New colt in stable

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Cc088

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My two colts arrived today - was told they were 6 months but looking at passports they are just turned 5 months. I put them in stable together and they were quite happy. Someone else at the yard brought her mare in and to be honest my two weren't interested and just continued eating their hay at other side of the stable. The girl then decided to kneel down right behind her horse and mess around with its feet to which her horse kicked her in the thigh (the horse has been known to kick before) all hell then broke loose with her mother blaming me for putting 'stallions' next door to which I informed her they were 6 month old colts and her horse and mine were both happily munching on their hay and not interested in each other at all. She is quite frankly putting the blame on me for her horse kicking. Is this likely to happen or am I right to say you shouldn't kneel behind a horse that is known to kick and mess around with its feet?
 
Lol thanks - I'm glad it's not just me that thinks this but no doubt with yard gossip tomorrow it will be that my foals leapt the stable doors, tried to mount their mare then it was them that kicked her lol
 
You shouldn't kneel behind any horse, known kicker or not, in fact you should never kneel when dealing with a horse as you are not in a position where you can react easily if something does happen.

As to them blaming your "stallions" any new arrival on a yard is likely to cause the others to possibly be a little interested, that is only natural behaviour, they need to learn a bit more horse sense as well as common sense, next time it may not just be her thigh, kneeling behind the horse puts her head in the direct line of a kick, the consequences do not bear thinking about, if she was on my yard I would be having serious words with her, not with you.
 
Instead of calling them colts try calling them foals as with a lot of people that will defuse the situation straight away however if I had been in your position I would have rolled my eyes and walked off muttering about darwinism loudly enough for her to hear
 
She most probable wouldn't understand what Darwinsim means, just call them foals as that is what they are and if the girl is stupid enough to kneel behind a horse so be it on her head.
 
I had all the same problems with my colt when he was on a livery yard, anything that happened got blamed on him because he was the "stallion" , and most of the time it was there own stupidity that caused the problem.
 
Pinkvboots said:
I had all the same problems with my colt when he was on a livery yard, anything that happened got blamed on him because he was the "stallion" , and most of the time it was there own stupidity that caused the problem.
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I'm phoning the vets tomorrow to get them gelded then they will have to find another excuse for having a naughty horse. Their horse is known to bite people walking past, kicked a few times, won't let others bring their horses in from the field but it's always someone else's fault - drives me mad - think my search for a field on my own will continue because this yard is driving me insane!!
 
It always amazes me that people who SHOULD know better do dangerous things around horses. I still remember the day I found young vet SITTING right under my 17hh stallion, pulling on his 'tool' (she had to get a swab and he wouldn't let down for her!) He was probably the ONLY stallion you could do that with and not get kicked into the middle of next week - but it was her first time with him, she didn't know how well mannered and tolerant of idiots he was! Senior vet - who knew him VERY well - still always treated him with respect and handled him as he'd handle 2 year old colts - carefully!

Your colts may not be ready to be gelded - both testicles need to be down. You'll need to get the vet to examine them first - unless you can feel both. At that age, they sometimes pop up and down like a yo-yo! I normally don't do mine until they're yearlings - and they're no problem until then - although I wouldn't run them with mares.
 
Anyone who kneels behind any horse should be grateful if all they got was a broken leg. It could have had her head clean off her shoulders. She should also have known that all horses get a bit excited when there are newcomers of any sex, and are more likely to be easily distracted, over-sensitive. At 5 months there is no way the colts will be sending out "hello ladies" subliminal messages yet. I think the vet would probably decline to geld this early, more like 9 months. We had a young colt turned out with our mixed herd and the poor little chap was too busy conflict to think about rogering anything. My mare kindly adopted him and made sure he stayed safe but he spent the first two days mouthing furiously because he thought that her slow motion following of him all over the field meant that the end was nigh!
 
Cc088 said:
I'm phoning the vets tomorrow to get them gelded then they will have to find another excuse for having a naughty horse. Their horse is known to bite people walking past, kicked a few times, won't let others bring their horses in from the field but it's always someone else's fault - drives me mad - think my search for a field on my own will continue because this yard is driving me insane!!
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It's a good idea to get them gelded as soon as you can if you don't intend to breed with them but as the others have said they may be too young so might be worth getting the vet to look anyway, I moved mine to a yard that had other stallions so everyone there was used to them so it was much better, I find most livery yards get hysterical at the presence of stallions mainly to do with fear and lack of knowledge, I had mine cut when he was 4 in the end as he was not going to be good enough to breed with although he was never a problem to handle it's just the sensible thing to do, his a lovely gelding and was never going to be a top stallion, good luck with your two let us know how you get on and if they are ready for the chop.
 
The only trouble we've had with colt foals and a mare is the mare trying to adopt them!

As others have said, if the gossip gets going just refer to them as foals - there's no way she registered them as 'stallions' at that age.
 
my 2 colts arrived with me at the same age from Brightwells sales a tBuilth. they lived together in 1 stable until the following spring and were then gelded and put in separate boxes that autumn.
 
I doubt whether their testicles have descended yet, let alone have any idea what mares are for! I've two here, a 2yo and a yearling, due to be gelded. The yearling's testicles were not down in the spring and we were not sure whether the 2yo would make it as a stallion. (He won't!). Check before the vet comes to avoid an unnecessary call out charge.
 
At 5 months they are too young to show any interest in anything yet and would quite likely do 'foaly face' if faced with a mare. Sadly you will get this a lot until they are gelded - people just don't understand :(
 
Very young colt foals will often be seen mounting their dams in what looks like play, although it has been suggested that it could be driven by a neonatal testosterone surge which is known to occur in horses and other animals. Of course, at this age they are not fertile so the behaviour is generally harmless.
 
fburton said:
Very young colt foals will often be seen mounting their dams in what looks like play, although it has been suggested that it could be driven by a neonatal testosterone surge which is known to occur in horses and other animals. Of course, at this age they are not fertile so the behaviour is generally harmless.
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young fillies also mount their dams so its not just the boys doing it :D
 
crabbymare said:
young fillies also mount their dams so its not just the boys doing it :D
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You're right, they do! Now I have to go and check if fillies also experience a "testosterone surge" in early life. I have a feeling they don't. My recollection from Crowell-Davis's 1980s paper about fillies vs colts showing flehmen is that colts do this behaviour more than fillies initially but that the rate declines until they are the same (until the boys grow up). And we do know flehmen is more frequent in stallions than geldings or mares, so is likely to be linked to sex hormone levels. Hmmm.
 
I have had the vet out and she has said one has only one dropped and the other is only just starting to drop so they are not ready yet to be gelded.
 
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