>giously using a green ribbon until he was steady in a crowd. I
>appreciate knowing that there is a stallion around - I'll give him
>his space so that we all can be happy. (There are some boys out
>there that I would never recognize as a stallion unless they had
>their ribbon on! I REALLY appreciate a well mannered stallion!
>Thank you handlers!)
>
>
I felt a need to reply to this at large, since we compete our stallion. He is
extremely quiet, but is still a stallion, and so we do flag him. Please bear
with me on this, because there is a lot of exasperated stallion owners, and I
am one of them.
Flagging one's horse due to gender or kicking or whatever is always
advisable. But a message to all horse owners who ride in public (that pretty
well sums it all up) is to just keep your horses at a respectable distance. I
would NEVER let my stallion or mares get within striking or kicking distance,
and in the event that tight quarters prevent adequate space, I feel it
incumbent upon EACH horse owner to keep his or her horse from inflicting
injury. I have found that our stallion (who incidentally travels without
incident to rides with our mare in season) is wonderfully behaved, and gets
high marks for his manners. But... mare owners and gelding owners, PLEASE
watch where your horse is nosing around! I have one mare who ame to us with a
rather active front end. It would be better if you let another horses go nose
to nose with our stallion that this mare. So you see, it is NOT just the
fault or the responsibility of a stallion owner. Certainly, riding a stallion
has its own set of problems, and there are many riders who have no business
taking a stallion in public. But after a decade with our stallion what I
consistently see is that a lot of riders are oblivious to their OWN horse's
potential to cause injury. It doesn't matter if it is a mare or stallion or a
gelding. PLEASE mind where your horse puts its nose and rear end. It would
save a lot of increased human P & R's. End of sermon.san