How do i get my stallion to behave when leading him from his stall to were we breed? When you walk into his stall with the breeding halter he gets pushy and when I try to makke him walk up to the mare he gets in a hurry. When a pull on the lead he rears up. What can I do? I also show him the only time he shows this behavior is when we are going to breed him.
Jos
Posted on Sunday, May 13, 2001 - 11:42 pm:
You must work patiently with him and not jerk on his line if he gets pushy, which can be counter productive and cause him to rear.
If you have a chain lead line under his chin, remove it and put it over his nose or through his mouth - having it under his chin will encourage him to rear.
Work at getting him to halt, back up and stand while on the way to breed. If he becomes too bad, remove him from the breeding area, possibly even back to the stall. If he is not that bad, then perhaps start lunging him to get his mind away from breeding, but do it on a large circle as you don't want to teach him to start circling closely to you.
The use of a child's whiffle-ball bat (a lightweight plastic baseball bat) can be invaluable - not to hit the horse with, but as a visual aid in front of him, and to bang on the ground or your leg to get his attention. In the event that it is necessary to "bop" him with it, they are so light that it will cause no harm, but merely get his attention.
If this doesn't work for you, I would suggest seeking the assistance of someone well versed in the handling of stallions to work with him.
Good luck.
Kelly
Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2001 - 12:04 pm:
I stand and breed over 10 different stallions a year. They all exhibit different behaviors. The key is to have control, as breeding is a most dangerous situation.
This stallion will continue and increase this unpleasant behavior if left as is.
The reason that he is "pushy" in the stall, is his anticipation of the breeding. I would first suggest a lip chain as an addition to your breeding halter. As Jos suggest above, have your lead chain around the nose instead of under it. The lip chain is a smaller dog type chain ( as in a choke type collar)snap it to the off side halter ring and run it thruogh to the other side. Then lift the horses lip and run it up under the top lip. be sure to clear the sides of the upper lip so it does not pinch. this should be used with an additional lead. Use this sparingly as it can be quite uncomfortable.
The most common of mistakes is to lead the stallion directly to the mare. I have a routine that I do not deviate from for ANY reason. I walk the stallions out and around to the mare from a DIFFERENT direction than usual. They graze along the way and may not call or break from a walk. it helps if the stallion is exercised and not "fresh" from the stall. The important thing to remember is that YOU dictate when to approch the mare. He may have to go back into the stall numeruos times before he understands that his persistance will not help him. Breed in the same location each time, have the mares brought to your location. Never trailer the stallion to the mare location. Once again, I stress routine. It will help aleviate his frustration and better establish acceptable behavior.
He has not given you any problems at a show as of yet. Be assured that if he is left as is, he will. An aggressive stallion is a dangeruos one. They all start somewhere.
Anonymous (142.161.137.80)
Posted on Thursday, January 30, 2003 - 11:00 pm:
Just interested to know why a stallion should never been trailered to the mare location?? I was considering breeding my stallion to a few mares at a different location this year, over a period of a couple of weeks... any advice appreciated.
Kho-magic (216.43.46.85)
Posted on Friday, January 31, 2003 - 05:51 pm:
If you are going to breed your horse at a different location make sure he arrives there a while before he will be expected to breed. I mean days or weeks before. You do not want him to associate the trailer ride with breeding or you will have problems if you want to trailer out for something else like a show or trail ride. If you can't do shipped semen to these other mares and can't take him far enough in advance to not have problems later then the mares need to come to him.
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