“Three mini horses for sale. Cheap. Stallions.”
“I’m having trouble with my mini. He’s rearing and biting. He’s not gelded.”
“Free to a good home. Pony stallion. He’s causing trouble with my other horses.”
“Can you take in any more stallions? I’ve got a couple that I need to get rid of and I can’t seem to sell them.”
Have you seen the above statements in ads or comments on Facebook? I see them all the time, and the harsh reality is that these little guys are hard to sell and rarely go to a good home. In the first month of Sanctuary operation, we took in two intact males and were offered three or four more if we had room for them.
The fact of the matter is that miniature horse and pony stallions are just that. Stallions. And stallions need to be handled differently, or they will develop behavioural issues. Stallions come full of testosterone and they know they are intact males on a mission. Just because they are small and cute doesn’t mean they aren’t stallions, with all the accompanying issues. Imagine putting horse-sized testosterone into a 30 – 40” tall body!
Many people don’t geld their minis because they think they are too small to breed the big mares, so why put out the cost of gelding. (News Flash! A mini stallion can still breed a big mare – they are experts at batting their eyelashes and getting the mares to lay down for them!) But effective stallion management requires that they be kept separate from the mares (and often geldings as well, depending on how aggressive the stallion is), that they be trained to control their hormones and that they not be allowed to develop bad habits that quickly move from just bad to dangerous.
Please, if you are not a professional breeder of miniature horses and ponies, GELD YOUR BOYS!
The only reason to keep a male horse intact is for the purpose of breeding, and with the market flooded with unwanted miniatures, there is really no reason to have a breeding stallion unless you are a professional with good bloodlines or are trying to preserve a rare breed. The backyard pet does not need to keep his balls.
Trust me, they will be far easier to sell if you geld them. You will have less behavioural issues if you geld them. You will be able to keep them with other animals without worrying about them injuring the other animals if you geld them. They will be less bitey and will rear less if you geld them.
We have had two stallions on our property since February, and believe me, the testosterone was thick enough to cut with a knife. Rocky and Pinky had to be separated from each other and the other horses. We had to be constantly vigilant when in their enclosures because they could go from sweet and cuddly to testosterone monsters in mere seconds. Stallions are aggressive by nature because that is how they survive in the wild. Just because they are small does not mean they don’t have that instinct. At the Sanctuary for the last couple months, all it took was a call from Pinky across the yard to set Rocky to running around his pen, kicking. Pinky is young, but he has already started trying to take his sexual frustration out on the goats. And heaven forbid a mare should walk by! A rearing mini is only cute until you take a hoof somewhere.
Because we know how to read their body language and provide necessary discipline as well as location management, it has not been a problem having these little guys at the Sanctuary. However, we scheduled their gelding as soon as possible, and were looking forward to the much more peaceful life that would come after gelding. Once they are gelded, they can be slowly introduced to each other and to other friends, so their life will no longer be solitary, and we will be able to include them in the fun activities at our open house days and petting zoos.
The boys were gelded over the Easter weekend by Dr. Carman Langevin, our Sanctuary vet, and already we have noticed a difference. They still have to stay separated for ten days as they can breed during this time, but after the ten days is up, we will be starting the process of introducing them to each other.
If you take nothing else away from this blog post, please take away this important message: Geld your boys. You will find geldings to be much more fun to have around your farm, and if you ever are in a situation that requires you to sell one of them, you will find far more people interested in buying your baby and giving him a good home. For his sake and yours, he does not need his balls.