[whisper2myhorse]

I have a 6 month old stud colt. I have had him about two weeks. He has been very gentle and easy to work with. I haven't had any experience with with working with stud colt or horses for that matter. What can I expect from him? Will he become more assertive as time goes on? He hasn't dropped down yet. Will I notice a big change when he does? He is had of a great blood line and I am not sure if I want to get him cut yet. I may want to use him as a stud, at least have the option.

Need some advice on what to expect.....

 

[AtokaGhosthorse]

First question: Why keep him intact?

Secondly: As he grows older, he will grow more dominant. I have no personal experience with stallions, but I have friends who do. IF handled correctly, they can be good citizens and trustworthy, well behaved. But you better know what you're doing with them, and it takes a LOT of handling to get them there.

I don't subscribe to the belief that all stallions are rude and dangerous - no more than I believe mares are all hateful hags and unworthy of doing more than being baby factories.


But.


The saying is: Ask a stallion, tell a gelding, negotiate with a mare.

There's a lot of truth in that.

But back to my first question: Why keep him intact at all?

 

[whisper2myhorse]

First question: Why keep him intact?


But back to my first question: Why keep him intact at all?

See next answer, it came up twice sorry, I am still new to forums and I am learning as I go. Sorry!!

 

[whisper2myhorse]

First question: Why keep him intact?


But back to my first question: Why keep him intact at all?

One reason, he is a super nice colt, blood lines makes him a perfect prospect for showing and his color is blue roan. I have already had several people ask me, if they could bred their mares to him when he comes of age. I know that I said I haven't had any experience with stud colts myself but know people that had with little problems. I am hoping if I know exactly what to expect then I can prepare on how to handle the situation. He is such a nice colt, that I even thing I would like to get a colt out of him when the time is right. Depending on how challenging he becomes will help me decide what I will do. Right now, he has been very respectful, and easy to work with.

 

[Dustbunny]

I have a 6 month old stud colt. I have had him about two weeks. He has been very gentle and easy to work with. I haven't had any experience with with working with stud colt or horses for that matter. What can I expect from him? Will he become more assertive as time goes on? He hasn't dropped down yet. Will I notice a big change when he does? He is had of a great blood line and I am not sure if I want to get him cut yet. I may want to use him as a stud, at least have the option.

Need some advice on what to expect.....

I read this post prior to reading the one New to the Forum or Welcome to the Forum. The "I haven't had any experience with working with stud colt or horses for that matter" left me sitting here just staring at the screen in disbelief. I had no words. Then I came across your other post where you say you have 25 years experience with working with horses. Don't be surprised if you get a lot of advice suggesting the best thing to do is to get professional help because a totally green person with a growing and in-tack male is a recipe for disaster (or any youngster for that matter).

Is that the youngster in the avatar? He's beautiful. I have had colts...that quickly became geldings. Therefore, I have no advice on your situation except to enjoy the experience of raising a youngster to maturity.

 

[AtokaGhosthorse]

So. Next question is - do you have the appropriate facilities for keeping a stallion and breeding one? A regular fence won't do it, no matter how polite and well mannered they are. Can you afford the type of fencing you'll need? They type of stall you'll need?



Do you have 25 years experience with horses and just none with colts and stallions? A little clarification would help.

 

[rambo99]

So. Next question is - do you have the appropriate facilities for keeping a stallion and breeding one? A regular fence won't do it, no matter how polite and well mannered they are. Can you afford the type of fencing you'll need? They type of stall you'll need?



Do you have 25 years experience with horses and just none with colts and stallions? A little clarification would help.

From. Post here sounds like poster has little experience with horses.

Most studs make better geldings,just because they have testicles. Doesn't mean you should breed them.

 

[whisper2myhorse]

Yes, sorry I had meant to put that I haven't worked with a stud colt or stud horse. Yes, I have worked with horses 25 years and have trained several young ones but they were gelded before I brought them on my property. I have had several people would ask me if my horse that I was riding at the time was a stallion because they would like to have a colt out of him. I had wished that I had waited before I had gelded him. I didn't want to make the same mistake. Yes, that is him in the avatar, his sire is awesome looking and very gentle. I am hoping that he will take after him. His dam is also beautiful and has a very easy going gentle disposition too. I spent a lot of time researching different stud colts before I purchased him. I know everything I can about his blood lines. I am looking forward to the experience of raising this youngster.

 

[rambo99]

I haven't had any experience with with working with stud colt or horses for that matter.

Then you need to have him gelded. Takes an experienced horse person to own a stallion,and use him for breeding. Save yourself some serious problems and geld him.

Stallions and breeding mares isn't a green horns business.

 

[whisper2myhorse]

Yes, I am lucky to say, that I have the appropriate fence and area when he realizes he is a stud. I had it done, as I was searching for just the right stud colt. Also, my stalls were build with this in mine. The inside of the stalls or made of solid oak and was built with being able to withstand the abuse of any horse. These are very good questions. I think about things for along time before I do them. Blue Streak , Lakota has been a desire that I have wanted to do for a long time. He will probably be my last colt I will be starting and am wanting to get him the best start and advantages I can possibly give him. I also have 4 other horses. They are well behaved, respectful nice gaited horses. In my younger years, I trained horses for people with horse camps, hunting lodges and a dude ranch in several different states and they have bought more than one.

Just no experience with stud colts.....

 

[SteadyOn]

Yes, that is him in the avatar, his sire is awesome looking and very gentle. I am hoping that he will take after him. His dam is also beautiful and has a very easy going gentle disposition too.

If you're iffy about keeping him as a stallion, why not just refer your friends to his sire? They can use that nice stud then, having seen his offspring, without you having to provide yours. Keeping him as a stallion just to let a few friends breed from him sounds like they're asking a heck of a favour. I'd just send them up the line by one generation!

 

[whisper2myhorse]

Now, back to my questions. Right now this sweet little boy has been a perfect gentleman, is this normal or is it because he is too young to realize that he is a stud colt. There is mares in neighboring fields and he has brought them back into season and my own young filly came in. Has anyone had any experience with young colts that can give me some insight? I am very aware what they can do when they become a breeding stud but just not the first year or two. I am hoping that I can be ready for the situation when the time and situation occurs. What should I be watching for?

 

[ksbowman]

I have a very good friend that has been around horses all his life and an extremely good horseman. He has a huge hunk missing out of one of his shoulders from a stud he trusted and turned his back on , then the stud bit him and shook him throwing him to the ground and removing a piece of flesh. He had handled him a lot and knew that at any given time they can go Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde. He has not kept a stud since. It takes a very savvy handler to work with and around studs. Please give this a lot of thought. A gelding can be very forgiving and a very good partner.

 

[Dreamcatcher Arabians]

Now, back to my questions. Right now this sweet little boy has been a perfect gentleman, is this normal or is it because he is too young to realize that he is a stud colt. There is mares in neighboring fields and he has brought them back into season and my own young filly came in. Has anyone had any experience with young colts that can give me some insight? I am very aware what they can do when they become a breeding stud but just not the first year or two. I am hoping that I can be ready for the situation when the time and situation occurs. What should I be watching for?

By the time he shows you "what he can do" as a stallion, you could be dead. Handling intact males is at the very least an exercise in logistics. Where can I let the mares out? Where can I turn him out so he won't tear down the fencing to get to a flirty mare? Should I bring him in to the barn first or is it better last? I've had several stallions and have one of the most laid back fellows you can imagine, but the logistics of having even 1 can be a pain. Now, if that colt decides to be fractious (because if he's close enough to tease a mare in, he's close enough to be a BIG problem if he acts up), you are very soon going to have a real problem on your hands. If the colt in your avatar pic is him, he's very pretty, but pretty & color don't make a good stallion. Training makes a good stallion and a willingness to put him back in line for every little infraction of the rules. I can look at mine and say, "WHAT?" and point at him and he'll back off. Not every stallion will be that good natured. And when they're not.......Holy Cow.....it can be awful. I have worked with trainers who had multiple stallions in one barn and not one was what I would call, of the temper to be a stallion, and handling those boys......I got hurt more than once. Pretty much put me off stock horses for years. Wouldn't even look at one.

And trust me when I say, as soon as he becomes a stallion and you put a price on his swimmers, all those friends who want to breed to him today? They'll disappear or try to get you to waive all the fees for them. Geld him, enjoy him, send them to his sire or one of his brothers.

 

[AtokaGhosthorse]

He can breed your mares right now, for starters. At 6 months, he can get the job done. And he can tear down a fence to do it... or get hurt trying. Exhibit A, a sneaky neighbor colt that bred my best friend's Streakin' Six mare at 6 months old. He tore down the fence to get to her. His owner said he couldn't possibly be the horse in her pasture - he was too young - and refused to come get him. She had to tell the owner the next step was a bullet to the colt's head. Suddenly the owner came and looked and golly gee wiz. That was his horse. And he did get the job done. She lost a chance to breed that mare to Dash with Perks that season because of it.


This same friend has owned a magnificent palomino stallion that I grew up with. She said she'll never own another stallion again... she could ride him in parades, she had his respect, but the variables and logistics of it all were a massive PITA. There was no room for error. She prefers mares and fillies and leaves the stallion ownership to others.



And once the 'grown up' horse hormones kick in, he will get more aggressive and you're going to know how to maintain his respect and correct him like any other horse, but he may decide to escalate the issue when you correct him. You're going to have to spent a fair amount of time with him to keep that respect. Once spring gets here and the real breeding season is on, you're going to have your hands full. Are you going to be able to make him your main project for a while?

 

[whisper2myhorse]

Then you need to have him gelded. Takes an experienced horse person to own a stallion,and use him for breeding. Save yourself some serious problems and geld him.

Stallions and breeding mares isn't a green horns business.

I have to agree with you. I am very aware that stallions and breeding mares isn't a green horns business. I have 25 years of training horses off and on. It has been a long time since I have trained a horse about 15 years. But, I have been riding horses all this time. They are trail riding horses and I did train them myself but they are getting older. I am at a new stage in my life, I am getting ready to retire in about 2 more years. At this time, I am going to start showing Tennessee Walking horses. I am hoping that these sweet boy will be the show prospect that I am looking for. If he becomes the horse that his bloodline has produced in the past, then he will be worth a lot more money to me as a stud in the future. Since there is no guarantees, I am willing to chance it and learn how to deal with a stud in the hope that he will become a known show horse. I hope I am making sense. I am willing and am right now able to deal with the serous problems that comes along with a stallion. I am around people that ride stallions on a regular basis, they are well behaved and all business when the bridle is in their mouth. They have a certain routine that is expected of them when it is time for them to bred and they do know the difference.

I may be answering questions out of order, this forum thing is all new to me.

 

[Dreamcatcher Arabians]

https://www.horseforum.com/horse-breeding/stallion-owners-lament-810213/

And that's only ONE mare owner that's got me chewing on my tongue and breaking my fingers so I won't say anything rude. I've actually had way worse.

 

[whisper2myhorse]

The stud is 4 hour drive away. They may not be able to afford room and board for their mare. Also, the expense of the stud fee since he is a proven stallion. I forgot to mention, that this colt is to be a show prospect. I don't want to hear your beliefs about the show ring and Tennessee Walkers unless you have been apart of are currently have horses in the show ring.

This has been a long desire for me and my kids are grown now, and I am currently at the time in life where I can do this. My husband, who also trains horses is saying some of the things about how dangerous it could be and all the problems that comes with it. He also worries that one movement and he could hurt be bad and are kill me. As I read over the different comments, I am rethinking this. I just see him now and how calm he is and how eager he is to please. Out of the seven horses that I have personally trained with out my husbands help he has been the second easiest to work with. This maybe due to him being so young. I guess it just got my hopes up. I will slow down and think about it a lot more. I will know more by spring, I will keep an open mind about it. I just need to know what to expect now.

 

[Foxhunter]

A lot depends on the temperament of the colt. A while back I had a 2 ur old Dartmoor colt that ran with another 3 yr old colt. The 2 yr old was a beggar and knew there's was more to life than just gazing and growing. The other you would never have known he was intact.

I have handled a lot of stud horses. A couple I handled were difficult in their temperaments, mouthy, pushy and one thought in mind and it wasn't anything to do with me to being ridden.

I was consistent in my handling of them. I insisted on total manners. I also worked them (riding them daily) a lot. This wasn't just in an arena but out and about. One, a TB was one of my best Hunt horses, he would stand quietly holding a gate open, I could lead other horses from him, including mares, and he would stand with horses all around him. Many didn't realise he was a stallion.

I always kept a stud bridle for when he was covering mares, different to his riding bridle. When I first started handling him to his mares he was so excited he would rear and buck going to them, thismwas firmly and fairly corrected so by the end of his first season he was walking politely to the mare.

On maturity of most males a lot of their brain cells migrate south, it is up to the handler to keep their mind engaged and occupied then they flourish.

 

[Dreamcatcher Arabians]

You really don't want to hear anything you don't want to hear. I'm not going to try to tell you what to expect from a horse, stallion, I don't know. That's a good way to get you hurt/maimed/killed. If you have to ask, you need a pro.