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A stallion standing up. A stallion is a male horse that has not been gelded ().Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cresty" neck, as well as a somewhat more muscular physique as compared to female horses, known as mares, and castrated males, called geldings.
When a male horse thought to be a gelding exhibits aggressive or sexual behavior, cryptorchidism is suspected. Sometimes, a horse with an unknown medical history is actually a stallion with both testicles retained. [2] An alternate definition of ridgling is a partially castrated horse. [1]
When young horses reach breeding maturity, the terms change: a filly over three (four in horse racing) is called a mare, and a colt over three is called a stallion. A castrated male horse is called a gelding regardless of age; however, colloquially, the term "gelding colt" is sometimes used until a young gelding is three or four.
An adult male horse, if left intact, is called either a "stallion" if used for breeding, or a horse (sometimes full horse); if castrated, it is called a gelding. In some cases, particularly informal nomenclature, a gelding under four years is still called a colt.
The male parent of a horse, a stallion, is commonly known as the sire and the female parent, the mare, is called the dam. [1] Both are genetically important, as each parent genes can be existent with a 50% probability in the foal. Contrary to popular misuse, "colt" refers to a young male horse only; "filly" is a young female.
A male horse is often gelded to make him better-behaved and easier to control. Gelding can also remove lower-quality animals from the gene pool. [7] To allow only the finest animals to breed on, while preserving adequate genetic diversity, only a small percentage of all male horses should remain stallions.
A stud fee is a price paid by the owner of a female animal, such as a horse or a dog, to the owner of a male animal for the right to breed to it.Service fees can range from a small amount for a local male animal of unknown breeding to several hundred thousand dollars for the right to breed a champion Thoroughbred race horse such as Storm Cat, who has earned stud fees of up to US $500,000.
3. A male horse, particularly an uncastrated male horse. [8]: 249 horse blanket, blanket (US), rug (UK), sheet A body covering made for horses that covers the animal's body from chest to rump, usually kept on the horse by buckles at the chest by buckles and by adjustable straps passing under the belly and sometimes around the hind legs.