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Extremely unusual behavior by 2-year-old gelding with a goat.
Hello,
This is a very strange situation to me and I need some horse behavior advice.
I have a 2 year old gelding that I keep up in a paddock at night with his 7 year old dam and 2 pygmy goats. They have lived like this for the most part since he was born.
Tonight my husband and I heard one of the goats screaming. When he went out to check on her he found the gelding standing over the goat (who was flat on her back) and suckling on her teets. My husband had to be very aggressive in getting him off of her. The gelding was sweating like he was really worked up and the poor goat was traumatized.
How can you account for this strange behavior?
Thank you for your attention in this matter as I am sorely puzzled over it.
Sincerely, Donna
Hi Donna,
Strange but not unheard of actually. The gelding got confused somehow by something that happened in the paddock and then reverted into partly foal behavior as well as being sexually stimulated at the same time. That is why the sweating happened and the suckling. Sort of like infantile sexual behavior. You might need to keep the goats somewhere else for a while. Depending on when and how the gelding was weaned off the mare (if it ever was) is relevent as well. The gelding displayed some stallion like behavior with the goat. So, keep an eye on him for any more behavior like that.
Good Luck......
Sincerely, Franklin