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Author Topic: Gelding mounting mare  (Read 17220 times)

TRUFFLE

  • Joined May 2009
Gelding mounting mare
« on: June 15, 2011, 06:31:11 pm »
Hi horsey folks  :wave:  I don't know masses about horses - would love to have one of my own but not enough time or money at the moment so I'm afraid I'm just a turn up, get on, enjoy, get off and go home, type at the moment. 

Anyway, have a question to ask, as it has polarised my two mates, who are both horsey people.  Is it "normal" for a gelding to mount a mare?  One party says it is, the other says it isn't and I just don't know!!  The reason we want to know is that it has been happening with a loan gelding (who is shoed) and an elderly mare.  They have obviously been separated now, but it has sparked some discussion. Any views appreciated!

AengusOg

  • Guest
Re: Gelding mounting mare
« Reply #1 on: June 15, 2011, 07:12:45 pm »
It is normal for geldings to mount mares. Some are able to copulate with mares, but that is quite unusual. It is most likely to happen when horses are fairly new to each other, and shouldn't go on past a couple of months.

Some mares in season will solicit geldings mercilessly, whether the gelding is the mounting type or not, so that doesn't help.

As long as no-one is getting hurt or harassed, it should be fine to let them have a bit of fun, don't you think?;)

shetlandpaul

  • Joined Oct 2008
Re: Gelding mounting mare
« Reply #2 on: June 15, 2011, 09:21:40 pm »
as long as he is not a new gelding. our young colt foal was trying to be very romantic with some of our shetlands at a week old. brutus our gelding stays with the girls and is not intrested in them that way. however when one of our colts visited unoffically he showed him he was still a stalion at heart.

TRUFFLE

  • Joined May 2009
Re: Gelding mounting mare
« Reply #3 on: June 15, 2011, 09:41:55 pm »
Thanks for replies guys - I suspected that it was probably fairly normal.  I'm a cattle person, and our steers will still mount cows / heifers when they're in season, so I didn't think it would be much different with horses.  The gelding isn't young (probably late teens), but just a typical bloke who (when he isn't eating - fat lad this one!!) just wants to have fun.  A pint of Carling would probably round his day off just nicely!! 

Anyway, what I have also been meaning to ask is what does AengusOg stand for??? Having followed posts around the AS forum for a short while, you are obviously the horse Guru, but can't work out where the name comes from?!  ??? ;D

Roxy

  • Joined May 2009
  • Peak District
    • festivalcarriages.co.uk
Re: Gelding mounting mare
« Reply #4 on: June 16, 2011, 12:45:18 am »
My gelding is in with 4 mares (lucky boy) and when they are season, he knows about it.  I have watched him, and he seems to think he ought to be doing something, but what?  What he usually does is curl his top lip, and then show his teeth as if he is laughing.

I have an intact male llama, who persistantly mounts our 11.2hh gelding.  I have threatened the put the fiesty mare in with him.  She would not stand his nonsense!!

AengusOg

  • Guest
Re: Gelding mounting mare
« Reply #5 on: June 16, 2011, 06:48:27 pm »
HaHa...I don't know about horse guru, but Aengus Og is Celtic in origin.

Angus Og MacDonald was self-styled Lord of the Isles at the time of Robert the Bruce. He saw himself as equal to the king and, although he never swore fealty to him, he did aid Bruce in his defence of Scotland against Edward 1 of Englandshire, by bringing his fleet of galleys into play when the occasion required it.

There was a cartoon strip in the Daily Record at one time, which featured Angus Og, along with such characters such as 'the spey wife', Lachie (Mhor, I think), and others whom I can't remember. Strangely enough, I was speaking to a woman recently whose uncle was the cartoon artist for Angus Og.

Aengus Og is actually the name of my 5yr old piebald gelding. I wanted a gaelic/celtic sort of name for him and it had to start with the letter 'A'. Through my scribblings on several equine forums, I have become Aengus Og. :D

TRUFFLE

  • Joined May 2009
Re: Gelding mounting mare
« Reply #6 on: June 16, 2011, 08:22:00 pm »
Aengus Og - that's hilarious! I love it!   We have a rocking horse called "Oor Wullie" after the old Scottish Sunday Post comic strip. (I know this isn't normal TAS territory, but you can't help but investigate all of life's lovely little quirks!)  Anyway, back to some serious, sensible posts now.........! ;D

skidley

  • Joined Jan 2010
  • On the Marsh, Kent
    • Fairview Ginger Pigs
Re: Gelding mounting mare
« Reply #7 on: June 18, 2011, 04:39:00 pm »
Both of our dexters will mount each other and my 15.2 gypsy cob gelding, quite persistent they are but he doesn't seem to mind! All 3 of the donkey gelding will all mount each other too.

suziequeue

  • Joined Feb 2010
  • Llanidloes; Powys
Re: Gelding mounting mare
« Reply #8 on: June 19, 2011, 07:28:53 am »
I am not a horse person any more but mounting os also a dominance thing.
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Micki

  • Joined Jan 2008
  • North Notts
    • Facebook
Re: Gelding mounting mare
« Reply #9 on: June 20, 2011, 12:35:59 pm »
I have a 13.2hh gelding that has been mounting my 15.1hh mare. It only happens when she is in season. Neither are getting injured so i don't worry about it as he has been gelded for 18 months.

ellied

  • Joined Sep 2010
  • Fife
    • Facebook
Re: Gelding mounting mare
« Reply #10 on: June 24, 2011, 08:01:15 am »
Most geldings don't bother to mount mares but a few will and that's why most livery yards separate the sexes into separate turnout herds..

If you don't know the history of the gelding then it is possible he is a rig (castration not completely effective and some testicular tissue still producing hormones internally) in which case he might show other riggy/stallionish behaviours such as herding, aggressive territorial guarding etc and would be fertile which is why your other friend is worried.

I had a late cut gelding (cut at 6) who once penetrated a mare about 3 months after castration when first allowed to run with my mares and geldings - he had a strange expression which seemed like confusion, he'd been desperate to do this all his life and suddenly got the chance and it wasn't meeting expectations ;)  He never did it again but was quite a herding type who loved being the big man and boss of other geldings for life (I had him to 17).  None of my others has ever done it in over 20 years so I'd be wary and also separate them particularly if he is shod - whether fertile or just annoying, shoes can do alot of bruising particularly if he flails about while up there..

Roxy the lipcurling you describe is called Flehmen, the way a horse intensifies strange or interesting smells by enclosing the sample within the nostril area and raising the head.  All equines do it but it is particularly strong behaviour in stallions as they need to know when a mare is releasing hormones that tell him they are starting to come into season.  Getting it wrong with a mare's cycle can be a painful mistake ;) so they're constantly testing and comparing internal notes to get the best chance of safely approaching and breeding..  Youngsters also do it a lot as so many smells are new and interesting to them ;)
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deniseg4

  • Joined Aug 2011
Re: Gelding mounting mare
« Reply #11 on: August 12, 2011, 11:45:53 am »
I was just reading this post and it reminded me of a story a friend once told me - her and her hubby had gone out to the field late one lovely  June evening to check on the horses before bed.  All was peaceful and Joe, their gorgeous TBX was eyeing up one of the mares at the opposite side of the electric fence.  The mare was in season and was acting rather flirtatious, and as she turned her quarters towards him Joe decided his luck was in and went for gold!  Unfortunately as he was mounting the lovely lady, he caught him wanger on the electric fencing.  All hell ensued as he tried to escape,  as got even more tangled and pulled out several posts in his desperation to stop being zapped.  Thankfully, no one was hurt in the process.

My highland mare spent last summer copulating with a highland boy in his twenties, who pretended to be too old and tired to carry a person around most of the time (even the unfortunate 9 year old who had him on loan)  :horse:

monkeysox

  • Joined Jun 2011
  • Colchester, Essex
Re: Gelding mounting mare
« Reply #12 on: August 12, 2011, 12:34:40 pm »
My gelding mounts mares and is more than "capable of doing the deed" as it were! He was gelded late in life and is very riggy around mares. For this reason he is always kept with another gelding however he does treat him as a mare and herds him etc. They are quite happy though.

 :horse: :horse:

lachlanandmarcus

  • Joined Aug 2010
  • Aberdeenshire
Re: Gelding mounting mare
« Reply #13 on: August 12, 2011, 01:22:49 pm »
My 18 yo IDxTB gelding is a classic rig, he is very opinionated and beats up anything that comes in his field, horse, sheep, pheasant or whatever (and tries it with unwary humans) and will mount mares if he has the chance. After beating upn everything in the livery yard we used to live in he ended up next to his friends rather than in the same field as them as we ran out of willing victims! But he seems happier that way and can still groom with my mare over the fence.

TheCaptain

  • Joined May 2010
Re: Gelding mounting mare
« Reply #14 on: August 24, 2011, 12:58:57 pm »
Our 'gelding' turned out to be a gelding with one testicle still intact.  Explains his keenness for mounting the two mares!  However, back to the dominance thing - Gracy, our 2 yr old NF loves to mount our 12 y.o. shetland mare...

 

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