I have a 13 year old warmblood gelding I lease that I absolutley love. Not known to be the most gentlemanly of geldings on the ground or under saddle(he has this very random nasty spin on him, but we are keeping it to a minimum), but he is an all around well behaved show horse. He lives in a row of very reasonably priced full cover 24X24 pens, of which is absolutley perfect for him. He has lived next to a mare for a few months now, and whenever she goes into heat his behavior turns absolutley awful. It’s like dealing with a stud. He isn’t mean to people, but once you take him away from his stall he is a nervous wreck in the cross ties. Rearing, bucking, screaming, striking out, ect. It has him all over the place, so riding is almost impossible. My stall is the only one I can afford, and the person with the mare next to my horse is unwilling to move her. Currently we don’t have any open stalls either. Is there anything I can give my horse or do with him to make him less like a protective hormonal teenage girl? Because honestly, if I wanted to ride a stud I would have bought one lol.
he’s not acting like a stallion, he’s acting like he has no manners installed in him.
Stallion behavior is instinctive, not hormonal. The hormones provide the fuel for the behavior but even geldings have some hormone production that can result in low levels of “stallion-like” behavior.
I agree that you’ve also got a behavior/training issue. You can’t do anything about that instinctive behavior except train it.
G.
I disagree, this could be hormonal and some gelding receive a shot of depo to stop this behavior. If he was gelded late no amount of training may help. Talk to your vet. The shots costs about $500 but it is worth it for safety with some geldings. (for the year)
[QUOTE=melhorse;8187148]
I disagree, this could be hormonal and some gelding receive a shot of depo to stop this behavior. If he was gelded late no amount of training may help. Talk to your vet. The shot costs about $500 but it is worth it for safety with some geldings.[/QUOTE]
Late gelding may or may not be an issue. If you’ve got an aggressive stallion you’re likely to have an aggressive gelding. If you’ve got a laid back stallion then the gelding will also be the same. It’s the underlying temperment, more than the hormonal level, that is the key.
Over the years we’ve late gelded three stallions (all over 12 years of age). All were more “dominant” in the herd but not “aggressive.” That’s because they were well tempered and well trained as stallions.
This does not mean you can’t have an “outlier” but it does mean that this problem is likely amenable to training. Drugs may ultimately be required but ought to be a last resort not a first resort.
Of course the OP could try a trick used by a lot of stallion owners when having their horses in public and may run across mares in estrus. Put a little bit of Vicks Vapo-Rub in each nostril. This can over-ride the smell of a mare is estrus and thus not trigger “breeding” behavior in the gelding.
G.
[QUOTE=melhorse;8187148]
I disagree, this could be hormonal and some gelding receive a shot of depo to stop this behavior. If he was gelded late no amount of training may help. Talk to your vet. The shot costs about $500 but it is worth it for safety with some geldings.[/QUOTE]
$500 seems really high to me. A friend had her mare on depo every 3 weeks and I know she was not paying anywhere near $500 every 3 weeks. There is no way she could have afforded that even eating Ramen noodles at every meal.
A few years ago we gave my horse a shot of depo and I want to think it was more like $30 or $50 for the shot. I certainly would remember $500.
I don’t want anybody to see the $500 price and not ask about it thinking they can’t afford it. There are way too many horses that I know of that get this shot routinely and their owners are not made of money.
Some stallions can live quietly in the same barn as mares even with mares across the aisle. BUT, they are always alert for opportunity. This horse may be one that has a retained testicle, (that does happen when an owner is careless), or just one with a naturally high hormone levels. I can think of one I would not want to put out with mares, but who otherwise behaves well, and I know he lost two.
In your case I would speak to your vet or call the theriogenology dept at your veterinary school.
$500 for the year with vet fee’s not per shot sorry for confusion
[QUOTE=Guilherme;8187163]
Late gelding may or may not be an issue. If you’ve got an aggressive stallion you’re likely to have an aggressive gelding. If you’ve got a laid back stallion then the gelding will also be the same. It’s the underlying temperment, more than the hormonal level, that is the key.
Over the years we’ve late gelded three stallions (all over 12 years of age). All were more “dominant” in the herd but not “aggressive.” That’s because they were well tempered and well trained as stallions.
This does not mean you can’t have an “outlier” but it does mean that this problem is likely amenable to training. Drugs may ultimately be required but ought to be a last resort not a first resort.
Of course the OP could try a trick used by a lot of stallion owners when having their horses in public and may run across mares in estrus. Put a little bit of Vicks Vapo-Rub in each nostril. This can over-ride the smell of a mare is estrus and thus not trigger “breeding” behavior in the gelding.
G.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for that trick, G!! I’m going to mentally “file” that for the next time we’ve got a Randy Andy in the field who takes things a little too far with the girlfriends! 
Thank you for all of your answers! I know on the ground he is always polite. He knows his manners, and he’s not dangerous exactly to me in an aggressive way. He is just so nervous about being separated from her, but only when she is in heat. Other times, he actually dislikes her. My trainer suggested depo, and I am for sure going to look into it!! Thank you for your help.
Sounds like he’s herd bound…
I had one that became an idiot when separated from his “friends”…
Another horse I have tested positive to Anti Mullarian hormone and had high testosterone levels. He had exploratory cryptorchid surgery. They found testicular tissue and removed it. But his behavior sometimes continued. He is a quiet sweet guy but when I had him in a pasture with other horses he became herd sour. He can get panicky and claustrophobic. It would make me nuts when people would say “he’s just got bad manners.” When he went to the vet hospital or others would handle him they were quick to realize he could be special in the brain. When he’s in work he is much better… He had a surgery a few months back and the vet gave him Flufedazine and he was AMAZING for just over a month… not that I would use that for anything but a surgery type situation…
I think I would talk to your vet about him… I would work to separate him from his girlfriend 
