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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 452
 
Location: Alberta | We are having a few issues with our young stud wanting to jump mares before he is ready and I was hoping I could get some tips from the many experienced breeders on here.
We have a routine set out for him and are very consistent every time we breed a mare. The way our barn is setup we bring him in one end and the mare is in the round pen at the other end (he can't see her until he's at the gate. Bring him from his pen to the barn and he's not allowed to act like a stud until the chain is on him in the alleyway (we very rarely actually use the chain it's just on him as a tool to tell him it's breeding time). He's got that figured out, stands quiet until the chain is on then he will start nickering and prancing, but the minute we get him through the gate of the round pen he is high-ho silver and wanting to breed her that second but he isn't ready. It seems that as soon as you get after him or hold him back he looses focus and we are there for 15+min waiting for him to get excited again. It gets frustrating as we don't have all day to get mares bred and I have a 14 month old sitting in her stroller in the tack room waiting for us. We also don't have breeding stocks or a stall to tie the mare in so I'm holding the mares (**** near getting eaten alive by some of them) and I'll be honest I'm a chicken sh*t! Lol
He is 3 and this is his 2nd year breeding, last year we were a bit more lenient and took more time to correct him cause he was just learning and we didn't want to discourage him but it's time to enforce some rules and manners!!
Sorry for the long story/explanation but I dread this time of year and really hoping to get some ideas to make breeding easier and less frustrating! |
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  Shipwrecked and Flat Out Zapped
Posts: 16390
 
Location: DUMPING CATS AND PIGS IN TEXAS :) | CEFERG - 2014-04-03 10:17 AM We are having a few issues with our young stud wanting to jump mares before he is ready and I was hoping I could get some tips from the many experienced breeders on here. We have a routine set out for him and are very consistent every time we breed a mare. The way our barn is setup we bring him in one end and the mare is in the round pen at the other end (he can't see her until he's at the gate. Bring him from his pen to the barn and he's not allowed to act like a stud until the chain is on him in the alleyway (we very rarely actually use the chain it's just on him as a tool to tell him it's breeding time). He's got that figured out, stands quiet until the chain is on then he will start nickering and prancing, but the minute we get him through the gate of the round pen he is high-ho silver and wanting to breed her that second but he isn't ready. It seems that as soon as you get after him or hold him back he looses focus and we are there for 15+min waiting for him to get excited again. It gets frustrating as we don't have all day to get mares bred and I have a 14 month old sitting in her stroller in the tack room waiting for us. We also don't have breeding stocks or a stall to tie the mare in so I'm holding the mares (**** near getting eaten alive by some of them) and I'll be honest I'm a chicken sh*t! Lol He is 3 and this is his 2nd year breeding, last year we were a bit more lenient and took more time to correct him cause he was just learning and we didn't want to discourage him but it's time to enforce some rules and manners!! Sorry for the long story/explanation but I dread this time of year and really hoping to get some ideas to make breeding easier and less frustrating!
Sorry, that's funny lol. Good luck to you :) |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 452
Location: Alberta | LRQHS - 2014-04-03 9:21 AM
CEFERG - 2014-04-03 10:17 AM We are having a few issues with our young stud wanting to jump mares before he is ready and I was hoping I could get some tips from the many experienced breeders on here. We have a routine set out for him and are very consistent every time we breed a mare. The way our barn is setup we bring him in one end and the mare is in the round pen at the other end (he can't see her until he's at the gate. Bring him from his pen to the barn and he's not allowed to act like a stud until the chain is on him in the alleyway (we very rarely actually use the chain it's just on him as a tool to tell him it's breeding time). He's got that figured out, stands quiet until the chain is on then he will start nickering and prancing, but the minute we get him through the gate of the round pen he is high-ho silver and wanting to breed her that second but he isn't ready. It seems that as soon as you get after him or hold him back he looses focus and we are there for 15+min waiting for him to get excited again. It gets frustrating as we don't have all day to get mares bred and I have a 14 month old sitting in her stroller in the tack room waiting for us. We also don't have breeding stocks or a stall to tie the mare in so I'm holding the mares (**** near getting eaten alive by some of them) and I'll be honest I'm a chicken sh*t! Lol He is 3 and this is his 2nd year breeding, last year we were a bit more lenient and took more time to correct him cause he was just learning and we didn't want to discourage him but it's time to enforce some rules and manners!! Sorry for the long story/explanation but I dread this time of year and really hoping to get some ideas to make breeding easier and less frustrating!
Sorry, that's funny lol. Good luck to you :)
I am not kidding, he's just about jerked my husband off his feet or wiped him out on the gate a few times!! Lol He is prepared for it now, but it's just so random, doesn't do it all the time but when he does it comes out of nowhere! He turns into a fire breathing dragon!! Lol |
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 The Worst Seller Ever
Posts: 4138
Location: Oklahoma | Do you have a way to tease him? Put the hatler on that you use to breed (should be differnt from your regular halter), and maybe tie him or let your helper hold him, while you get the mare ready. Let him see her, and let him talk to her while he is in his breeding halter. Maybe put him in a certain spot. Some horses need a little more time.
Now when he isn't in his breeding halter, he isn't allowed to talk or any nonsense. |
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 Swiffer PIcker Upper
Posts: 4015
Location: Four Corners Colorado | It sounds like he just needs more training. Here are some good articles
http://www.thehorse.com/articles/10715/the-young-stallion
http://americashorsedaily.com/owning-a-manageable-stallion/#.Uz2Avle9asQ |
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 Reaching for the stars....
Posts: 12708
| clover girl - 2014-04-03 10:35 AM Do you have a way to tease him? Put the hatler on that you use to breed (should be differnt from your regular halter), and maybe tie him or let your helper hold him, while you get the mare ready. Let him see her, and let him talk to her while he is in his breeding halter. Maybe put him in a certain spot. Some horses need a little more time.
Now when he isn't in his breeding halter, he isn't allowed to talk or any nonsense.
Yes to the teasing. All goes much easier and quicker if both the mare and stallion get to have 'lighter' contact first. A few well placed sniffs, licks, and nips go a long way!! I would try using a short whip, but not real aggressively, to back him off the mare and make him flirt some first. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 452
Location: Alberta | His pen is about 100ft from the mares field and he gets all cocky in his pen when we go to catch the mares so I guess he gets a bit teased by that but we don't put the breeding chain on till he's in the barn as we don't want him always thinking he's going to the barn to breed. If we were to put the chain on in his pen do you think he would understand the difference of chain vs no chain when walking to the barn?
I guess we just need to let him take the 15min to tease with the mare when in the pen with her. It just seems that if we correct him or hold him back from mounting when he's not hard then we start from scratch and he sucks it back up and backs off. Honestly doesn't help that my husband is a man of little patience and it don't take long for the curses and frustration to start! |
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Reaching for the stars....
Posts: 12708
| I read an article somewhere sometime that stallions often mount more than one time per breeding in nature. I wonder if sometimes they need to expend that energy burst before they are really ready to breed?
Just a thought. They can be kinda goofy at times during the breeding process. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 452
Location: Alberta | equussynergy - 2014-04-03 9:40 AM
It sounds like he just needs more training. Here are some good articles
http://www.thehorse.com/articles/10715/the-young-stallion
http://americashorsedaily.com/owning-a-manageable-stallion/#.Uz2Avle9asQ
These articles are exactly what I was looking for!! Thank you! |
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 Champ
Posts: 19623
Location: Peg-Leg Julia Grimm | I'm not really an expert on this. I bought my stallion after he had pasture bred for 9 years. He was pretty savvy after that amount of time. However, I still had to get him to listen to me in the breeding pen because I don't think they hand bred him. They pasture or pen bred him without having a halter on him. My best advice is to find someone local that has the time to help you in person. We can all talk about this and that but knowing what to do and when, is hard because you have to do it right away the instant he does something you don't want him to do. I was told if he does anything I don't like, gets in a hurry, gets aggressive or dangerous... Tear his head off, back him up and really get after him. DON'T pick at a stallion. Either let them be or kill them. You need to train him to back off with a word from you. My stallion knows when I say "get back" and smooch to him he runs backward. I love my stallion so much because even though he is all stallion and has a great libido,he's very polite and smart about everything I have to do with him. He didn't know how to collect on a phantom when I bought him. It took 10 minutes to teach him with a person who knew how. Six years later, I love him so much because of the horse he has become.
I do know from reading articles about stallions, you have to be patient in the breeding barn. Take the time it takes. If you over discipline the stallion, he'll lose interest. Your husband will have to be prepared to spend an hour if that's what it takes to get control of him without him losing interest in the mare. |
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 How freakish is that?
Posts: 3927
Location: Oregon | One stallion I had was like that - the first year he was a doll to handle and the second year much to my surprise he launched himself from the gate and was a maniac. I just had to really be ready for him and get after him and make him wait til he and the mare were ready. I also tied the mare to a solid wall so no one had to hold her, that's the most dangerous job, holding the mare. After a couple of weeks of making him wait he went back to being mannerly.
Edited by crapshooter 2014-04-03 12:10 PM
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 Canine Carryout Queen
Location: Oklahoma | OregonBR - 2014-04-03 11:59 AM I'm not really an expert on this. I bought my stallion after he had pasture bred for 9 years. He was pretty savvy after that amount of time. However, I still had to get him to listen to me in the breeding pen because I don't think they hand bred him. They pasture or pen bred him without having a halter on him. My best advice is to find someone local that has the time to help you in person. We can all talk about this and that but knowing what to do and when, is hard because you have to do it right away the instant he does something you don't want him to do. I was told if he does anything I don't like, gets in a hurry, gets aggressive or dangerous... Tear his head off, back him up and really get after him. DON'T pick at a stallion. Either let them be or kill them. You need to train him to back off with a word from you. My stallion knows when I say "get back" and smooch to him he runs backward. I love my stallion so much because even though he is all stallion and has a great libido,he's very polite and smart about everything I have to do with him. He didn't know how to collect on a phantom when I bought him. It took 10 minutes to teach him with a person who knew how. Six years later, I love him so much because of the horse he has become.
I do know from reading articles about stallions, you have to be patient in the breeding barn. Take the time it takes. If you over discipline the stallion, he'll lose interest. Your husband will have to be prepared to spend an hour if that's what it takes to get control of him without him losing interest in the mare.
This is the best advice given!!!! I do think pasture breeding sure teaches one some manners and respect ... just a lot of risk of getting your boy hurt. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 452
Location: Alberta | Our old stud was sooo easy to breed with, I was able to breed mares by myself. We had cues with him, shake the shank and he would get back until I had ahold of the mare then tell him ok and he would approach the mare. Once he was done we would hold our hand up and point and he would go to his corner till the mare was turned out, then we would take him back to his pen. He was always easy though, right from the get go!
I would really prefer we tie up the mares as I am sick of getting bit, struck and run over but my husband is worried that if someone isn't holding the mare then if she moves she could break his penis (we have a few really witchy mares).
Really hoping once my hubby reads those articles he will understand that patience is the key and just keep correcting him. |
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 Living on the edge of common sense
Posts: 24139
Location: Carpenter, WY | Slims shed was hooked up to a 60 foot pen. We would lead the mare over to him and tease through the fence. We had a 6 foot long pole with a tennis ball duck taped on the end of it. When dan raised the stick and said get back ,Slim would walk over to the far side of of the pen and the mare would be led in. We kept the halter and lead on the mare but Slim didn't have one on. Then Dan dropped the stick and slim would do his job. After, dan would raise the stick again and tell him to get back and slim would go back to the far side of the pen, yawn, smoked a cigar and the mare would be lead out :).
Now training to the dummy was almost comical trying every side but finally got it fiquered out.
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 Hummer's Hero
Posts: 3071
Location: Smack Dab in the Middle | Back when we had a stud, we NEVER, EVER let him approach from behind. We would tie the mare to a solid section of our round pen, then bring him out (facing each other across the fence) with a chain and a 15 ft lead on, and let him approach to tease with the fence between them. Once it was determined both were ready, we moved him over 30 feet to the gate, and had him approach from the side, towards the hip. And there is where my helpful advice for you ends, because Super was a romancer. He liked to love on mares a little too long...I'm talking, pull up a lawn chair and a cool drink.
Super was a wuss....if he got kicked at, he'd suck it up and come stand behind me or Mom, whoever was handling him...all 16.3hh/1400#s of him hiding behind 5'1" and 5'3" of us. And there wasn't a whole lot of talking him into trying again.
Edited by RockinGR 2014-04-03 4:33 PM
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