazing

 

[Cortez]

I've turned a stallion out with geldings they have urges, personally what I'd look for in the company inwas turning out with is that there was at least one that will put him in his place, ultimately he will be dominant but it just needs imo the one that will give him both back feet and tell him to bog off when he's trying to mount them.

Herd dynamics I've always seen soon settle down.

It’s not true that a stallion will always be dominant. It depends on their personality and I’ve had several stallions that were the biggest softies in a group, and geldings that were right little gits and beat up the stallions.

 

[Floofball]

I had a hunt for this lovely video from the Swiss National Stud, of a group of breeding stallions who were turned out together as an experiment. The experiment worked so well that that's what they do there now. Just lovely to see

Love this - the noise when they’re all saying hello!!!

 

[PurBee]

I didnt realise stallions had poo competitions ?

Lovely to see the stallion herd video - goes to prove a herd is more important to any horse, despite gender.

 

[MissTyc]

It’s not true that a stallion will always be dominant. It depends on their personality and I’ve had several stallions that were the biggest softies in a group, and geldings that were right little gits and beat up the stallions.

My stallion turned into a softie as he aged. He was kept alone or with a single gelding friend for many many years, but I was able to retire him, aged 20, to a fab retirement faciliyt in France. My boy was 14hh sports pony and hey kept him with their ex-racer gelding herd. They thought he would keep them in line, but they ended up keeping him fit haha ... Even though he spent much of his life alone or with one other friend, he was always ridden in a group (including mares) and competed, so he knew other horses, and he integrated that gelding herd without any problems at all. He was such a good boy.

 

[Auslander]

It’s not true that a stallion will always be dominant. It depends on their personality and I’ve had several stallions that were the biggest softies in a group, and geldings that were right little gits and beat up the stallions.

One of my friends has a lovely spanish stallion, who is the politest stallion I think I've ever met, and I've worked with lots of stallions, most of them very well mannered!
This face was because my monstrous shetland kept going underneath him and investigating his testicles!

 

[Peglo]

I didnt realise stallions had poo competitions ?

Lovely to see the stallion herd video - goes to prove a herd is more important to any horse, despite gender.

our tiny gelding field mate was late cut I think. We can only have mares as he will fight with other geldings. He always poops on the other dumps in the field. I actually thought it was him marking his women so interesting to know it happens with just boys too. He will also pee on a fresh poop.

 

[Red-1]

When I was travelling in the US, I stayed at a place with a herd of geldings and 3 stallions. There was a bit of shrieking, but no injuries.

I had worked with stallions before, and these were as well behaved as any. I felt happy to go into the heard and take any horse out, anyway!

Struck me as a much nicer way to keep horses.

 

[Midlifecrisis]

Auslander that video clip was lovely…and I so want a portable/temporary field shelter as shown in the clip..what a brilliant idea.

 

[scruffyponies]

I hate to be the fun sponge, and excuse me if I am stating the obvious, but just one thing to double check is fencing - it sounds like you run them over a large area of ground, and a sexually mature stallion might be more determined than most to join a mare hacking along the road for example. I couldn't think of a better life for a stallion than to be out with a herd though, I have seen it done successfully at a few places albeit a long time ago now.

I'm not saying this doesn't happen, but my experience is that they are just as herd-bound as any other horse, and if they get out (has happened to me in winter when they've pushed a fence over to get at better grass, or there's been a tree fall), all they want to do is get back to their friends.

As for mares out hacking, again only my experience, but they don't seem to differentiate between mare and gelding in a working situation. Haven't had any problem on hunts / fun rides for example.

One of my daughters once got off my little Dartmoor stallion at a show because she'd seen a puppy. It was a few moments before we noticed that he was unattended, grazing peacefully no more than a few yards from mares.