Turnout next to stallion

[Mavis]

My 6 yr old gelding has become increasingly 'stallion like' in his behaviour lately, when being turned out/brought in. He is turned out alone, and to get to his field he has to be led up a walkway past a field of mares, who are invariably in season and flirting. He grows a couple of hands and passages up the walkway like a stallion, snorting, squealing, whinnying; neck arched, striking out, whipping round and half-rearing, all with half an eye on the girls. I don't think he is a rig - he certainly never displays any other stallion behaviour and when turned out with others behaves like a bottom-of-the-pecking order gelding.

It doesn't particularly bother me, aside from being irritating; but today I just discovered that his next door neighbour is a stallion (I know - it should have been obvious but the stallion is turned out in a field of icelandics who all look the same, belong to a different yard and who never cause any bother).

I wondered - could the stallion be the cause of my horses desire to assert his masculinity (or lack of) or is it just incidental that the stallion is there at all, and the mares at my yard are just too much to resist? There is nothing I can do about the presence of the stallion - I was just curious.

 

[hadfos]

I believe yes!!My lad was out with geldings,overnight a pony mare was put into his field(whilst he was stabled),we turned him out with another gelding next to his ex field with pony mare in it and he was vile....have never seen him behave sooo aggressively(not like him...and have had him all his life,13 now),!!I had to run in and split them up,before my lad plastered him all over the field

,mine is definately not a rig!!has since been split from mare(even though she is 12.2 and he is 17hh,pmsl

)and is actually dozing with the horse he attacked(in seperate fields...dont trust them together now,too risky),over the fence!!
I just hope said stallion is safely fenced in???As he will challenge him if he feels he is a threat

 

[Mavis]

well the 'safely fenced in' bit does p!ss me off a bit - I was under the impression a stallion should be double fenced - my horse is separated by a three strand plain wire fence with an electric strand on top, and apparently stallion owner will not double fence his side. Now that I know I might electric fence a secondary fence on my side just in case - not that anything has happened (yet).

 

[henryhorn]

Yes, he's being all bravado at the moment by the sound of it!
If he actually met face to face he would most likely be submissive.
Just ensure your fencing is very good, the stallion would inflict some dmage if they ever got together.

 

[Bossanova]

No- we have a stallion at home and he doesnt make the geldings any more macho!
Some geldings just do show off for the girls, my grey boy does and yet he has never shown any rig behaviour either.

 

[Stinkbomb]

My stallion is actually turned out with my gelding and they dont bother each other. My gelding hasnt changed his attitude since being with him ( that would require him to actually lift his head up off the floor and stop eating

) and there are horses turned out in the fields next door too. Were lucky i suppose in that none of them bother at all!