# There's something about mare-y - geldings being horny!?



## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

Not sure I shouldn't have put this under breeding...

In all my years of keeping horses, I have very frequently had mares & geldings together, and only very rarely have I seen a gelding that would mount a mare. Now I have 3 of them! Have they learned from eachother??

I have 5 boys of various ages & one mare. She joined my mob of 3 at xmas nearly a year ago, my horse became very possessive of her, but was apparently not the least interested sexually in her. Nor were the ponies. I got a 3yo pony rescue a month or so later, who also showed no interest sexually.

Then I told of getting the last of my mob at Easter & he(Zac) & my horse(Nook) became raging feral stallions with eachother, fighting over her. Then Zac was sprung mating with her for real, when Nook was out of the paddock! Never seen the other 3 show interest in her.

Those 2 boys are now good friends and we've just taken them & Whinny away camping together - only thing is, in the stock crate, Nook MUST be between Zac & Whinny or he chucks a tantie! She's in season ATM, it's Spring & Zac has mated with her a couple of times, to Nook's horror, but they're all fine together.

Got home last night, Nook & Zac were left in the house yard being fed & Whinny finished her meal first & went into the paddock where ponies eagerly waiting... only to have 2 of them fight over her & the (now)4yo boy mount & mate her a few times, before one of the others chased him off & had a go too!

So... what the?? If I hadn't had many horses live together over many decades & rarely seen this behaviour from geldings, I'd take it for normal, but just how common is it??


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## rambo99 (Nov 29, 2016)

At one time i had a mare and 2 geldings it seems to be a thing for the geldings to mount breed the mare in heat. Spring is the worst time for that,my geldings soon lost interest in the mare. There was some fighting and chasing each other around for who got to mount/breed the mare. When things got to out of hand, i would keep the mare in a paddock by herself till she went out of heat. Mine thought they were wild stallions.


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

It sounds as if Zac has claimed her as his own and when he's not around to fend off the other geldings they have to take advantage. 


My old guy had two girlfriends in his lifetime and neither were my mares. He could have cared less about the ones he lived with. I never knew what made those two special to him but if he had the opportunity he'd mount them and was willing to fight to the death if another gelding got in between him and her.


Currently in one of my herds I have 4 geldings and 1 mare. I've never seen any of the boys show any interest in her at any time. Thunder who used to be a breeding stallion but is now a gelding probably would try to breed a mare but he doesn't try it with his dam who is his pasture mate. They are their own herd of 2, not part of the herd of 5.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

It's fairly common and fairly easily managed if the behavior causes problems. You can a) separate them, b) Regumate the mare or c) Regumate the geldings.


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## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

I've not seen any mounting out of Sarge... but he doesn't know he's not a stallion as far as trying to hoard up a little band of mares. As big as he is, we're guessing he was proud cut.

And right now Gina is in season.

And since he can't stand to be more than 2 feet from her at any given moment - he is living in the pasture behind the house, she's across the road on the 75 with Oops and Outback. 

They are missing one another, tremendously. He thinks she's his lady and he'll 'hook up' at least emotionally/romantically with about any mature mare or older filly that passes by. It's annoying and he gets downright obnoxious with it, and then he wants to challenge other geldings for just looking their way - which is problematic when we go on rides with groups. I've had to check him a few times for trying to start ish with other geldings around Gina. 

Dude... I do NOT want get kicked in the side of my knee... knock it the flip off, bro.

Edit: I have seen him not just drop, but uhm. Stand at attention... for mares. Ahem.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Hence the reasoning behind not mixing girls & boys, sometimes you luck out, sometimes the boys get bewitched. You mix the two genders, you takes your chances.


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## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

Yeah, but Sarge gets bewitched at first sight.

He's like, You had me at hello! With every mare. 


So he's batching it out back now. Superman and Trigger are in the small adjoining pasture so he's not alone-alone. He has those two to hang out with, just on each side of their fence.


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

waresbear said:


> Hence the reasoning behind not mixing girls & boys, sometimes you luck out, sometimes the boys get bewitched. You mix the two genders, you takes your chances.


Yeah, I've heard people say that. Just that in around 30 years of horse owning, keeping horses in mixed herds(living reasonably naturally on large acreage), I've never had a problem & only seen one 'issue', which was a fellow agistee's gelding mounted one of the mares & the mare's owner had conniptions(horses were all fine, no probs) & called gelding a rig & got property owner to force gelding owner to get a vet to confirm he was a gelding & to pay for a pregnant test... There have only been a couple of other geldings in all that time ive known to even try to mount - so I'm surprised to hear @DreamCatcher say it's fairly common(& didn't kno ppl gave geldings regumate - what does it do, opposite of viagra I spose?).

My boy Nook, & others I've known, mares or geldings, do get very attached to particular horses, male or female. Nook has been inseparable from the older(only boy aside from Nook not actually getting sexy with Whinny) pony... until Whinny came along. I remember my first horse when I was a teen was very attached to the mare he lived with & she was a floosey when in season, was very... assertive with him about what she wanted but he never failed to look utterly disgusted at her behaviour! :lol:

Yeah @JC&Grace, it's Nook who has claimed Whinny but he's not interested(or no idea how to...) sexually. When Nook is away though, is when Zac has had his way with her. And the other boys I suppose only got a look in because both others were out. It's interesting that Zac is (very)submissive to everyone else in the herd though, including my welsh mountain pony, except when he was new & fighting with Nook.


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## DanteDressageNerd (Mar 12, 2015)

My mare could get ANY gelding and even mares to mount her. I don't know what it was about her. She didn't become that way until her and Wonder were turned out together. Wonder's papers say he was gelded as a 6yr old. She also made the geldings very aggressive. Wonder became VERY stallion like with biting and being a bit nasty with others horses and people. He bit her throat and since they were separated hasnt' displayed that behavior since and is really sweet with other horses and ponies. it's very strange. She also made another gelding behave exactly the same and he's a big, dumb gelding who has NEVER shown any kind of studly behavior. So it very well could be the mare has some scent or pheromone that is making the boys wild. My mare is the only mare I've seen make geldings crazy, besides some friesian cross mares who when in heat would pee down the aisle. 

Also note this mare has this affect even when she isnt in heat and will let geldings and mares mount her season round. We say she is a try-sexual. Try anything :lol:


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

loosie said:


> @DreamCatcher say it's fairly common(& didn't kno ppl gave geldings regumate - what does it do, opposite of viagra I spose?).


I ran into horses being Regumated at shows. It keeps them from being 'distracted'. It would be my very LAST choice for either horse, there are repercussions.


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