New owner to a Colt

[MishaKing]

Hi everyone,
I have brought a colt and he will be arriving in october he is only 6 months old and as I am new to this of owning my first baby, just need some tips on trust, how to deal with him what to do, what not to do, I have plenty of expierence with horses never had a baby this young before, when he arrives shall i put him out in the field with other geldings and bring him in of a night or leave him out for a couple of months but still see him and connect with him every day? Ive read so much just dont know where to start when he arrives! Let me know would be a big help xx

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Will he be gelded before he's delivered or are you keeping him entire?

When I got my weanling (a filly), she went out with an ex broodmare. This worked really well as the mare was used to youngstock and she was very patient with her and also reprimanded her when needed, without any danger of injury. They were out 24/7 in a well fenced paddock. They were checked twice a day, water filled and the paddock was poo picked. When she was older I introduced my other mare, which went smoothly and eventually (when the filly was bigger and less delicate) they went in with the whole herd (all mares at that time).

I did bring her into her stable to have her hard feed in the winter as it was safer, but she went back out again after she'd eaten. She didn't know how to 'tie' so that needed to be taught.

 

[Casey76]

Ideally he should be on a youngstock livery, so he can be turned out with a bunch of other foals which are a similar age... however I know things are rarely "ideal"

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Yeah, I got another youngster - a gelding - and I thought that Floss would love having someone close to her age to play with, but she was seriously pissed off that he existed to start with. They did settle down.

From left to right, my mare, my ex broodmare (sadly deceased now), the then yearling gelding and the grey filly (who I got as a weanling, but she was a two year old in this photo).

 

[MishaKing]

I got to wait and see if has dropped was going to do it between 7 months to a year didn't want to stress him out straight after from being weaned from his mother, just stuck on what to do, it's also trying to find a yard that would take a Colt is becoming a problem x

 

[MishaKing]

Thank you for the advice see how it goes when asking around xx

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Maybe contact local Studs and see if they will do youngstock livery?

 

[MishaKing]

Thank you everyone xxx