Okay, this is weird (warning - pg13)

[Terri]

I let my guys out of the barn to play in the snow now that the wind and snow has died down. I have 2 paddocks, one on the side and one in the back of the the barn. In the side are the mare and Erin's little paso Manito. Out back I have my two pasos, Mico (who is all of 14hs if his hooves haven't been trimmed for a while) and Rio and a 15 very typy quarter horse named Prince. He is all muscle and bulk and moves and looks like a tank.
Well everybody wanted to play! Except for Nieta who kept going back in the barn. The little princess thought it was too cold and yucky out there. Poor Manito kept running up and down the fence wanting to play with the big boys. I've never put him out there because Prince is so much bigger.
The 3 in the back paddock started to play and play hard. Lots of snow and hooves flying everywhere. They were rearing and pawing and having a grand time ....until......I couldn't believe this..... Mico mounted Prince! :shock: I know male dogs do this to show dominance, is the same true for horses? And Prince just tolerated it. Keep in mind, Mico is little, I think he had to stand on a snow bank to succeed. I yelled at him to get down and "play" ended shortly after.
geeze... horses!

[motorgypsy]

All mammals "practice" on the same sex and lots of other things too. It's extemely common in both genders which is why all this gay stuff seems so silly. Young (teenage) mammals will try it on anything before they figure out the way things work. Our female cats and female goats mount each other, our young colt will mount most anything, a mini colt "loved" his round bale and his big Perelli ball, a young TW stallion loved his roundbale too, and really "got off" on sheath cleaning. If a willing member of the opposite sex is not available they look for a substitute and it can get really hilarious at times

[Carol Nelson]

Very normal... :smile:

[Barbwire]

All animals live by the creedo:

If it feels good, do it!

:lol:

[cowboy ed]

......which is why all this gay stuff seems so silly. ??? care to explain that, nancy? :-?

[ErinC]

I will venture to guess she is just trying to say that it is a natural thing.
Animals have done it from the get go!

if nature does it!

:-? :-? :-?

((disclaimer::
this is not my take on a Gay relationship, I will not even get into that on here!!!))

[motorgypsy]

As educators we've seen, in particular young boys, but it also happens with young girls, branding themselves "gay" if they at some time in their young lives are attracted to a member of the same sex. They're not acting on these feelings but they feel terrible guilt and lonliness about them. We're not talking about those who are born with some mixed signals, we're talking normal kids. Now these are teens and many times young teens. Sure there are lucky young guys that girls chase from the day they are born but there are many the girls don't chase and many teen girls who aren't successful with guys. It's reasonable assumption that if mammals of all the other species "try it" on members of the same sex, telephone poles. round bales, etc. before they get it right, that it takes some time for young humans to get things right also and although they "know" who they're "supposed to be attracted to", things get confused at that age when you have raging hormones and noone of the right gender to try them out on. So our advice to these kids is "Don't put yourself in a box. You know society and many religions frown on same sex relationships but they also frown on adultary, unmarried relationships and so on. Give yourself some time to grow up and form real relationships with members of the opposite sex before you brand yourself "gay" and forever cursed to be "different".

So this is what WE mean by the "gay thing". You don't geld a colt because he fools with his Perelli ball and you don't ostracize a 14 year old boy who feels a brief attraction to a male friend or other male. You let them grow up and hope that your colt finds a mare more attractive than his Parelli ball and that the 14 year old realizes that teen hormones make you crazy and finds the lady love of his life!

[ErinC]

well said!

[Terri]

Wow, I don't think Mico thought about all that. :shock: Mico was gelded late, even had a brief fling with a mare (Erin owns the result) so I don't think he was confused. I do suspect he was showing dominance over the larger horse in some rough and tumble play. Afterward they all just stood there and looked at each other (Rio looked embarassed) and quit playing. Prince tried to come in the barn. Mico is clearly the Alpha horse, which seems silly since he is such a pint size thing, and ascerts that leadership every day in multiple ways. This is just the first time I saw this.

[Monty]

Height has nothing to do with being ALpha in a herd - our "little ", 14 hand ( if he stands tall) Cody a BLM Mustang lets everyone know he is alpha - He can spin and kick on a dime and does when he wants to assert his dominance - at least he "thinks" he is the leader in the pen with Monty !
Until he gets in Monty's way or he has had enough - Monty doesn't fight he "bulldozes" Cody aside with his weight - plows him out of the way ! ROFL
But, at the other barn - didn't matter who you put Cody in with or how many - he was alpha !

[Jasfino]

I've seen our geldings display the same behavior. I think it is a combination of dominance/play. Ours rear and fight as well and noone gets hurt unless you count maybe the losers' feelings.

[motorgypsy]

Oh they rear at each other all the time but they also get other ideas too. It's really common even with geldings. But then our gelding was gelded normally at age 1 and we caught him with Chinook. At least we didn't get an offspring from that hanky panky! :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Trail Rider]

I don't buy into your rational about if mammals do it then humans can do it MG. If you leave sibling mammals together they will mate also. That does not mean that humans should do the same thing. Humans were given the ability to reason and make decisions based on knowledge learned from education or experience.

I personally do not believe that educators should be teaching "don't put youself in a box". Neither do I criticize people for their chose. I do not know if there are hormonial reasons for choosing to be gay or not. Some research indicates that there is. I just do not believe that because other mammals do it means that it is only logical that humans do it. We have the ability to reason and make decisions.

[Jane Hurl]

Can't agree with you, Larry. Just because humans "have the ability to reason" and can "make decisions" doesn't mean they don't have raging hormones.

Further, though most of us had parents who instilled proper morals in us, there are kids out there who do not. You mentioned that, "If you leave sibling mammals together they will mate also". So will sibling homo sapiens if they don't learn the mores of our culture and are left together into their teens.

I'm with the Motorgypsies.