Children & Stallions

I found my old horsecamp video last night. As I watched it, I was horrified. It was made back when I was 10 y/o, and the ages for the camp were probably about 5-15 y/o. The video was just a slideshow of pictures from that week.

I saw pictures of us as little kids in the washrack giving two stallions a bath 0_o
How is that safe??? One was a Fresian Stud and the other was probably QH. I saw pictures of small children leaning almost all the way under the horse to clean legs. I saw kids up by his face, soaping his muzzle.

Am I overreacting to this? Because I'm pretty sure that if I ran a horse camp that my campers would not be NEAR my studs, no matter HOW calm they were.

One of the first horses I ever groomed was an arab stud. His name was Tajh and he was a big sweetie. There are alot of places that trust their studs enough to let children bathe/groom them. I often see children riding studs in the in hand class at shows and playdays.

If you were around 10 and the video showed all ages of kids around these two stallions I am going to venture to say they were calm enough to do so. Not all stallions are evil hormone drivin killing machines, yes there are some that are but not all. The best horse we ever owned was a paint stud who had done everything in his life from roping,reining, cutting, sire, show you name it he done it and my kids at the time were 13 & 9 they climbed all over him and rode him everywhere. Now we have Justice who as a 2 yr old is almost as calm even around mares, however given his age I am more cautious with him and the kids.

Not all studs arn't bad! My mom rode one, and I don't see anything wrong with it if the studs were calm

Sometimes people do stupid things. It's dangerous to be around a stud. Even the calmest stud can forget their training when they see a pretty girl.

I'd say you should learn from this experience and not repeat this behavior yourself.

^^ Thank you Joshie.
I totally agree that just because your stud is "calm", you never know when a mare in heat will catch his attention. They're not very predictable.

Not every stud is a child stomping-woman eating monster! XD

I personally would not allow my little brothers (or, if I had some) children around a stallion no matter how calm. The only horse I let them crawl all over is Sam, and he's older than dirt, and has been strictly tested.

I have met both the 'cute-but-possibly-dangerous' stud and the 'you'd-think-it's-a-gelding' stud. No mean, or evil tempered ones yet. The cute but dangerous was an overall calm stallion. You could pet him and what-not, but when it came to the ladies his mind went out the window. He wouldn't kill you, but he certainly wasn't trust worthy.

The you'd-think-he's-a-gelding is actually the sire of my two MFT. He does pay attention to the ladies and LOVES to show off when theirs a trailer in site, but with proper handling he is not at all dangerous. You could roll all over him and he would just sit there. If he had been more trained as a younger horse I have no doubt a child could play with him without risk of serious injury due to stallion aggression.


Some studs know there job. They know when it's time to breed and when it's not. For example, the studs the kids were washing obviously knew their duty and were trained.

A GOOD stallion is one that can be ridden or led around mares without the risk of an accidental breeding. The number one thing I expect when I meet a stallion is that his mind is not constantly in the breeding shed. I want to see a calm, focused stud whom is safe to handle and to be around. Not one that's near constantly focused on spreading his seed.

I agree that there are good studs out there, but to have kids almost underneath the horse to clean its legs is dangerous no matter if its a mare, gelding or stallion.
All it takes is a loud noise or a fly and there'll be a disaster.

At the facility my daughter takes lessons at only the gelded males and the mare horses/ponies are ridden. They have 1 stud stallion and he is kept far away in a separate fenced field from the others.

I don't think its 100% safe for any child to be under ANY horse, regardless of gender. Kids can be small enough to completely slip out of vision of the horse and they just forget they are there.

My stallion is wonderful gentlemen - definitely not a fire breathing monster . I can't imagine him hurting anyone, but horses are horses and anything can happen at any time with an animal that large. Again, regardless of gender or breed or anything else. If its an equus caballus, it has the potential to hurt a human, that's just the way it is.

I owned a stallion when I was in 6th grade - he and I grew up together and I had ZERO troubles. There are great stallions out there, and quite frankly, that's the ones who should be reproducing, not the crazy wacked out lunatics that are a danger to themselves and everyone else.