Stallion Keeping

[rabbitsfizz]

The pacing depends on the stallion. Rabbit has always paced, and still does, no matter what the set up, although he is calmer with the mares right there. IF however, there was another male withing sniffing distance he would be a head case. Carlos paces at a hand canter, even when he has mares and foals in with him- I think with some stallions it is an instinct thing- Carlos is guarding against bears, in his head, and since we have never had a bear on the property I thin he is doing a great job!

I would never risk putting Carlos in with other males during the breeding season (April - September) only when the hormones have dropped. Even my two then yearlings had to be separated last year as they were just playing too roughly.

I think you will find that if you put a stallion new to the place in a pen that small, next to strange mares he will do a great deal more than pace, so be careful!

 

[Magic]

Rabbitsfizz has a good point about the small pen and the mares out on pasture. I make sure that each stallion has a mare or mares that are on dry lot right next to them, because if the stallions are left in a pen and the mares wander off too far in the pasture with no mares left near the stallions, they can freak out. I'm sure that their thinking is, how can they protect "their" mares if they are so far away? And heaven forbid the mares go out of sight! I'm fortunate in that we have plenty of mares, some need to stay in a dry lot for showing purposes and others because too much grass makes them obese, so all of the stallions have plenty of company near by no matter what.