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barbara.gregory
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
4531 Posts |
 Posted - 07 Jul 2006 : 09:00:23 AM
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It is my gelding who is the aggressive one. I think that the colt didn't back down the day of the "horror" and that my gelding then chased him into a corner and just kicked hime to pieces.
Recently the farmer who delivers my haylage didn't tell me he was coming and opened the gates of the stallions field and left them open. As he hadn't told me he was coming the stallion was in his field, the stupid man knows there is a stallion loose in the field and has to let me know so that I can leave him in his stable. He crossed the road and jumped the fence into the mare and foal paddock and the old gelding was there. I suspect that the old gelding went at him as when I got back the gelding was hiding behind some trees absolutely terrified with several bite marks on his bum where he had had been chased. Fortunately my stallion has a kind nature and no real damage was done thank heavens as he could easily have killed him and I am sure if it had been the other way round he would have killed my stallion.
As you can imagine, I am livid woth the farmer as several of the mares had been kicked and the stallion had a few kicks and neighbours saw him covering mares but I have no idea if it was one mare several times or several mares so I had to have the vet out to jab them into season but as that doesn't always work I am wondering if I will be having unexpected foals just as I need to cut down on numbers.
I would never again keep a stallion with anything else as it doesn't have to be the stallion who causes the trouble but they will fight back with disastrous consequences. I did try him with one of the quiet mares but she was very fond of kicking him so that didn't work.
Barbara |
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Qui Gon Jinn
Platinum Member
Scotland
1627 Posts |
Posted - 07 Jul 2006 : 1:20:36 PM
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Oh Barbara,
What a disaster for you. It's awful when things go wrong, especially when they have been caused by someone else's stupidity. I do hope that everything has settled down for you now and are back to some form of normality.
Thankfully no one has access to my land except me, so that sort of situation wouldn't happen, but I guess there are so many other things that could go wrong. As I said before I'll leave my colt until next Spring (Vet has also advised to do so) and then decide for definite. I'm in the lucky position that I have assistance and backup from my husband but also have several good friends with Stallions who are only too willing to advise and assist if necessary.
Jayne |
The Soul would have no Rainbow....If the Eyes had shed no Tears. |
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barbara.gregory
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
4531 Posts |
Posted - 08 Jul 2006 : 08:25:28 AM
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Hi Jayne
No one else has access to my land without my permission. The farmer has been delivering my haylage for nearly a year now and knows that he has to tell me when he is coming so that I can keep the stallion in and he can leave the field gates open instead of having to keep opening and shutting them with a nosy stallion poking in.
Good luck with your colt. I love my stallion to bits but there is no doubt that they take a lot more looking after than mares or maybe I am just lucky with the mares I have as they are all very easy to keep and very loving.
In the end, we have to do what we think is right and it sounds like you have the facilities and back up to be able to keep him properly.
Barbara |
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moonfruit
Silver Member
England
475 Posts |
Posted - 08 Jul 2006 : 10:00:48 AM
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This has made really interesting reading. I have to say, my general opinion would be to geld unless you have the experience and importantly facilities for a stallion, but I keep horses to ride & for pleasure (and at livery) so a colt/stallion would never be an option for me.
Having said that, my first Arab was a stallion. I was 14 yrs old when i got him, and he was 5. Looking back, it almost seems mad to have bought a stallion -- I knew nothing about the implications of a stallion, had never handled one before nor had any experience of them really. But I was very lucky. Ilderim was the most placid horse around, well socialised & never any trouble. I'll never forget the day I turned him out by mistake in a field full of mares  I was the only person at the yard. But due to his exceptionally sweet nature, when I ran to get him he let me catch him & walked quietly away from the mares  He was never any trouble, but I had him gelded at 6 because he loved the company of other horses, and when we wanted to move him no yard would take him entire, unless we kept him locked up 24/7 which I would never do.
I have since encountered other stallions with fire & attitude, who would require experienced handling, and be way too much for me. The people I loaned my mare from had a beautiful colt. I met him when he was 6 months old, and he was so docile & sweet. When I saw him again he was 2 yrs old, and a totally different horse! He had realised what his dangly bits were for, and I certainly wouldn't have felt confident enough to deal with him. He was a real fireball, even though he had grown up on a yard with mares & geldings, and been turned out with geldings, apparently once he reached about 18 months old he had come into his own as a stallion, and despite his owners being very experienced breeders & handlers, even they were having some problems & were considering sending him away to a nearby stud with better facilities for keeping a stallion.
So, after all that rambling, I guess a lot of it just depends on the horse in question. Each horse is an individual, whether mare, gelding or stallion, and with colts perhaps it isn't until they are a bit older that you get a better picture of how easy (or hard) it will be to keep them entire.
Good luck with whatever decision you make, Sapphire. Your boy sounds lovely.  |
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