Raising a Stud Colt

Can you offer any general guidelines on how raising and handling a young stud would differ from raising fillies?
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Q. I have bred my first colt this year and thus far have followed handling practices we have used on our previous two filly foals with great success. We have a beautiful Welsh Section C colt who is unafraid of most things, is very people friendly, will pick up all his feet for you, doesn’t bite, and enjoys a walk on a headcollar. No issues, no problems. But he is now 5 months old. With a filly I would simply keep going with current activities, play, leading work, etc., until age 2, when some harder work starts–bitting, longeing, etc. But I would like to keep this colt for future breeding and, being fully aware that stallions need slightly different handling, I have searched and searched for advice, a training program to follow, a step-by-step guide, or just some narrative from someone who has been there and done it! I’ve bought lots of foal books from Amazon and from eBay, but none have separate sections on raising a stallion, so it’s all to no avail I’m afraid.

I run a small herd of goats, and if I bring a male on for breeding, it is really important that play is curtailed and a fairly strict regime is put in place, so that in the future you don’t finish up with a dangerous billy! I don’t want to make mistakes with my colt. Can you offer any general guidelines on how raising and handling a young stud would differ from raising fillies?

Isobel


A.  These are all good questions, and it’s surprising you can’t find much written advice on rearing colts. I’ll try to address some of the specific issues you raised and some of the general guidelines

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Sue M. McDonnell, PhD, is a certified applied animal behaviorist and the founding head of the equine behavior program at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine. She is also the author of numerous books and articles about horse behavior and management.

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