Possessive of mares - what to try next?

[CDR]

Most of the horses at the yard are turned out in one big field together although there are a couple that are separated, they do separate the mares and geldings in the summer though.

Bailey has been mounting the mares and become very possessive of them so that when people come to bring their horse in he doesn't want them to go and charges about which scares some of the liveries.

So I've cut his feed and dropped his weight a bit and changed from a mix to cubes - that was a couple of months ago and his behaviour hasn't improved.

Last week we tried putting him in a smaller paddock with a couple of other geldings but he's not settling, he paces up and down the fence all day.

The yard owner isn't sure what to try next and neither am I - HELP! Any suggestions??

[BEX101]

I dont think changing his feed will help, its a hormonal thing. Geldings still have testosterone in their system and can still have behaviour that we would more associate with stallions. Theres a herb called agnus-castus or also known as chasteberry. Monks used to use it to supress sexuall urges (only works on men) you should be able to get it from most herbalists but there may also be a "horsey" supplement out there too.

[CDR]

Thanks. When I changed his feed he had been a bit lively when being ridden too and he's now fine so I think the feed change helped with that but obviously not with this issue.

I had a look in the tack shop today and found something called 'rig stop' - it's meant to calm geldings when in the presence of mares so I'll give it a try!

[My Crazy Clan]

You could always have him tested for being a rig first before you add a supplement like this first.