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| Discussion on Help! Colt Trying To Go Over Stall Partition | |
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Posted on Saturday, Aug 17, 2002 - 10:45 am: Just this past week, for some inexplicable reason, my 18-month old stud colt (soon to be gelded as soon as hot weather breaks) has begun rearing up & apparently trying to get over the 7-foot-high tongue-&-groove board stall partition separating him from my 10-year old gelding. He doesn't seem to be doing it out of aggression - ears are up, etc., & at first, the gelding just treated it like "play", but now is beginning to get pissed off & pins his ears, & bites at the colt's head.My biggest concern about this sudden weird behavioral onslaught is that this colt is not only really SLAMMING into those tongue-&-groove boards, but seems to be trying to hook his legs over the top, & I am becoming anxious that something is going to break soon - either the colt, those boards, or my gelding's patience. So far, strong verbal admonishment, a tap on the rump with a dressage whip, & even a brief squirt with the hose haven't seemed to diminish this nonsense. (The "hose squirt" was given when he was doing this stuff while the gelding was turned out & I was in his stall filling his buckets.) A stall change isn't possible, as everyone else in the barn is a girl, which obviously would be asking for this behavior. Can anyone shed any light on why this might have suddenly come about & what I might be able to do about it without escalating the punishment unreasonably? He's been interested in "girls" for quite some time now, so I don't think it's plain sexual maturity. Thanks for any ideas guys - I'd really like to squelch this before there's an accident. And since this is a sale colt, it would be nice if I had a chance to sell him before he kills himself.  Bonnie |
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