What are your reasons for keeping him a stallion and not
gelding him? Is there a market for Morab stallions at stud? Stallion
keeping is not easy but I would not do it just for the sake of being able to
have and ride a stallion. We have two...one is getting gelded very
soon...I am hoping for some cooler weather as I have decided I don't really want
to wait til fall. It had always been our intention to promote Malik as an
endurance stallion. We had never intended to keep Mykal as a stallion but
he was soooo sweet. He still is except that this year, he has turned into
a blooming idiot around mares! Not sure why. That's why he didn't go
to Kentucky with us....not taking any chances! And he doesn't really
produce the best babies...Malik's foals are superior in bone and body.
Mykal produces foals better suited to the show ring. I think he will make
a fabulous gelding. Just be sure you do it for the right reasons because
it is NOT easy though it CAN be done. Just because Malik is such a good
boy doesn't mean my work is ever done with him. :) So, please don't
be offended but I wanted to be frank with you. I'm afraid I gush too much
sometimes about Malik and I don't want anyone to get the impression that it
was/is easy...it's been a long 4 years with him and we have many more to come...
we still occasionally have big disagreements about what constitutes appropriate
behavior....fortunately, mostly at home and not very often anymore.
:)
Hope to see you at Wolverine and I'd be happy to visit
with you more about stallions then if you'd like. Take care!
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...