Stallions With A Good Disposition

[Beentheredonethat]

Pshaw. I used to work for a hunter trainer, and I’d give the little baby lessons on her TB stallion. He was SO careful and polite, and if he took a wrong step and you went “ah!,” he was mortified.

I bred to Freestyle because my mare is talented, but tricky with temperament, and every single one of his babies are known for amazing temperaments as well as athleticism. I have ridden a lot of really hard horses no one else can ride, including my mare, and I want easier now! I have a two and a four year by him, and everyone who sees them always comments because they are SO social and huggy. They make google eyes and smushy faces at people until they come over and hug them. They will leave food or anything to come and visit given the opportunity. I just started getting on the almost 4 year old and she’s easy as pie. Maybe the second time I was on her just walking for five minutes, the kids at the barn were running round like nuts and on the hill below the arena out of site making ALL kinds of noise in the leaves. We stopped and she looked with interest, and when the kids POPPED up from the hill below, she actually gave a little body jerk, but never actually moved, just watched. I guess his babies are known for this–just real thinkers–look and check things out. (They’re damn nice movers, too. I was just with my two year old today, and that trot is knees up to chest height.)

[Liz_Steacie]

[QUOTE=rodawn;6160941]
Yes. It was a huge loss when Santorini died. And just last year, his other son, (Souvenir) in Europe died, also known for his spectacular easy-going temperament, nice movements, and well above-average dressage abilities. The Santorini bloodline is an important one to keep going.[/QUOTE]

I am the very lucky owner of both a Santorini daughter (out of an Akzent II/Lanthan mare) and a 3 year old gelding by Sir Wanabi, who is bred for dressage (Feinbrand/Akzent II).

I could not say enough about the stallion’s temperament - he is kind and friendly as well as extremely well mannered. But even more importantly, his offspring (the ones that I have known, anyways) are all very similar in temperament. My colt is sweet natured, smart, easy to work with AND has phenomenal movement and a very nice natural outline.

My mare by Santorini is one of the nicest horses to work with that I have ever known - at 7 years old she became the reserve champion in PSG/Intermediaire I for Ontario. She has three good gaits and super conformation. But her most outstanding characteristic is her temperament.

The more time I spend in this business, the more I appreciate a truly outstanding character. Horses who are blessed with good character are just so much easier to train, to manage and to love. It has become my number one priority for young prospects. You can have all the fancy trots in the world, but if the horse has a difficult personality, or is resistant to the training, the fancy trot really doesn’t help. I have two very nice horses (one is Cordoba/Matcho AA, the other is Hofrat/Weltmeyer) that I imported from Germany, and neither one has the character of my Wanabi baby or my Santorini mare. Yes, they may be better movers and may have more raw talent (both of which are still up for discussion - the 3 year old is pretty fancy!), but the training is more problematic and not nearly as much fun. While I love both of them, and I know they will eventually grow up and get where I want them to go, I still wish they both had more tractable temperaments.

I have a baby coming in the spring by High Spirits (the new RCMP stallion, by Hohenstein out of a Prince Thatchxx/Dynamo mare) out of a Don Primero mare, and I am just praying that s/he has the character of my Santorini mare.

If you want quality, good movement and absolutely the best temperament ever, Sir Wanabi is a really good choice for your breeding program. And, no, Sandra didn’t ask me to do this, I just really believe in this stallion.

Liz

[clint]

[QUOTE=Callaway;6161240]
Oh my god, I didn’t even watch the video when I originally posted. HOW ADORABLE! What a nice horse![/QUOTE]

I hadn’t watched that video either. What a nice stallion, and adorable little girl.

[rodawn]

The reason my Hanoverian boy was gelded was because he only liked certain people. If he didn’t like you, boy you’d better watch out. He didn’t bite, kick, buck or rear, but he wasn’t going to babysit you either. He would use his gaits to test your faculties and seat. He was the kind of horse where you had better be prepared for the real deal because there was no faking it. With me, for whatever reason, I could do anything with him and push him as hard as I needed to in order to get the depth of collection and throughness I wanted, but he did not transfer his respect to any other person automatically. They had to earn it. He was gelded soon after I got him, but while that trait became less intense, it lingered to the day he died. After he was a gelding, I had a young hunter-jumper girl take him to one show, but he got really fast through the courses and she wasn’t really in total control of him so that was the end of that.

On the other hand, I was riding a lovely Hanoverian stallion for a breeding farm and I regularly took him out on trail rides in the company of mares or geldings. It didn’t matter. His brain was such that he accepted the different roles he had in life - riding horse, competition horse, breeding stallion. When the tack was on, he was in the business of training although sometimes he was distracted, but that is rather normal in most breeding stallions and riders learn to get over it and just deal. In the breeding shed, he got down to the business of breeding. His libido was right on up there, thank you very much. But he was smart and knew what was what.

Stallions tend to be all business about their roles in life, and most of them are smart enough to know what the different roles are, and also have the temperament to care about their people to do right and well in those roles that make up his everyday life.

[rodawn]

[QUOTE=Liz Steacie;6163627]
I am the very lucky owner of both a Santorini daughter (out of an Akzent II/Lanthan mare) and a 3 year old gelding by Sir Wanabi, who is bred for dressage (Feinbrand/Akzent II).

I could not say enough about the stallion’s temperament - he is kind and friendly as well as extremely well mannered. But even more importantly, his offspring (the ones that I have known, anyways) are all very similar in temperament. My colt is sweet natured, smart, easy to work with AND has phenomenal movement and a very nice natural outline.

My mare by Santorini is one of the nicest horses to work with that I have ever known - at 7 years old she became the reserve champion in PSG/Intermediaire I for Ontario. She has three good gaits and super conformation. But her most outstanding characteristic is her temperament.

The more time I spend in this business, the more I appreciate a truly outstanding character. Horses who are blessed with good character are just so much easier to train, to manage and to love. It has become my number one priority for young prospects. You can have all the fancy trots in the world, but if the horse has a difficult personality, or is resistant to the training, the fancy trot really doesn’t help. I have two very nice horses (one is Cordoba/Matcho AA, the other is Hofrat/Weltmeyer) that I imported from Germany, and neither one has the character of my Wanabi baby or my Santorini mare. Yes, they may be better movers and may have more raw talent (both of which are still up for discussion - the 3 year old is pretty fancy!), but the training is more problematic and not nearly as much fun. While I love both of them, and I know they will eventually grow up and get where I want them to go, I still wish they both had more tractable temperaments.

I have a baby coming in the spring by High Spirits (the new RCMP stallion, by Hohenstein out of a Prince Thatchxx/Dynamo mare) out of a Don Primero mare, and I am just praying that s/he has the character of my Santorini mare.

If you want quality, good movement and absolutely the best temperament ever, Sir Wanabi is a really good choice for your breeding program. And, no, Sandra didn’t ask me to do this, I just really believe in this stallion.

Liz[/QUOTE]

ding ding ding. I bolded the part I agree with as RIGHT ON.

You can have the most beautiful horse in the world, but if it’s a mental work out every time you have to touch the horse it’s not really worth it. CHARACTER is a big hairy deal. It is a Numero Uno trait I demand out of my broodmares and any stallion I want to breed to. You can actually get farther faster with a horse who might not be Totilas-talented, but who has spectacular CHARACTER, willingness to please his rider, be your steadfast teammate, and perform his/her blessed heart out with 300% try.

High Spirits is a really nice boy - he’s definitely on my radar too.

[Liz_Steacie]

Yes, it is in many ways unfortunate that the RCMP does not allow outside mares to their stallions - the foal I have coming from High Spirits is only because I bought the mare already in foal at the fall auction.

OTOH, I can understand that breeders, and particularly stallion owners, would not necessarily like to compete with a government funded breeding facility in Canada!

Liz

[Fred]

[QUOTE=Liz Steacie;6163627]

The more time I spend in this business, the more I appreciate a truly outstanding character. Horses who are blessed with good character are just so much easier to train, to manage and to love. It has become my number one priority for young prospects. You can have all the fancy trots in the world, but if the horse has a difficult personality, or is resistant to the training, the fancy trot really doesn’t help.

Liz[/QUOTE]

^^
I thought this was worth quoting again too. :yes:

[not_again]

I keep three stallions in a six stall barn attached to my indoor ring with three geldings, and the non pregnant mares are turned out about twenty feet away. The boys all ground tie for grooming, tacking, etc. Mares are led in and out all day under their noses to work in the indoor. The grey stallion ships to events with geldings, mares and other stallions and ties to the trailer for the day. The two dressage chestnuts are equally amenable.
In the breeding shed they are all quick, and have great numbers.

My horses, my rules. If they don’t measure up as good citizens and easy to handle they don’t have the privilege of being stallions.

Who would want it any other way?

[Gayle_in_Oregon]

Sheila Varian Arabian stallions

[QUOTE=Kyzteke;6160128]
Much of it is breeding. If you are breeding for a riding horse, you don’t want a battle every step of the way.

TBs are bred for speed – period, so disposition is never even considered. If the horse has a disposition like Satan but can run, they will breed him (or her).

But horses like QH’s as an example (I’m talking about working ranch QH’s) are expected to be good, polite cowhorses when under saddle…then often in the spring they are just turned out with a band of mares.

I read that Shelia Varian used to jump on the back of her first stallion Bey El Bey bareback and with a halter and ride down to the mare band. He would tell her who was ready to breed, they would return to the barn, then bring the mare(s) up one by one for him to cover.

Can’t say I’d trust my stallion to do that :eek:, but that just shows how kind and polite a stallion CAN be…with the right breeding and management.[/QUOTE]

Shelia’s stallion that she rode bareback to tease the mares was Bay Abi, not his son Bay El Bey. This line can have wonderful tempraments for anyone to handle. She taught him to go to sleep on the line AND wake up when she wanted him to ‘Show’. His breeder told me this is how he beat all the other stallions of his day in the long hot final championship class. She was an amatuer as well, but a devoted one who believed in herself and her horse. A LOT of temprament is handling and horsemanship.

[2hounds]

What an awesome thread! I love hearing the stories and it’s nice to have more sane laid back lines to keep in mind.

I’m an AA wanna be. I’m in the process of looking for my partner. Number one on my list is temperment. I am older now and like others want to have fun during the training process.

I love Sir Wannabi! His babies are at the top of my short list.

I have heard wonderful things about Rheirattack as well. Although I don’t know what his kids are like I have my fingers crossed they are as wonderful/gentle as I hear he is.

I’ve also had my interest sparked by Harvard as I hear he is quite the gentle boy.

So many wonderful studs in Ontario…no need for me to head south!

[horsechick]

just wanted to share a quick video clip of my “wild man” from the other day…

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=10150657203664487&set=vb.515029486&type=2&theater

[Tasker]

For a giggle - Wizard shows off his 1 trick!

And yes, the barn doors are open in front of him & the mares field is about 50’ away. He does have the reins around his neck though as he was working getting the bits of sugar out of his teeth while I was tacking him up. All it takes is a mint, some sweet feed, apple slices, a carrot or piece of yam and he’s off… Love the wild stallion in breeding season! :lol:

[nsm]

Taskers Waldaire is a fantastic boy, I have seen her put amateurs not that experienced on him and he was a saint. I have seen him with other horses and I have one word–GENTLEMAN!

Nancy

Also Tasker thanks for the kind words on Ironman. Did I ever mention that prior to you riding him, [and so beautifully at that] he had only been ridden 1 time in 3 years or so?

[crestline]

Several years ago we went down to watch Palladio’s trainer school him. Turns out there was a schooling show at the farm that day…trainers daughter was begging to go in lead line…I think she was about 3 at the time. Trainer asked if we could pop in the ring for it on Palladio…lol…he said it was the horse he trusted the most in his barn…hopped off, swapped saddles, and into the show they went! He was pretty darn cute in that leadline saddle, hahahah!

It’s very important to us to have good character. We had foal owners and breeders get on him over the years including kids and it’s always fun to see how proud the kids are that they got to ride a STALLION, lol. Love it!!

This is one of my other all time favorite Palladio pics. We were at the OLDNA stallion approvals and there were some more rowdy ones there. Nothing, however interupts stallion nap time in Palladio-land so 10 am, regardless of chaos, it’s naptime! Got to love the snuggly ones!

Great stories…and love the video by OP!!!

[clbailey54]

[QUOTE=jwsporthorses;6160008]
Contester II by Contender x Landgraf…stellar disposition which he passes to all of his offspring. Sweet, sweet boy![/QUOTE]

This stallion is in the barn with my horses and is a complete gentleman. He is friendly, very sweet and incredibly talented. Very uphill built, great lofty gaits and is nearing GP with Chelsey Sibley. If you see him bring your drool cup. I have also seen some of his offspring and they also seem to have his great disposition. REALLY A MUST SEE!

[foxhavenfarm]

LOVE that video!

I have to say, we have been incredibly blessed with our boy. He is just the quietest, most laid back Thoroughbred stallion we have ever been around. He lives with his mares, ponies youngsters and goes to shows and stands tied at the trailer without making a peep. I would trust anyone’s grandmother (or grandchild) on him and have given lessons on him.

Boys like this are totally worth their weight in gold.

Oh and horsechick, if we bred anything other than Thoroughbreds we would be sending some of our mares to your boy. He is stunning!

[horsechick]

[QUOTE=foxhavenfarm;6207669]
LOVE that video!

I have to say, we have been incredibly blessed with our boy. He is just the quietest, most laid back Thoroughbred stallion we have ever been around. He lives with his mares, ponies youngsters and goes to shows and stands tied at the trailer without making a peep. I would trust anyone’s grandmother (or grandchild) on him and have given lessons on him.

Boys like this are totally worth their weight in gold.

Oh and horsechick, if we bred anything other than Thoroughbreds we would be sending some of our mares to your boy. He is stunning![/QUOTE]

Thanks so much! I love seeing all these gentlemen doing their everyday thing like any other horse. Crestline, that leadline picture is to die for! And Amazing is the same about his naps at shows. If he takes less that 4 in one day I worry! And he doesn’t mind sharing his stall so I can catch some Zzzs either! :lol:

[Horsezee]

I think the dam and the dam sire influences the offspring’s temperament more so than the sire’s temperament. Maybe that’s just my experience?

[Crown_Royal]

I am SO jealous of that little girl! What a cool horse to get to ride (take a lesson?) on. What a good little rider on a very lovely horse.

There’s something about seeing a nice stallion behave so nicely and quietly with a child that makes me like him even more…maybe similar to how some women are even more attracted to a handsome man that’s good with children? :lol: