I did enjoy reading that post, history lesson and all! Another interesting note about St. Simon: when he was being particularly difficult, one thing that would bring him under control was an open umbrella. They didn’t hit him with it - not necessary, as he was cowed into submission by its mere presence.
Many years ago I got to meet Affirmed at Jonabell. He was a sweetie.
The only breeding stallion I ever met up close and personal was Secretariat (I was 10), but his groom walked my mom and me out to his pasture to meet him. Secretariat came right up and stuck his head over the fence, but his groom said he had recently bitten the earlobe off a female journalist (going after a sparkly earring, was the supposed reason) and that I should stay back. I did get to pet his neck, and must have looked suitable starstruck because the groom then asked if I wanted a bit of his mane to keep. After I nodded, a small handful was tugged out and handed to me.
I still have that mane hair and like to tell people that I’m going to clone Secretariat as soon as I win the lottery. 
Barbara Livingston’s Old Friends books are great for giving candid stories of how good (or not) many stallions were to be around. Their owners or long-time grooms tell a lot of funny tales about the horses’ youthful indiscretions, and whether or not they were outgrown.
I met Awesome Again at Adena Springs. He was in his pasture and he came up to say hello. He kept biting the fence (maybe cribbing) but he let me pet him and he was nice. The groom told me that they had to be on guard a little when they were taking him out to the pasture or bringing him into the barn but other than that he was easy to work with.
I visited Claiborne and saw Seeking the Gold but was told to stay away from his stall. Pulpit was there too and he was nice. He was one of the stallions that they took out of the stall for people to pet and take pictures. I saw Seattle Slew at Three Chimneys and got my picture taken with him. I asked if I could pet him and was told no because he was grumpy and he always acted like he wanted to bite. Slew o’ Gold and Chief’s Crown were both there too and they were sweet.
I went to Stone Farm and saw Halo and Sunday Silence (right before he went to Japan). I got to feed Sunday Silence a peppermint. He was OK for that, but he seemed pretty tough. Definitely wasn’t a pet. The groom told me that Halo was difficult too and he would do things like attack buckets in his pasture.
I toured Lane’s End in 2019. Noble Mission was very sweet. He was quiet and relaxed, I patted him and got my photo taken. They also brought out Quality Road. I didn’t get the impression that he was deadly, but I also didn’t feel the need to get close to him either :winkgrin: Tonalist also seemed very kind and pleasant to be around. AP Indy was, of course, a doll baby, but he was 30 at the time so I can’t speak to how he was as a younger horse. Most of the stallions there seemed fairly nice to work around, not gentle lesson ponies but not super dangerous either.
We’re touring Ashford in April, very excited to meet AP!
Methinks someone is in love Wiki-racehorse-pedia.
I never met Halo himself, but I’ve met enough Halo sons and daughters with deeply ingrained nasty temperaments that I believe every bad thing I’ve ever heard about him.
A couple years ago I was in Ohio and was at a farm that stood one of the last active Halo sons. (I don’t want to share his name here just because I think that’s a little unfair to an active stallion and farm to put his name out there attached to a thread like this, but anyone could figure it out or I’d be happy to PM) He was just exhausting to be around. Jiggy, loud, aggressive. He didn’t seem necessarily dangerous to humans, which may have just been a testament to good handling. But he otherwise seemed difficult in every way. No thank you!
It’s the reincarnation of PB…:lol:
Does anyone know much about Nashua or Round Table? I’d heard that Round Table became really rank after being retired, but I do not know if it’s true. Nashua, being by the difficult Nasrullah, would have come by it honestly.
The stallion that I stood for a syndicate was by Nashua, and out of a Round Table mare. He was dangerous, but I learned a whole lot about the bad ones from handling him every day. I was hanging a hay net in his stall one day, and I turned my back on him for a moment, and then he had my leg in his mouth. I was really lucky, because it was a really, really cold winter day, and I had one my flannel lined jeans, and long underwear. Still, I had a lovely set of bruises showing his teeth marks all the way around my knee. Yes, as a matter of fact I did beat him over his head to get him to let go.
@ASB Stars I don’t miss stallions like that! When I was about 17, I was cleaning the stall of one of the farm’s more unpredictable arabian stallions. I turned my back to him and he literally picked me up by the skin at the base of my neck/above my shoulder blades… almost like how a cat lifts her kittens. He threw me out of the stall by my skin and ran me over as he took off. I still have the scars. That was certainly a life lesson!
A few years later I laid up this particularly aggressive thoroughbred colt (He was an Honor Grades son out of a Kris S mare). I knew I was in over my head when I went to clean his stall the first time, but I was still young and prideful enough not to wait for someone to help me with him. I got him tied to the wall (barely), but he still managed to aggressively trap me in the corner of the stall. Then he proceeded to fire his back hooves at my face, his left foot hitting the wall millimeters from my head, rapidly followed by the right foot doing the same. Time stopped; I thought I was a goner. That horse was wicked smart, though-- if he had wanted to make contact with me, he would have. It was all a game with him. We figured out each other’s boundaries and got along incredibly well in the end. But it was pretty funny-- when it was time for him to start back into work, I moved him to the other barn on the property that my boss managed. I dropped him off in his new stall and was heading back to my barn when I heard my boss (a lifelong brilliant horseman) screaming my name. I ran back to find my boss had gone in with the colt and was now cowering, trapped in the back corner of the stall by the colt. Nice to know it wasn’t just me! :lol: It was a feather in my cap when my boss asked me how on earth I had been handling that horse alone for all those weeks. The colt was gelded not too long afterwards.
I love hearing these anecdotes!
RRP is creating a database where people enter their TB’s breeding, and personality and aptitude for various disciplines - in their own opinion so take with a grain of salt, but interesting to see. https://www.retiredracehorseproject…bloodline-brag
What or who “PB”?
Palm Beeyotch
OK. I think I got it. (OT & FWIW, I LOVED the Dave C. show!!)
Somebody I used to board with worked at New Bolton as a vet tech. Barbaro grabbed her by the collarbone, lifted her up and threw her across the stall.
Legal Jousting is nippy (he can’t help himself), but not mean. From what I’ve heard, his sire Indian Ridge had a nice temperament as well.
I saw Scarlet Ibis breed a client mare during the year when he bit off part of Dr. O’Cain’s ear. I told myself that if I had to deal with a horse like that on a daily basis, then I’d just quit and pick up cans and bottles off of the roadside for a living.
I was part of Barbaro’s dedicated nursing staff. I worked with him 40 hours a week for nearly all of his hospitalization. I am not calling your coboarder a liar because there was plenty of biting (I guarantee I know her, too), but I think that story has gotten misconstrued a bit.
Barbaro could be difficult. I still have a scar on my hand from him. BUT… it was more a matter of the situation than his baseline temperament being truly nasty. And the fact that a lot of the nurses were scared of him, which made the situation worse. He was smart and bored and got his entertainment from scaring folks. :lol:
Seriously, there were videos of the Matz kids loving on him in the pre-injury days.
But, was he OK to handle to breed?
Yeah, my thought was Barbaro’s time at New Bolton was not a fair situation to judge temperament.
My then-19yro mini mare had to go on 3 months stall rest when her laminitis came back a couple years ago. She is normally a lazy thing, but in a smart way, if you follow. When she was finally cleared for hand walking after all that stall confinement (and it’s a big stall, especially considering she’s 36" tall–it’s a 24x24), she was a real handful–she was like a hot 3yro TB being led to the starting gate. Snort, prance, dart, head toss, and very little actual walking.
It gave me new perspective on Barbaro in particular–that a young racing fit colt could be under such tight restrictions and not explode like a grenade every other day is testament to both his temperament and the care he received.
Changeintheweather was supposed to be meaner than hell.
Back to history - Hyperion was said by all to be a perfect gentleman. And when Richard Stone Reeves went to paint the portrait of another of the Aga Khan’s horses, he passed by Shergar’s stall. The farm manager’s kids were inside playing with him and covering him with bedding.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
