Re: RC: Re: Breeding shed manners

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 4/25/00 12:26:35 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
tracey@tbt.co.za writes:

<<  I read an article by an English lady in a magazine.  She had a
 Trakehner Stallion whom she used to event, hunt, dressage and breed with.
 He boxed in company with mares and geldings, and was turned out all day in a
 paddock.  The only privilege accorded his entire status was that he was not
 turned out with mares, but could touch them and their foals over the paddock
 rail. >>

That's about how ours are kept.  Our boy that just went to the dressage show 
trailered up with three girls--one just going out of heat, and one in full 
blown heat.  No problem--the trailer is not the breeding area, and he knows 
that.  And like your example with the Trakehner stallion, we don't worry 
about breeding times and working times--we breed when we need to breed, and 
we work when we need to work, and other than having to make sure the breeding 
is done before the stallion LEAVES to go to an event so that we do not miss 
the mare, we really don't worry much about schedules.  I don't know how many 
times we've bred a mare half an hour or so before loading the stallion in the 
trailer to go to a ride on Friday, and bred her again after he unloads again 
at home on Sunday and has had a few minutes trot around his paddock and make 
sure his home is in order.  For a well-mannered working stallion, that is 
just business as usual.  Most stallions are smart enough to figure out the 
routine, and are content to have a job and a "home life" and keep the two 
separate.

Heidi