I just wanted to chime in and say THANKS! to
everybody posting about their stallions. I am about to buy a gorgeous Morab colt
to use for riding and breeding and this thread has calmed my nerves a lot! Most
of what has been said on this board about stallion keeping and riding has held
true to my own beliefs about them. A lot of the people I have consulted have
been telling me i can't ever ride him in public, can't take him around mares or
he'll go crazy, etc etc. He is about to turn a year old and has been pastured
his whole life with mares and geldings so I'm going to try and keep tat
arrangement at my place. He's a very laidback boy so I'm hoping it works out.
Any suggestions for fencing, training when he comes to breeding age, etc would
be VERY welcome. Thanks guys (and gals)!
At Tevis in 2000 I was sitting at Fransisco's with several other horses
waiting for a trailer ride out, one of the horses was a stallion, and I ride a
stallion...the trailer was a tiny side by side, and none of the other riders
wanted to put their horses in a trailer with a stud, so the gal on the other
stallion and Willie (my guy) got voted to the end of the line...The other
rider and I watched one horse after another refuse to get in the little
trailer--pushing their owners around, lunging backwards at top speed,
etc...finally everyone had to concede that she and I should get a turn to try
to load our horses, too...we looked at each other and walked our stallions
into the trailer cheek to cheek--they both travelled up to Auburn without so
much as a single squeal.
When I started breeding him last year, I looked up just a TON of Heidi
Smith's advice, and followed it religiously...Willie now refuses
flatly to breed unless all the elements are perfectly in
place--seriously--He is always pastured with other horses, geldings and/or
stallions, at various times, and occasionally pastured with the
(theoretically bred) mares...he'll tease them, and if one comes into
heat, he'll run to the gate and yell at me to come catch and breed them...I
dunno if he thinks he CAN'T do it by himself, or just what--but following
strict breeding protocols WORKS...I have no worries about what happens if he
dumps me at a ride...he'll probably yell at me till I get up and back
on...
