What do you tolerate in your boys?
When our boys are turned out - I expect them to be boys. Some with geldings are fine, some will chase and even seriously injure geldings. In a herd situation w/ mares, my 2 first stallions would play with and raise the foals out of the mares - but when colts and fillies were a year old and mares were coming due again, if the colts or fillies were out with the group, they would both chase them away. Fillies as well as colts. Didn't matter. One time I wasn't thinking and turned a coming 2 yr old daughter of our stallion out w/ him and his band of mares (2 shetlands, 1 hackney, 1 larger pony of horse breeding & 1 arab). Didn't figure she was in heat, so that wasn't a problem. He remembered her - and chased her away from "the group". She "snuck" around him and tried to pair up with her dam and her colt from late the previous year (her full brother), he then chased her in earnest. Before I could get to them, he grabbed her by a hind leg (she had come back to us underweight and not grown/growing) and literally slung her like he was throwing a slingshotted ball. She landed in a crumpled heap. I got to her as she raised her head, stallion (her sire) was back with his "band" and standing facing us with his head up and doing those "rolling snorts". I got to her, checked her out (she was fine) and never did that stupid move again!!
My colt is 3. He's VERY well behaved on the lead. He ties respectfully and listens well. 95% of the time.
If there are geldings around...look out. He'd rather charge the fence then breed a mare in raging heat. He paws at the gate, rears. He never shares a common fenceline...there is 50' between fields. He has 2 acres, plenty to eat but he's at the fencelines constantly.
Our 1st stallion was the only one for 12 years. Then I purchased a 2nd mature stallion. I tried only once, w/o mares close by - 3 pastures away - but they could be seen, heard and smelled - that didn't go well at all. We got them separated before either of them got hurt. The one stayed in the "smaller" paddock with a couple of Arabians (1 was a mare, 1 a gelding) and the 1st one went back out in a previous pasture with a group of larger mares that he was familiar with (3 arabians ranging from 13.2 to 14.1 hh, and a NSH that is 15.3 hh). Now they were separated by two good (and HOT) fence lines and one pasture. They spent their days running those fence lines. It was nice in AJ - he ate with "his" girls and would go and graze/eat hay as well. He was fitter than he'd been in years and looked GREAT (1st stallion). 2nd stallion - Iggy - ran the fence line (sometimes it was just a tail-flagging trot) all day and fretted, walking and pacing it as well. He REFUSED to eat. He was 5" smaller and more refined than AJ - he lost weight quickly and getting it back on was difficult as he wanted nothing to do with eating. All of his attention was on what AJ was doing - all day, every day. I pulled him out at feeding time - taking him into the barn and closing stall doors and barn doors and then "force fed" him by hand... If anyone outside whinnied or squealed, he'd tense up, scream and rear/paw, strike the walls (he was tied up) dance around and scream some more. Hand held feed was ignored. I was in tears just about daily. He ignored the TX alfalfa shipped in just for him (what he'd been on when I purchased him). I don't know when we finally got him to eat! I don't remember when he started gaining weight. But finally he got some weight going and I was able to keep him in his pasture while he ate. That first year - he did not settle any mares that he was bred to. The 2nd year - mares kept coming back into heat as well and I'd just given him an ultimatum that I would geld him when we vet checked a mare in foal to him (1 out of 4 bred)... While he was now eating and in much better shape - he would still run the fence line. During all this time, they would both "mark" their territories at each end of the fence lines with piles of manure. That did make cleaning those pastures easier!!
At some point between these two times, the girls (our daughters and some classmates) decided to take both of the boys out at the same time and groom them. Now - our daughters' were used to working AJ by himself and had already occasionally handled Iggy as well. We don't typically handle the boys with chains - that is either a show thing or a breeding thing (depending on the chain, the halter, the place and the way the chain is run) - but in such a situation, I would have had a chain over both of their muzzles with the halters (not the way we do for either breeding or showing). They didn't. They "parked" them in the barn - cross tied across the aisle from each other (I was cleaning in the house and had sent them out to clean up ponies) - separated by only 24'. I didn't hear anything from the house until later.... The girls' stated that they were fine until they took them out to lounge them. Then, both boys got away from the girls and met up and it was a real and true stallion fight! Go look at pictures of wild mustangs fighting - better yet - go to YouTube and see real video of it. You get the picture - I heard the girls screaming/crying and then the sounds of horses fighting. Hubby and I ran out and helped get the boys separated. Not before injuries that required extensive and expensive vet care and both boys, once separated, were exhausted. Not only did both require stitches, both were treated for stress colic and Iggy had to have IV fluids as well. AJ was able to be turned out with his mares again, but Iggy remained stalled for a while. The girls didn't do that again for a long time - when it was done again, it was done with chains and supervision - the boys were corrected severely every time they tried to look at or scream at each other - not allowed during their "work" time. Eventually, they both learned they were allowed to be stallions when loose - but if haltered and "working" they were to mind the handler.
What do you tolerate? What is 'stallion'acceptable?
When our stallions - no matter what age - are being handled they are to mind the handler. That means - no striking, no biting, no kicking, no screaming and no "dropping" UNLESS they are getting ready to be used for breeding. If a stallion is out and being handled or groomed around our farm - we don't typically use a chain once the stallion understands how he is to behave. If a new stallion is brought onto our property - I will often use a chain over the nose/muzzle to make sure I have enough leverage to get my point across w/o having to continually "pick at" him. I believe in correction - once time and hard. If he misbehaves, I want him to think I'm going to "KILL HIM" for 3-5 seconds - then I go on about my business and "ignore" him. I don't EVER truly ignore a stallion and I don't completely turn my back on them - no matter how long I"ve owned them. If a colt or stallion is being handled and he "drops" where I have access to a crop or whip (I will carry it with one that is coming into raging hormones), I tap him on the organ, "growl" and say "put it away". On one who is still not paying attention - that light tap may become a pretty hard "whap" but I keep in mind that I don't want an injury! I have also become pretty accurate with the end of a lead line. They get to the point where they will look at me and immediately pull it back up when I "growl" and say the words "put it away". When they whinny, wicker or scream while being handled - they will hear a "growl" & will be told "no talking". A sharp jerk and/or hard lounging for a minute or so will happen every time they open their mouths. If they strike - I strike their front legs with a crop, whip or the lead line (and again that now familiar "growl" and "no striking"). They learn PDQ at our place!
I have sent ponies out for training to show. I didn't handle the ponies much while with the trainers - but did get to hold them a few times. I didn't do any real correction with them - though weren't/didn't behaving the way I would have liked. Why? 1- Because I was frustrated and may have taken the frustration out on them too harshly and that isn't allowed on showgrounds/public venues and 2 - I wasn't the trainer in charge at that moment and I don't believe in "circumventing" another trainers' training/handling... and I had never handled/shown a stallion at breed shows (the mature stallion I show locally DID scream at one show - just about the whole class regardless of correction but he kept his feet on the ground, posed correctly and didn't "drop". Later, he was shown and folks loved our new "gelding" - he wasn't!).
One colt, when he came home, was a raging hormone blithering idiot. I had purchased him in-utero, foaled him out and handled him as a foal, then sent him out for 2 seasons of showing. After coming home at 2 1/2 yrs of age, he made the mistake of charging me when I went out to catch him while he was still in the round pen (pseudo quarantine while I figured out where to pasture him and made sure I could catch him, too). I swung the halter, lead line w/ snap at his head and chest hard enough to hurt (ON PURPOSE) and he rocked back in surprise and flipped over backwards. When he got up, he came at me again - and got the same treatment. This time, when he got to his feet - I didn't give him the chance to come at me. He didn't truly lounge well, but I got me, the halter/lead rope and a lounge whip behind him and sent him forward. He worked hard enough to sweat before I let him start to slow down. He again turned towards me and started to charge (not come in to be petted or allowed to rest - he pinned his ears flat, barred his teeth and came straight in w/ obvious intent) and I sent him right back out with everything in my hands. It took a little while - but he was starting to get it. I kept him in the round pen for a month - he got to the point where he would turn and face me and allow me to go up to him to halter him. He would stand quietly at his bucket while other ponies (fillies/jr mares - some will eventually be bred to him in the future when I return to breeding) also brought into the round pen and tied for feeding. THEN, I took him out into the boys' paddock at the front of our property. The jr mares were across the fence line and that may have created a 'problem" but I was running out of space so we went w/ this arrangement. I wanted him out to run with a group rather than remaining in our roundpen and I wasn't ready (nor was he, IMO) to use him for breeding. He'd grown up with these geldings once he'd been weaned - yet it didn't go so well at first. He ran them pretty good - but we had two turn and "fight back" - the smaller one learned that the stud colt was the boss,
the larger one settled w/ he'd let the stud colt be boss but he wouldn't be "bullied" or chased... The stud colt is the one with the "drag line" (braided hay string) and when he got to chasing the boys too much, I'd catch him and pen him up in a pen that is was built inside of the boys pasture.
He did learn what was acceptable behavior on the line while being handled and in April 2014 went over to my girl friends' place. He stayed in the round pen at first, then was hand and paddock bred to her mare and then turned out with the mare in one pasture. Then was moved again and is currently running on pasture with her shetland mare, shetland gelding, purebred arab mare that I sold to her, and a 1/2 arab mare. They have had some issues with him and the gelding - but while loose they have worked it out.
Soon he will come home and he will go out with the larger 1/2 arab gelding pictured above, 1 arab mare and our NSH mare (like AJ was before). I hope to be able to continue to pasture him with geldings and maybe even bachelor stallions or while we still have the larger mares, with them. We'll see how it goes and will adjust accordingly... In the meantime, he is allowed to be a "horse" - there are squabbles and cuts and scraps - that's to be expected w/ any sex of equine when they aren't kept in a "padded room".
I often contemplate gelding him because I want to enjoy him more however his is precisely everything I ever wanted in a stallion...all I have left to see is what passes on to his foala....
At breeding time, I use a particular halter (usually a slightly wider, flat nylon) with a chain that is run thru the rings and into his mouth during teasing, washing and breeding. I always wash the mare & wrap her tail before I bring the stallion in. There is either a wall, a 3 rail fence or a breeding stock between them. Then they are teased to see if she is in standing heat - while his is dropped he is washed with warm water and ivory soap. He is corrected if he kicks, strikes or bites at the handler or bites/grabs the mare. Once ready, he is led around to where he can visit with the mare and mount her. I like our stallions to "woo" the mare - starting with "talking" to her from the front - not just rushing in from behind and jumping on her. Since it's easiest, I often do all the handling/breeding from the left side - so that's where we are. He is allowed to nibble & lick the mare - but he is corrected for striking and biting/grabbing. If he rears to mount her and is no longer ready, he is pulled off of her and we start over from the front until he's ready. Once ready and he has mounted, I often "guide" him as that makes things easier and faster for the mare - especially if she is either small/young maiden or no longer standing so quiet. This can take some getting used to as well - I've had stallions completely lose their interest at that point and take forever to be ready again!! Once he's finished and dismounts, the chain is removed from his mouth, the mare is untied and "worked" a bit (so she doesn't pee out the semen) and he is allowed to stand quiet. I often return the mare to her pasture, paddock or stall - then return to get him and return him to his living quarters...
AJ became very practiced at this - he would become excited when he saw the breeding halter. Yet, he could be worked next to or with a mare in flaming heat when the "breeding halter" wasn't on him or out where he could see it. He was our daughter's riding pony - often going on mixed sex trail rides w/o problems (he could out walk all the local TWH and still be fresh after an all day ride!!) He was a lesson pony. He was my driving pony. Remember Iggy above? He, too, finally got it! He put weight on and was trained to drive/work with the mares he was actually breeding. He also was ground driven with his son, as a pair, a handful of times. His gelded son acted more like a nasty stallion than he did!! And now we have 3 JR stallions that will eventually figure out all of this. Eventually some will be either gelded or they may be sold - don't know exactly what the future holds. The market has dropped out and I've been able to purchase ponies I've wanted for many years - but haven't sold many youngsters that I've produced. Currently not breeding - will hold the colts as stallions for a while if they do OK that way. IF it doesn't work - they will either be offered for sale as young stallions or they will be gelded. I really hope to be able to breed a couple of the jr mares, but ...
