Stud Farm Diaries — The Stallion’s Advocate

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STUD FARM DIARIES THE STALLION’S ADVOCATE b y Cindy Reich

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back rail and the award presentation and at photo recently saw a video of a handler encouraging shoots. More on THAT later. After the initial neck a stallion to rear and box the air with his front bow, smell, squeal and leg lift, one or the other feet. As the stallion stood up and pedaled his stallion will usually turn and kick out with the hind front legs, he was dangerously close to legs. This behavior is often repeated several times stepping over the lead. I winced at the sight, before things escalate. envisioning the inevitable outcome, when the stallion I don’t profess to be an expert on stallion behavior, would catch the lead with his front legs, snatch it but I have handled, observed from the handler and be off and and managed hundreds of running trailing the lead behind stallions of various breeds over him. We’ve all seen this happen on LIVING the years. I have also observed occasion, but seeing this behavior stallion behavior in feral stallions encouraged was shocking and The fire in leaf and grass as well as other species such as so green it seems downright dangerous.

Summer the last summer zebra and Przewalski horses.

Certainly, it is dramatic when a Stallions size up their opponents stallion rears to his ultimate The wind blowing the leaves shivering in the sun, initially by not only their overt height, and it is a normal stallion each day the last day. behavior (coming up to challenge behavior in certain circumstances. if closely matched) but also by This was just another example of A red salamander so cold and so how high they can strike out. The how misunderstood stallions are easy to catch, dreamily same goes for rearing. It is a and why they are often treated show of dominance that is moves his delicate feet unfairly. Why do stallions rear? and long tail. I hold universally understood by Consider the stallion’s my hand open for him to go. stallions. Similar to a large, dark perspective. A stallion’s purpose is Each minute the last minute. mane of a mature lion, or a huge to breed mares and protect and rack of antlers on an elk—it is a defend the herd. That’s about it. visual signal to an opponent that But our stallions aren’t running —Denise Levertov, “Good Poems” selected and says, “I AM MORE POWERFUL.” free on the prairie — they are kept introduced by Garrison Keillor, 2002.

It won’t stop a challenge by a in small stalls, pens or enclosures.

Penguin Putnam, Inc. New York, NY determined adversary, but the However, in the wild, when two ground rules have been stallions are sizing each other up, established. Therefore, when a there is a certain protocol — sort stallion is asked to rear up repeatedly for dramatic of like two 18th-century gentlemen having a duel. effect, he is being asked to assert its dominance. But They don’t march off at 20 paces and turn and fire, once all four feet are on the ground and the stallion but they do have their own fairly consistent protocol. is arrogant, he will be punished. It is an unfair and They will sniff, snort, squeal and raise a foreleg as dangerous thing to ask of any stallion and is caused high as they can in the air. This behavior between by the handler’s ignorance. While it may be exciting stallions has been used for decades by handlers in and dramatic as a handler to have control of a the ring to create drama and excitement both on the

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powerful stallion on its hind legs, it is asking for trouble. First, it is encouraging the stallion to show dominant behavior when being handled. That is a bad idea. Often in these circumstances the stallion is still edgy when he comes down and I’ve seen handlers over-correcting them. This only confuses the stallion more, as he was encouraged/ rewarded for showing dominant behavior, but other dominant behavior is met with correction.

The practice of “pitting two stallions against each other” in the show ring for dramatic effect is improper stallion handling. At best, it is encouraging dominant behavior in a ring full of stallions. What could possibly go wrong?

Fortunately, but not always, the handlers are Stallions “facing off” in the show arena. experienced enough to snatch them away from each other when the inevitable turn around and kick is one of two things: either the stallion shuts down part of the behavior ensues, but is it worth taking completely or it becomes supremely frustrated and the risk? More than a few times, this behavior subsequently savage. Because the stallion has no results in a stallion getting a leg over the lead and other way of expressing his frustration and getting loose. Then everyone has a bad day. confusion. Much of our work was rehabilitating these stallions. Their aberrant behavior was caused by improper handling and a lack of understanding of THE PRACTICE OF ‘PITTING stallion behavior. One memorable stallion was so TWO STALLIONS AGAINST afraid to show breeding behavior to a mare that he would only tease to a foal. That is how damaging EACH OTHER’ IN THE improper understanding and treatment of stallions SHOW RING FOR DRAMATIC can become.

Owning, training, or breeding a stallion comes with EFFECT IS IMPROPER a responsibility to treat that stallion as fairly as STALLION HANDLING. possible. That means learning about how stallions are hardwired and how to manage and work with Regardless of the fact that it seems exciting and them. Back in the day, horses were a normal part of macho to do this, it is using natural stallion behavior rural life and most people learned by trial and error in a dangerous manner. how to work with and manage stallions. But today’s This cycle of encouraging behavior that is culture is much more urban, and fewer and fewer rewarded one time but punished another is far more people have any experience with stallions. The common in the horse industry than it should be. upside is that there are a lot more resources for Another example is correcting a stallion for showing learning then there were back in the day. So here are interest in a mare inappropriately. When I was a some examples of hardwired behavior of stallions student at Colorado State, one of their specialties and healthy ways to look at them. was treating “problem” stallions. This category was SPACE mostly comprised of show stallions that had been Stallions in the wild will cover a lot of territory in a severely punished for showing interest in mares at a day. They breed mares many times per day and show, but were expected to come home and breed depending on how many are in estrus at a given mares on command. What happens in this situation time, may be breeding many mares per day as well.

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cause an exaggerated reaction when he actually Add to that driving off any other males that are in sees another horse. Another is the fact that there the vicinity, as well as predators. The dominant mare are many cues that we are unaware of between is the one who leads the band and determines stallions and mares that have an effect on where they go for food and water. Despite the fact reproduction — sights, sounds, pheromones, etc. that horses have been domesticated for hundreds of that absent when stallions are isolated from years, all of the energy that it takes for a stallion to mares and vice versa. The most mentally stable do his job hasn’t magically drained out of his DNA in and happy stallions I ever saw were at a breeding the last few centuries. Stallions still need a way to farm in Australia, where every stallion was kept expend energy in a healthy way, since they are not outside in a two-stall barn with large paddocks defending a herd and traveling great distances. Yet attached. Every stallion had a gelding “buddy” or we confine them in stalls, pens, and paddocks and sometimes a young then get irritated when stallion. The stallions the one-hour turn-out or GIVE A STALLION ENOUGH could still see across the half-hour longing the property to mares session doesn’t result in a EXERCISE OR AN ENVIRONMENT and young stock as calm, serene barn stallion.

WHERE HE IS NOT STORING PENT well – a perfect On the major understanding of Thoroughbred farms, the UP ENERGY THAT WILL being safe within their stallions are ridden daily.

ULTIMATELY BE EXPRESSED IN AN “herd” yet also This is done for two exposed to the other reasons — one, it is a UNDESIRABLE MANNER. horses. healthy way to keep the Many farms stallion conditioned and thought they had this problem solved when they expend energy AND it is a continual, subtle started keeping stallions in specific stallion barns. submission of the stallion to a rider. Both good The stallions were turned out around other stallion management practices. Give a stallion stallions only, not exposed to mares unless enough exercise or an environment where he is not actually being bred. An ingenious researcher then storing pent up energy that will ultimately be was able to prove that when stallions are housed expressed in an undesirable manner. in a “stallion only” barn, the fertility of all the SOCIALIZATION stallions will decrease slightly as they acknowledge Horses are herd animals. They are social. The herd the dominant stallion of the barn. And all the is safety, the herd is mentally essential. Even if your stallions know who the dominant stallion is (even if horses are all individually housed, there are small they don’t get to posture to each other), but WE “herds” being formed in that situation. How many do not. It is not the biggest, or oldest or whatever. times have you seen two horses that are stalled next But one stallion’s fertility does not decrease, and to each other or turned out in adjacent pens that all the other stallions have a decrease. It is not after a while become inseparable? They are severe enough to derail a breeding season hardwired to join up and form a herd for safety and (usually), but it is yet another example of a lack of stability. Even if it is a herd of two. Yet many stallions understanding how to manage stallions’ are isolated from the rest of the horse population. hardwired status. It makes sense because, in the They are not allowed access to other horses for fear wild, bachelor stallions that hang around the they might go over a fence and get injured. So, they fringes of a dominant stallion’s territory may have are turned out where they can’t see other horses or the same decrease in fertility. Placing a mare in are simply worked and not turned out at all. For any each row of stallion stalls in the “stallion barn” horse this isolation is like solitary confinement in a caused the fertility of the sub-dominant stallions prison. But for a stallion it is reproductively to go back up. damaging in a few ways. Isolating a stallion can

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COMMUNICATION

ULLSTROM PHOTOS

Make things clear with stallions and be consistent.

Make it clear when it is breeding time — have a special halter/bridle or a special handler that is only used at breeding time. If a stallion shows breeding behavior at an inappropriate time, don’t use violent methods to correct. If you are asking him to breed one minute and then put it away the next, it is unreasonable and confusing to the stallion. When showing stallions to clients, have an area where the stallion knows no breeding takes place. I think it is unfair to use a mare to “excite” a stallion when showing to clients because, again, you are asking for behavior specific to breeding; yet if that same stallion drops when being shown, he will get a hard correction.

It is not fair. Some stallions can handle this better than others, but why create the confusion in the first place?

A stallion certainly needs to have manners and be easily controlled but should not be so overcontrolled that he is a lifeless robot. I have seen stallions in the breeding shed that are so inhibited from over control that they can barely be collected.

They have been stripped of all-natural breeding behavior and vitality. They are not allowed to

vocalize, not allowed to puff up and cannot make any move unless given permission. That is equally bad as the stallion that has no governor on the system at all. Another instance at Colorado when I worked there is a good example. We were conducting a short course and I was bringing a large, powerful, Quartertype stallion for an attendee to collect. As I brought him to the tease rail, he was building more and more and getting dangerously disrespectful. I corrected him firmly, but not excessively.

The director at the time took a short-cut through me, screaming that I should not be inhibiting the stallion’s behavior. Which I agreed with — up to a point. But being killed in action was not an option I was crazy about. The point is, you should not completely inhibit nor allow complete freedom of a stallion, particularly in the act of breeding. You SHOULD teach the stallion manners, demand respect, but allow him to act like a stallion within reason. It’s only fair.

We are fortunate that we have a breed of horse that is very human-friendly, and most stallions are amazingly tolerant of all the mistakes we make with them. But we have the responsibility to always strive to understand how they work and create an environment for them that is healthy, fair, and clearly understood.

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