From: Tammy Denise
I have an eleven month old colt named Shorty. I first met Shorty when he was four months old in the stables of a friend. I really liked his looks and was considering making a deposit on him, but Shorty was shy and didn't want to be around people even though he had been imprinted at birth and handled every day thereafter. This unusual behavior led me to pass him over and make a downpayment on a filly instead. When I returned five months later to pick up my filly I gave Shorty a second look. He was gorgeous, but still had the same negative attitiude toward people. Don't get me wrong.... He was as obedient and well trained as any of the other youngsters. He didn't kick or bite, he would practically hand you his feet, and he was a doll to catch and lead, but he made it clear to all of us that he hated the whole ordeal and only obeyed because he had to. Shorty was so handsome that I just couldn't pass him over twice. So, I purchased him and brought him home totally convinced that I could cure his attitude problem.
I worked with him diligently for two months and saw no change in his temperament. While our other horses lined up to get pats and hugs Shorty sulked in the corner of the pasture, and he practically pouted his way through each training session. Then one day a miraculous change occured. Shorty began following me around the pasture and stood happily while I rubbed him down and showered him with affection. At first I thought aliens had abducted my Shorty and replaced him with a more loveable replica, but common sense told me that something physical rather than phsycological had changed my horse's mind. The culprits were quickly identified by a brief physical exam. Shorty had dropped his testicles.
Since that time Shorty has been a loving and joyful companion and student, but his behavior toward our other horses has taken an extreme turn for the worse. He is rude and pesky and has become a constant torment to every living thing in the pasture. To make matters worse he has singled out my filly, who has been his stable mate from birth, to pour the majority of his mischief onto. He chases her around the pasture, bites her on the rump and neck, and displays mock mating behaviors toward her almost constantly. Seperating the two of them is not an option because I have only one section of pasture for everyone to exerscise in. The big question is should I save my Filly's sanity by gelding Shorty now, or take advantage of his new personable attitude towards me and wait a few months?
I think you ought to talk to your vet about this - but unless it's already fly season where you are, your vet will probably prefer to geld the colt as soon as possible. The longer you put off the surgery, the harder it will be on the colt.
In the meantime, though, you have some other things to think about. The very first thing you need to do is separate the colt and filly. Do it NOW, or those "aliens" are going to come back and leave you an interesting surprise in about eleven months. If you don't have enough room to separate these two animals now, what on earth are you going to do for additional space next year, if your filly drops a foal?
If these two have been stablemates since your colt was born and he is is now almost a year old, the filly must be the same age or a little bit older. The "mock mating behaviours" you're seeing are mock - they are the real thing, and some fillies do mature sexually in their yearling year. Just because a filly begins cycling does not mean that it's a good idea to breed her as a yearling!
If you don't have enough space for multiple pastures in which your horses can be turned out safely, then you'll need to make other arrangements. Older horses can be turned out in shifts (daytime for some, nighttime for others), but you may need to find space on someone else's property for your youngstock, at least for a year or two. The best management for prevention of early, unwanted pregnancy is to separate colts and fillies before they all become yearlings, but young horses need to be outdoors, moving freely, to develop properly. This means that if you're going to have youngstock, you must find safe, appropriate space for them, whether it's on your own land or on someone else's. Right now is a good time for you to find pastures elsewhere for your young horses - a mare pasture for your filly, and a gelding pasture for your colt. Talk to horse-breeders in your area and find out what your options are.
Don't forget that even after Shorty has been gelded, you'll need to keep him separated from the filly - or any other fillies and/or mares - for at least six weeks, so that you won't run any more risks of surprise foals next year.
Attitude in horses, like attitude in humans, is partly a matter of nature, partly a matter of nurture, and partly a matter of circumstance. A youngster out of a pleasant mare and by a pleasant stallion is always going to be a better bet than a youngster, no matter how cute, out of an unpleasant mare and/or by an unpleasant stallion. A well-handled youngster is always going to be a better bet than one that has either been completely ignored, or one that has been confined and over-handled. By "well-handled" youngster, I mean one that has been handled well, not just one that has been handled extensively. Quality counts.
No weanling foal is truly a training prospect, though - it's a PROSPECTIVE training prospect, meaning that after it's been given a couple of years of good management and appropriate handling, it will BECOME a training prospect. Baby horses don't have the attention span to tolerate "training sessions". Aside from being reminded regularly (once or twice a week, for ten or fifteen minutes at a time, is PLENTY) of their basic manners (leading, standing quietly for vet and farrier, etc.), your youngsters should be spending their time turned out in a large field, being taught their manners by other horses.
Your filly should be getting her behaviour-and-deportment lessons from older mares. Your colt, who should have learned his early lessons from his mother and the other mares in the herd, should be getting his behaviour-and-deportment from older geldings - now, and also later, after he has been gelded. Put your filly out with the mares, put your soon-to-be-gelding out with the geldings, and then you can relax and focus on yourself, your riding, and all of the other things you've been putting on the "back burner".
Jessica
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