It’s good that people who are not experienced handling stallions are frightened of them. It’s safer for them to be horrified of being anywhere near a stallion, just in case it’s one of THOSE stallions that really shouldn’t be out in public. Because there ARE stallions who can be dangerous, and sometimes the people who own them are imbeciles, and their stallions give all stallions a bad rep. Green horses going out in public for the first time often do things that they are not supposed to do… they are green, or young, and inexperienced. If they are a stallion, people are gonna talk. Even if they are not a stallion, people are gonna talk. But if they are a stallion, they are gonna talk more.
I had a TB stallion that I took to horse shows, and jumping clinics. Most people didn’t know he was a stallion, he didn’t have a lot of stallion like behaviour. He was well mannered. Bred mares live cover only, of course. But you do have to look out for other horses more so than you do with a gelding, or mare, because a stallion never forgets that he is a stallion. At one little show, another rider came into the warm up ring with her stallion. It was being “wild”. My stallion and I left the ring, because one has to look out for things before they are gonna happen. It happened, and the other stallion dumped it’s rider, and was running around loose about 5 minutes later. I would have left the ring even if I did not have my stallion there, because one could easily see that it wasn’t going to end well. My stallion would stand quietly waiting for his jumping round, other horses around him. He would pick out one mare at each show, usually something flashy, he liked “colour”. Something with lots of white, splashy colours. He especially liked pintos, thought they were very attractive, or lots of socks and blazes. He would watch that one mare, quietly, all day long. He would watch her jumping rounds intensely, he would watch her walk by. He ignored every other mare at the show, especially plain coloured mares. Just the one was his chosen love. It would be a different mare at each show. I would know when that mare had come into view, because he would perk his ears up in her direction. Who ever owned the mare he chose never knew, he never said a word. He would just watch, and admire, and wish. Other than that, he was just like any other horse. But not all stallions are like that at horse shows. Have seen a few that have got loose, and run around looking for love. Very dangerous situation when that happens. People are right to be cautious around stallions, because some people do bring badly mannered stallions out in public and have no idea how to look after them and keep themselves and others safe.
Good luck with your stallion, and the promotion efforts! Knowing that others may well be critical, and knowing that your green horse doesn’t need to get run into in the warm up ring, avoid crowded warm up rings. Just wait for a few minutes, to avoid bad situations. Whether your horse is a stallion or a mare or gelding. Crowded warm up rings suck.
And I agree, it’s the people you have to watch out for. They can make some bad decisions.
