Our guy has his own paddock with about 6.5 feet fences around it (he jumped out of a 5 foot paddock the other day when he was at my trainers barn). He gets daily turnout by himself. The other horses are turned out a bit away…he can see and hear them.
Our boys are out as much as possible. In the winter Lion King has a run in shed and paddock next to the weanlings. He likes the little ones. In the Spring/Summer, he lives in a large paddock, with a wife or two, close to the broodmare pasture. He is very well behaved with the mares and is a very social horse so the companionship is good for him. He goes in and out of the paddock for hand breeding and is fine if you rotate mares in and out. We did start pasture breeding with him while he was still showing and his manners were very good. The biggest thing we noticed that if a horse in the warmup started swishing a tail or pinning their ears, he wasn’t getting near them!
The young stallion has solo turnout all day, but close to other horses. He is in the barn at night, next to one of the geldings. He is, at this point, very well mannered. He will hand breed for now, because as a talented youngster being brought along in training, it is easier for us. Once you start pasture breeding, it does take some time for them to figure out that leaving the mares is OK. They do worry about their herd and it can be hard to keep enough weight on them.
As far as handling, we treat the stallions just like any other horse. They are expected to behave safely, around people, at all times.
My guy was out with a gelding he grew up with until he was almost four. They started playing too hard and I had to separate them. He is now turned out about 9 hours everyday and is very content. He has a paddock with a lane on two side with mares on both sides. He lives in a very open barn with bars between the stalls and can stick his head out to the outside and over the front of his stall. He gets to see the foals be born and loves being in the barn with “his” girls and babies.
We have had 3 over the years. All live out in company.24/7 in good weather with a run in. During winter nights and bad weather they come into stalls. 2 of them could be turned out with anyone: preggo mares, foals or geldings. The guy we have now is more studly. He can be turned out with preggo mares and foals under the age of 1 year. After that the fillys have to be taken out for sexual maturity reasons and the boys as he starts to get too aggressive with them. He was out til 3 with a gelding, then they started to fight and he can no longer be turned out with mature males. Currently he is turned out with a 23 yo mare that is too old to get preggo anymore. Never any guarantees with that…but she is old and has been not in foal for 5 years now. After a year turned out with him has not gotten preggo…so probably not going to happen. He was easy to manage through 3. He got put out with her as at 4 he got quite aggressive with everyone. He was going to be soon gleded if he did not settle down anyway. So the old herd boss lady with put in with him to teach him some manners. Was it a risk that he would get hurt? Absolutely. But the alternative was he was getting gelded anyway. He is a white horse. By the time he charged her enough times and got clobbered for his efforts he looked like a pink and white spotted Appaloosa after I was done putting fly cream on all his scratches. It also worked and he got a lot more respectful.
[QUOTE=twistoffate;6878818]
“Pasture breeding is how we TAUGHT our stallion not to get hurt. I put my alpha lead mare out with him (that we were planning on breeding to him). She explained proper behavior to him in a way that made more impression on him than any amount of hand breeding ever would. Once she was in heat, the first time he ran at her in his excitement, she wheeled around and chased him off. He learned to be polite and respectful in his “duties”. Then the other mare we wanted to breed to him came into heat, so she went out with him. She’s no where near as alpha as my other mare, but he was still very polite with her. Checked her out, nipping her hocks and knees to make sure she would stand, before doing his “duty”. The first time we hand-bred him, it was like he had bred 100 mares. All business, polite, he “checked” his mare to make sure she was going to stand, and just basically required a human to hold his lead. The easiest stallion either my husband or I ever handled. And it wasn’t a fluke, he did the same with his next hand breeding too.”
This!
My guy lived out 24/7 with his mares and offspring (until weaning). I started him out with my alpha mare to “educate” him. He was a very mild mannered polite stallion that, unless the mare was in heat and being bred, didn’t act “studish”.
The downside… I took him to Rood and Riddle to be collected and wouldn’t collect off the mare they use if the stallion isn’t used to the dummy. He was there a week and the vet called and said he didn’t know what else to do with him. He would mount the mare with encouragement and then look at the handler’s like “now what”? The vet called and said to come get him but I asked if there was anyway he was not performing because he was used to LC on mares who were actively in heat and ready. He said he was going to try one more thing and called me back in 15 min laughing. He had gone down and gotten a recip mare that was currently ovulating and Trey performed perfectly. The vet said he was just too smart lol. He stayed another few days and was successfully collected for freezing.
He also traveled and stabled at shows with mares and geldings.[/QUOTE]
our TB that learned to LC first also was slow on the uptake with the AI thing. He did have to have an actual jump mare in front of the AI dummy. He would do OK as long as he had an actual mare in front of the phantom, but some stallions all they have to do it see it…or have pee sprinkled on it. Not him. If there was not an acutal mare standing in front of the phantom he would get excited then look baffled and get down. He was also a fairly low libido stallion to start with and easy to stable around mares. Sounds like yours is similar.
My stallion is turned out in a mixed herd with his son, who is gelded, and another gelding and is low man on the totem pole. On years that I breed me personal mare to him she will go out with the heard as well. Otherwise she is in a field with one of the geldings as she is currently the only mare on property.
Ace is a saint and is still in training and still works. His personalty and temperment is part of the reason that he is still a stallion and I think part of that is that he actually lives in a hard enviroment.
My stallion is out in a dry paddock half days usually with young horses adjacent and mares across an aisle. In the winter he behaves as a gelding and can be led about without a chain. As spring comes in he is more interested in the mare traffic. In full spring he is a very large more aggressive inattentive breeding stallion and a chain is used to lead him in and out. In mid summer he goes out in a mare herd(11 mares last year). Last year was his first summer with mares and he learned mares are not so wonderful and they won’t be bred unless they want to be bred…and they eat his grain. He was very happy to come back up to his stall for the winter by mid fall. It was very stressful to go out in the herd of mares…they had had a stallion living with them before and knew all about it…and loved the old stallion who had died…he had a lot to learn about being with mares. Hopefully this year he will be less stressed, be more subtle, and enjoy the grass more.
When we were still showing Lion King, he would go out with the mares at night and into the barn in the day time. The first couple of mornings he wasn’t too keen to be caught but was fine once at the barn. He promptly lay down in his stall and took a long nap. Then he was ridden in the afternoon, cooled out, fed his dinner, and taken back to the paddock and the mares for the night. After about a week of nights with the mares and days in the barn, he would be standing at the gate, VERY willing to be caught and taken away from those bossy old mares. 
I am currently raising my second stallion, although my first homebred stallion did not come back to me till he was 2+yrs old. He had TERRIBLE manners and had already pasture-bred a mare!
THAT was a real interesting deal for the first few years, I’ll tell you!:eek:
But, after many years of fumbling around on both our parts and the help of a younger, but equally fumbling vet, we got so he was fairly polite most of the time.
However, I have to be Devil’s Advocate here and tell you I had some very different experiences than many of the poster here. My first stallion was turned out with a very passive mare before he was returned to me; this is the one he pasture bred.
When he came home to me, I could barely lead him (he was WILD). My best Arab mare was in season – she was teasing obviously to my friend’s gelding and she had be live covered twice before, so I figured --“hey, why not” (yeah, stupid in retrospect).
So I turned them loose together. He went rushing up like King Kong and she took offense and blasted him! Then went after him with death in her eyes! I mean, she wanted NOTHING to do with him and beat him up pretty badly (mostly pride, but she tore his hide up afew places as well).
Later (duh) I learned that alpha mares will often reject a very young stallion (remember, he was just over 2 yrs old); somehow they know he’s not the best pick.
So of course I pulled them out.
That winter he was turned out with 2 pregnant mares and, after afew squeals they adjusted. June of the next year I turned out the (open) Arab mare with that herd in a much bigger pasture.
He didn’t even attempt to get NEAR her!!
And the end of the story? He developed an aggressive attitude towards many mares and would try to swing his hind end at them and double barrel them as soon as he got close enough during hand breeding. He’d try this in the pasture as well, but of course it was easy for them to get away. But it could be very dangerous (duh) during the hand-breeding and it took some careful handling to make sure it didn’t happen!
As far as his attitude towards that one Arab mare: he HATED her with a bloody passion. I mean HATED!!!!
The first season she was in with him she decided he was pretty cute after all and she would stand next to him winking and acting just as slutty as she could. Meanwhile, he would stand SIX FEET AWAY, not even looking at her!! If she got any closer, he’d pin his ears.
I was beginning to think I had a switch-hitting stallion, when I notice the maiden WB mare in heat in the other pasture and he was VERY interested. So we pulled her out and he covered her in record time (with no kicking).
After than he was just VICIOUS to this Arab mare. He chased her around a 5 acres pastures, knocked her down, and the bit the crap o/o her before we could get her out!
From then on breeding those two was a major undertaking! He would refuse to breed her unless we primed him on another mare! Instead, he’s just try to savage her. We would blanket her, so he couldn’t bit. And we’d time it so only ONE cover was needed. The last time we did on-site AI.
As far as his stabling arrangements, he would flat out not tolerate another male even in the pasture next door – drove him NUTS!!! So one in his pasture was out of the question.
Of course he liked mares in his pasture, and we did do some pasture breeding over the years, but mostly I preferred to hand breed. He got pretty polite from what I could tell, except that kicking thing…which did get much better over the years.
But the end of the story is not pretty: I found him at age 9 yrs with a broken femur. He was standing in his pasture, surrounded by 4 mares. We will never know for sure what happened, but whatever it was, it was the end of him.:sadsmile:
So it’s not always such smooth sailing…
Now: Stallion #2. He will be 3 yrs old this summer. He is the son of Stallion #1 and not really much like him…MUCH sweeter and more passive. That is Reason #1 why I’m even considering keeping him whole.
He has been in a herd his entire life. I finally pulled him away from open mares when he was almost 20 mos old – he was starting to sniff and look mildly interested, but wasn’t crazy.
I put him in his dad’s old pasture with a pregnant mare. Then when she foaled the next year, I bought him a gelding (yeah, I know…). The plan was the gelding would act as a buddy and pony horse to start taking the Young Lad out on the trails. However, so far the pony horse is turning out to be more of a flake than Young Lad…but that’s another story.
Anyway, I am determined to do several things very differently this guy if he remains whole.
- He will never be pastured alone; if the pasture was bigger, I would have him out with bred mares with foals at foot.
- He will not be bred till he is well started u/s and has been out and about.
- I will train him to be collected on a mount before I do live cover.
And, ideally, I would prefer to just NEVER do live cover. Just do on-site AI. But I’m not sure that’s practical.
Observations: The gelding is fairly alpha and 7 yrs old. The first season they were together Gelding was obviously alpha. The second season I noticed this starting to change; ALOT more challenging and even some “take-overs”. They still get along, but Stallion did not cow-tow to gelding anymore.
Then this last year I pulled gelding out and put pregnant mare back in. Same pregnant mare he’s known all his life. She is SUPREME alpha and pretty much a bitch. Luckily for him she’s got a bad hind leg and prefers not to move too fast :lol:
But you can tell she makes his life a living hell. He still does the baby-face at her!!! The pasture is too small for 3 horses and I like the gelding in the other pasture because the open mares will tease to him…but I think my poor stallion would prefer someone he could play with…
I agree 100% with Tasker…I keep any uncut horses out alone or with a Shetland pony gelding. They are behind proper stallion fencing and can see the whole farm and other horses but no nose to nose contact. I expect respect and compliance under saddle as well as on the ground and never put the horse in a situation where they will loose focus and potentially hurt themselves or someone due to their sexual instincts. It’s a very fine line but high performance expensive potential breeding horses require this. It’s not a perfect world it’s a man. Made world
We have ALWAYS live covered due to breed requirements (TB’s) and we sometimes let Puchi’s Rambo loose in a paddock with one of the Irish/Clyde mares, but as we get older and are only breeding out own mares I’ve been thinking about pasture breeding our new, VERY sane TB stallion to our mares. Two years ago we had an “accidental” foal by Seattle Blues (ISH) out of one of the painted TB mares. Apparently the broodmare gate was left unlatched and the mares got out in the barn yard. DH found Blue loose (jumped his gate) with the mares grazing in the yard. NO drama or hysterics, so we never gave it another thought until one of the mares started being bigger and bigger!! LSH…vet confirmed pregnancy, shots were given and the resulting OOPS was born a month later. Both stud and mare were maidens and neither had a hair out of place. Was that just dumb luck or what???
To those who pasture breed…Do you put the mare/mares in the stallion pasture or a neutral pasture. Our mares are on 35 acres…not a safe turn-out for a new meeting. The stud and ALL of my mares (escept one) are maidens …did you hand breed at first or just let them work it out??? I’m worried about the stud getting hurt as he learns. His friend Dandy has taught him manners about rough play and he’s darn quick to get out of the way, but still…
[QUOTE=crosscreeksh;6881025]
To those who pasture breed…Do you put the mare/mares in the stallion pasture or a neutral pasture. Our mares are on 35 acres…not a safe turn-out for a new meeting. The stud and ALL of my mares (escept one) are maidens …did you hand breed at first or just let them work it out??? I’m worried about the stud getting hurt as he learns. His friend Dandy has taught him manners about rough play and he’s darn quick to get out of the way, but still…[/QUOTE]
I posted a little further back in this thread about pasture breeding our stud for his first and second “duty days”. We’ve only pasture bred our guy twice–last year was his first year at stud and he bred 4 mares, 2 open (1 maiden), and 2 with foals at their sides which were hand bred. The first mare he bred was my alpha mare who was a maiden. She’s extremely alpha, but not a beyotch if you know what I mean. We put her out in his paddock to look around, then brought him out a little while later and turned him loose. They worked it out with only one tiny scratch on his side, and one bite mark on her neck.
My biggest advice would be to really KNOW your horses. I’ve had my mare for over 10 years so know how she reacts to new horses and how she reacts when she’s in heat even though she’s never been bred.
Our stallion came off the racetrack at age 5, so hadn’t been socialized probably since he was a yearling. He sold at auction as a yearling (or it might have been an early 2 year old–I don’t remember now) and then again for over $400,000 at the 2 year old in training sale in Ocala, so it might even have been as a weanling that he last had physical contact with another horse. He’s a real low key, mellow guy, so I really didn’t expect any problems with turning him out with a mare. Now when we turned him out with a gelding for the first time, I was more leery, because of all the stories you hear. Of course that went well too.
Just be careful, observant, and don’t do it the first time by yourself! Have a helper with you just in case. And of course this post is just my experience. Like everything else with horses, YMMV, and I’m sure someone else has a story about how pasture breeding is unsafe and the worst thing you can do.
Sheila
Our guys alone live in paddocks with run-in sheds. One has a gelding on one side to confide in, the other cannot handle that. They’re both in areas where they can see what’s going on on the farm and remain informed on all the farm doings 
They’re only brought in to breed (2x/day during the season live cover), to be groomed/hooves trimmed, to be shown to visitors/potential breeders, or if there’s a problem.
Our colts live in the herd (mares and babies) through the spring, summer, and fall. By late September, everyone’s been weaned. We wait another month or so to separate boys from girls, at which time the boys get kicked out to live in a 5-10 acre field isolated from everyone else. They come in for trims, shots, worming, but that’s it. They’re broken in the fall of the yearling year, when they’ll start to come in for a few hours every day for school. Everyone goes to the track entire, but nobody comes back for layup with their equipment.
No, I think it’s the more normal occurrence. After mulling it over, I think pasture breeding is like a mare foaling alone. Nature has designed the horse so that it goes right 95% of the time. They figure it out and everyone is just fine.
But when that 5% happens – the ugly stuff – it can be VERY ugly. Mares get the Hell bit out of them, hides get torn, animals get kicked and bones can break. It CAN happen. It just depends on if you want to take the risk. After my experience, I will not do it again. Horses are suicide bound critter anyway, I don’t need to stack the deck against me!
My stallion will always live a “natural” life in terms of housing and a pasture mate of some kind, but as far as the actual breeding act, I will not risk him in pasture breeding.
I’m just not that lucky :no:
[QUOTE=Kyzteke;6882733]
No, I think it’s the more normal occurrence. After mulling it over, I think pasture breeding is like a mare foaling alone. Nature has designed the horse so that it goes right 95% of the time. They figure it out and everyone is just fine.
But when that 5% happens – the ugly stuff – it can be VERY ugly. Mares get the Hell bit out of them, hides get torn, animals get kicked and bones can break. It CAN happen. It just depends on if you want to take the risk. After my experience, I will not do it again. Horses are suicide bound critter anyway, I don’t need to stack the deck against me!
My stallion will always live a “natural” life in terms of housing and a pasture mate of some kind, but as far as the actual breeding act, I will not risk him in pasture breeding.
I’m just not that lucky :no:[/QUOTE]
I’m afraid I’m a bit on the fence with this, too. I/we have had ROTTEN luck over the years and although I’ve owned mares that were soooo quiet and EZ to breed, it wouldn’t have been an issue…right now all I have (that I want to breed) are maidens!! I’ll have to think on this a while!! The stud fee on this horse’s sire was $175,000 so he’s not cheap or readily replaceable!! Too bad there isn’t a padded suit you could put on the boy!!
My stallion Ironman is turned out for a couple of hours a day. He is by himself in his paddock but plays with the geldings over the fence. Big on halter tag, but he usually loses. He is very gentle and very social, there is just 3 strands of tape between him and his friends. We try hard to allow him to socialize but as I got him at 8 years old and he had not been with any other horses since very young, we felt having neighbors was a better solution than a pasture mate. We have had other stallions and followed very different turn out procedures, some with taller more electrified fencing. It really depends on the individual.
As to pasture breeding, to me there is a risk factor. I would prefer to monitor things to minimize accidents. Plus my stallion[s] live in a commercial barn, I take them to a breeding shed at a vet clinic so they learn to pretty much behave like geldings at home and not so much focus on mares.
