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Re: [RC] Stallions, Mares, and training hormones - Maryanne Stroud GabbaniMares and stallions working together is one of those situations where essentially familiarity breeds, if not contempt, at least a relaxed attitude for the horses. There is virtually never a trail ride, jumping competition, traffic jam, or horse show around here (unless it's just my gang) that doesn't include both stallions and mares (often in heat). No one (except crazy people like me) gelds here and stallions are preferred as work horses because they are otherwise not productive. Mares can have foals, so stallions are the riding/pulling carts horses. You see them standing by their carriages and carts with nothing restricting their movement other than a pile of berseem in front of them. Do they chase off after mares? Not if they value their lives, and most of them seem to. Likewise, when we are riding, our mares know that sex is for naked horses. Once they have as much as a halter on, their sex life is on hold.People like Heidi and Maggie say over and over regarding stallions that "It's a matter of training and being attuned to your horse" and it really is. You can feel where your mare's attention is after working with her for a while. You can tell from what muscle groups suddenly tighten where she sees a threat or something fascinating. After a few years, it becomes like a mind reading act, but it's really a body reading act. You want her to step to the left side of the trail 20 metres ahead, and she reads the slight change in your weight and does so. But it mostly takes time to work out the signals and for both of you to learn your secret language. Once learned, as far as I can tell, it is never forgotten. A week ago my son came out to my horses with me after a three year absence. When he (now 22) was 10, he learned to ride on my dearest love, my chestnut mare Dorika. The Red Rocket, as Nadim called her, was a madwoman for me and an angel for him. They stopped riding together when he was about 13 and joined the swim team. Dory and I had been out riding and came back to the paddocks where Nadim was sitting in the shade reading. When she saw him, it was like an electric charge went through her. She recognised him and went up to him immediately with her ears cocked forward (not her usual attitude) to stick her nose between his face and his book. The attention that she gave him was absolutely unmistakable. He laughed at me for saying that she recognised him, but for me sitting on her, there was no doubt that he caught her attention immediately and she was riveted. All of the things that you suggest are good for enhancing that communication. The main thing is that joint self-awareness. In all my riding here, I have only seen a stallion try to mount a ridden mare once, and I was on her at the time. This was a badly trained, badly treated 3 year old that got away from his grooms in an arena with just a halter on. Once I got off Dory (and she hid behind my back, thank you) I screamed at the stallion with such force that he stopped dead and was caught. My throat was sore for three days. My mare was very happy with me. Maryanne Gabbani Cairo, Egypt On Friday, Jun 13, 2003, at 22:26 Africa/Cairo, Karen Casemier wrote: All this talk about hormones has me thinking - I have a mare who I hope to do some rides with this summer. I have no idea what she will do if we encounter a stallion at these rides. What things can I do at home to "train" her to handle this situation? Is there anything more than just the general things I already do - lots of dressage work to improve her responsiveness, working on keeping her attention on me on our training rides, expecting her to act like a lady on the ground - that could help prepare us for our first ride?
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