A colt is a young
male
Male (Planet symbols, symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or Egg cell, ovum, in the process of fertilisation. A male organism cannot sexual repro ...
horse
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...
, usually below the age of four years.
Description
The term "colt" only describes young male horses and is not to be confused with
foal, which is a horse of either sex less than one year of age. Similarly, a
yearling is a horse of either sex between the ages of one and two. A young female horse is called a
filly, and a
mare once she is an adult animal. In
horse racing, particularly for
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...
s in the United Kingdom, a colt is defined as an uncastrated male from the age of two up to and including the age of four.
The term is derived from
Proto-Germanic
Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic languages, Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages.
Proto-Germanic eventually developed from ...
*''kultaz'' ("lump, bundle, offspring") and is
etymologically related to "child."
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
A gelding (Help:IPA/English, /ˈɡɛldɪŋ/) is a castration, castrated male horse or other equine, such as a pony, donkey or a mule. The term is also used with certain other animals and livestock, such as domesticated Camelidae, camels. By compa ...
. In some cases, particularly informal nomenclature, a gelding under four years is still called a colt. A rig or
ridgling is a male equine with a retained testicle or one which has been incompletely castrated.
In the wild, colts are driven from their herds by the herd stallion somewhere between the age of one and two. This may be, in part, an instinct to prevent
inbreeding. When driven out, they usually join with other young stallions in a
bachelor herd. They stay with this band until they are mature enough to form their own herd of mares. The terms "rag" or "rake" have been historically used to refer to a group of colts, but they have fallen out of modern usage.
['']Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...
'' 1933: Rag
References
{{subject bar, commons=y, commons-search=Colt (horse), wikt=y, wikt-search=colt
Types of horse
Male horses
Horse racing terminology