RC: Re: Stallion behavior

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

OK, I've got to weigh in on this stallion behavior issue.  I dearly love 
stallions.  I've ridden stallions in distance competition since I was 15 
years old, as well as in various and sundry other endeavors.  I've raised 
some from babyhood, and I've acquired others with whatever baggage (good or 
bad) that they came with.  We currently stand five geriatric stallions and 
have a handful of adolescent ones, too.  The last few years I've dealt a 
great deal with other people's stallions (several breeds) a great deal in 
breeding situations as well, as I've been the stallion handler at a breeding 
station.  So--I think I can safely say that I've "been there, done that."

First of all, a certain amount of disposition is innate.  You can literally 
tell when a colt is born whether he is going to be a challenge or not.  A 
great deal of this is hereditary, and if he is truly a bad apple, IT AIN'T 
WORTH IT!!  No matter what other attributes he may have, get the knife out, 
get it out fast, and don't look back.

Secondly, you can make a good colt into a bad stallion if you mishandle him.  
I'd like to make a few comments on what has been said, and add a few of my 
own.

The Number One reason for bratty colts, IMO, is not a discipline problem but 
a socialization problem.  Stallion prospects are all too often weaned and 
isolated, never learning herd dynamics, and that there are horses out there 
bigger and badder than they are.  In past years, my colts all went in with 
pregnant mares who were fairly alpha from weaning time up until they were 
about two.  They figured out very fast that their place on the totem pole was 
subterranean, and they learned to say "Yes, ma'am" and "No, ma'am" about 
virtually everything.  Furthermore, they learned that they can actually LIVE 
with horses without it being a breeding situation--a very important lesson 
when you get out in public with them under saddle when they are four!  My 
setup now is no longer conducive to running colts with pregnant mares, but 
since I now have multiple colts growing up, we've switched to a bachelor 
band.  I have two 7-year-old stallions who run together, and they babysit two 
coming 4-year-olds and two coming 3-year-olds.  Yes, there is some 
roughhousing out there--boys are boys.  But it is all done in play, no one 
gets hurt, and they are all respectful.  (Except one--and I'll tell his story 
later.)  Furthermore, all of our older stallions live in nose-touching 
proximity to other horses--some with other stallions across the fence, and 
others with mares across the fence.  They are also all OUT--none live cooped 
up in stalls.  All can buck and kick and fart and play at their own choosing, 
so they DON'T have to take pent-up energy out on people.

Discipline is Number Two.  The first thing you do with any horse (no matter 
the gender) is establish the rules.  And as various posters have said, you 
need to do this with brains, not brawn.  Mary Anne from Egypt makes a good 
point about looking at how people raise their sons.  The first thing you do 
in establishing the rules is that you don't make breaking them the most 
tempting or the easiest thing to do.  With the mouthing problem (which was 
what started this thread), prevention is a great deal easier than a cure.  
Some colts DO have more of a tendency to be mouthy than others.  For those 
colts, I don't mind giving them a toy (traffic cones are great) that they can 
play with on THEIR time in THEIR space.  But to avoid becoming a toy 
yourself, DON'T be fiddling with their faces, and DON'T be constantly placing 
yourself in a physical position where the easiest thing to do is to mouth 
you.  When you must groom faces (keep it to a minimum), do so quickly, 
firmly, and with a minimum of carressing and emotion.  DON'T feed treats by 
hand until a horse is mature, well-broke, and set in his ways with GOOD 
manners.  Most times colts will start with tentative attempts to mouth--often 
you can simply avoid them and they lose interest because you haven't made it 
a game.  DON'T try to punish their faces--that DOES make it a game.  Watch 
how horses interact--especially mares and foals.  When someone comes up and 
is mouthy, do they punish each other's faces?  NO!  They attack and go for 
the body.  John Lyons makes a good point with his 3-second rule, but the 
message I get from JL is not that you have 3 seconds in which to try to kill 
him, but rather 3 seconds in which to make him wish he were dead.  Think 
about it--there is a difference in those two statements.  A broodmare who is 
mouthed inappropriately by a naughty baby does that 3-second discipline.  She 
flattens her ears, bares her teeth, becomes bigger than life with aggressive 
posture, and ATTACKS!  She goes for the body or the butt.  Robert Miller is 
one of the best ones for teaching body language--if you're not sure how to do 
it, get some of his tapes.  But in short--when a colt crosses the line and 
breaks the rules, IMMEDIATELY become "big" (arms in the air, aggressive 
expression, etc.), YELL, and ATTACK--you can effectively "bite" his body with 
your hands or whatever.  A pop with a crop is ok, too, if you have one, but 
you need not administer a "whipping" as such.  The colt will startle and step 
back from you--at which point you've achieved your discipline and you 
IMMEDIATELY revert to your nice guy persona because he has stepped back out 
of your space.  The 3-second rule is important because if more than 3 seconds 
elapses between cause and effect, he will no longer associate the punishment 
with the action that he performed on you, and you are simply being an 
irrational bully in his mind--not a concept you want him to think about.

So what do you do with a spoiled one?  Boy, they can be a challenge, and boy, 
do I have one!  I have a coming four-year-old stallion who was orphaned at 
birth.  I had hired help at the time, and despite my protests, he was SPOILED 
ROTTEN from the git go.  He now thinks people are his species, and being full 
of adolescent hormones, he thinks that what he should do is tease them like 
mares.  The bachelor band has helped him a lot.  It's tough, though, because 
virtually EVERYONE who comes on the place thinks he is so "cute" and goes 
right up to pet his head.  (I am about ready to post a sign that I will 
amputate their arms if they do so!)  I DO carry a whip around this colt when 
he is loose, simply to be able to enforce the fact that I am the alpha mare, 
and he HAS learned to respect that.  He is now started under saddle--he was 
very frustrating to the trainer, because he thought attempts at groundwork 
were amorous advances, and responded accordingly.  We tried a physical 
approach, but he thinks that fighting him and whipping him is just a game, 
and he is ready for more!  After much discussion, the trainer finally agreed 
to just saddle him up and ride off.  That finally did the trick--the colt 
never bucked, and seemed thrilled to have a job.  He DOES have an innately 
good disposition--just spoiled by wrong handling and circumstances.  He is 
now MUCH better to handle on the ground, although we have a pretty specific 
drill--I DO go in with the whip, but he is getting much better about backing 
down to threatening body language.  Once haltered, he is now a pretty good 
boy to handle.  So--I have high hopes that we are on the road to recovery 
here, and that this colt can continue to keep his cojones.  (Quite frankly, I 
think he would have been tough as a gelding, too--just without the sexual 
overtones.  But he desperately wants to please, and that will be his saving 
grace in the long run, IMO.)

The bottom line with spoiled colts or stallions is that one must analyze WHAT 
is wrong in each individual case, and devise a thoughtful solution to each 
individual problem.  Whoever said that brains must be employed here is 
right--there is no future in picking physical fights with stallions.  I don't 
mind carrying a crop--it is a great arm extender, and hence a helpful aid in 
enforcement, but "whipping" per se is an invitation to disaster--about like 
telling a drunk redneck in the bar that his pick-up truck is wimpy.  And if 
you DO need to use a crop, use it ONCE and back off--you've made your point! 

In closing, when handling a stallion, you have to be three jumps ahead of him 
mentally at ALL times, and have eyes in the back of your head.  You need to 
know where EVERY horse is around him at all times, and you need to keep his 
attention on YOU.  With all my stallions, we do little attention drills when 
we are in public--and they are very subtle.  When standing in a vet line, if 
the horse next to us moves, I'll give the stallion a little "ahem!" under my 
breath and just a tiny wiggle on the lead, just to remind him that I am the 
one on whom he must keep his undivided attention.  When someone swings a butt 
into his nose, no need to make a scene--simply give him an order to turn an 
eighth of a turn immediately, before he has an opportunity to respond to that 
butt, and keep his focus on YOU.  Same thing at water tanks--there you are, 
mounted, with your stallion drinking, and a bunch of others shoulder in to 
drink next to you.  A subtle tweak of the reins and a bit of a tightening of 
your seat will remind him that he is on business, and that you are in charge. 
 Of course, I'm talking about the experienced stallion here--would not expect 
perfect compliance with a green boy, but when riding a green boy, you let 
others around you know that you are in training mode, and you firmly move 
away before your green boy gets a chance to start anything.  He has to know 
that EVERYTHING he does is with your blessing when you are on his back or on 
the lead--eating, drinking. or whatever.  Be sane about such things--don't 
tease and withhold--but always make a point to "release" him to food or water 
so that he gets the idea.  But just like driving in heavy traffic--be AWARE 
of everything going on around you at ALL times, and make sure to reinforce 
the fact that his attention has to be on YOU every time there is a potential 
distraction.

Heidi