# Keeping Stallions - are there rules??



## Tinkle (14 March 2009)

As title really, if you're keeping a stallion are there any rules about how they should be kept? As in are there any rules about turning them out next to roads/footpaths/bridlepaths etc? Anything else?

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## YellowBoots (15 March 2009)

Why are you keeping him a stallion? Remember, a good stallion makes a great gelding.


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## Tinkle (15 March 2009)

Sorry. Not very clear. I'm not keeping a stallion - tarty mare is bad enough! We pass one out riding that gets a little excited when we pass. Nothing serious but just wondered if there were any rules about what steps should be taken to ensure nothing happens? I.e. regarding where and how they're turned out.

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## itsme123 (15 March 2009)

phone and speak to your local BHS officer (on their website). They'll have all the relevant info


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## Box_Of_Frogs (15 March 2009)

Take great care too T. I guess we've all heard horror stories about stallions leaping or charging through hedges and gates to get at passing horses. And it's not just in-season mares that can get a stallion's hormones raging! Sunny used to be kept at a yard that had stallions and one of them screamed at him (a sound that makes your blood run cold!) and tried to get out of his stable to get to Sunny and I have no doubt whatsoever that he'd have killed him.


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## bugaboo (15 March 2009)

The stallion i used to ride was turnedout over the road from the yard which was RS with a 11hh pony [gelding]
 But he was amazingly chilled out and was never strong or aggressive at all,infact i once fell off him competing and he trotted into a group of mares an grazed  
	
	
		
		
	


	




 eveb though they were been tarts.
 But i beleive to keep a stallion on a livery yard there is a ceratin distance between stables they are supposed to be kept and paddocks should have stallion fencing.
 You would be best to contact BHS and get all correct info as im not sure.

A woman once brought a stallion onto our yard and we moved because YO owuld not make her put up higher fencing etc.And we said we were not prepared to have him jump in with ours and potentially injure/kill them.
 We basically said would owner/YO cough up if ours got injured as out insurance did not cover it.
4 days after we moved he went nuts jumped in with another horse broke its leg,Then a couple of weeks later mounted his owner and she got carted off in an ambulance.


If i were on a livery yard and once again someone wanted to keep a stallion i would kick up a stink about it.

But again BHS are best bet to get an answer


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## Enfys (15 March 2009)

[ QUOTE ]
Why are you keeping him a stallion? Remember, a good stallion makes a great gelding. 

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you know, I find that remark really patronising.
It may be true in a good many cases, but unless you actually know a horse how on earth can you can you generalise like that?  

Tinkle, I don't know about rules in the UK, but think good old common sense and consideration should have a lot to do with it. (Everybody has those right? 
	
	
		
		
	


	




)

Probably not acceptable to keep one in a paddock adjacent to public bridlepaths or with footpaths running through. I should think the BHS idea is a good one.


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## apes_mum (15 March 2009)

There is a lady in my area who regularly hack out on a stallion.  Mostly he is pretty lively, but manageable. But on one occasion we met him out hacking, and he was a nightmare.  I was on my mare, and my friend was riding a gelding.  The lady on the stallion was riding down a lane behind us and shouted out for us to try and give her lots of room to get past as he was 'on one'.
My friend and I stopped our horses in a layby for her to pass but she shouted out 'oh you will have to go further away than that'.
We ended up moving as far away from her as possible up a short private road.  As she was trying to ride past, her stallion kick off big time.
I have never seen anything like it.  Very impressive but VERY scary at the same time.  I will never know how she managed to hold him.  My friends gelding also started getting uppity, probably trying to protect my mare, who luckily ignored all the hoo ha.
The lady managed to get him past us in the end, but I shudder to think what would have happened if he had got the better of her, as we were stuck in a dead end.
Scary stuff!! Hats off to the rider, but I had never seen a stallion up close and personal before, and it's quite a sight!!!
H x


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## LindaW (15 March 2009)

There are stallions and stallions though.  At one point I owned two, and the YO on the yard I was on had one as well.

Lippy was 16 yo when I bought him, was good to ride and handle but had individual turnout for a few hours a day.  Never any problems, and he could be hacked out with mares.  He was gelded later due to developing a problem that prevented him being suitable to use for breeding, and settled to gelding only turnout in the course of time.

Salad was 3 when I bought him, he had a paddock away from the main yard but went out with geldings, again he hacked out with mares and was never a problem.  When I got my own place and started a small stud, he was gentle enough to be nanny to the weanling colts.

YO's stallion was another used to less turnout, he was 12 when she bought him, and he went out on his own away from the other horses.  He rarely hacked, but did work in the school around mares, no issues.

I moved to another yard, YO had a russian stallion who was a handful, he was turned out alone, hacked and ridden with mares, but only because YO was mega competant, a lesser rider would have been killed.

All of them had no special stabling arrangements, other than they were put in stables where traffic past them was less, and where people wouldn't tie up outside their doors.  The fields at both yards bordered on bridleways (Epsom).

Requires a degree of common sense but if there are any official rules I didn't know about them!


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## Natch (15 March 2009)

I was once told stallions only act like stallions if they are  treated like stallions. i think there is a lot of sense in that. I know of one who since the age of 1 has had 24 hr turnout  with geldings and he's the most genteel of the lot. I have seen him go out and about in hand and he will probably take more than a gelding to get him safe in traffic and with new sights, but I am the person who might well end up being his main rider, and he will most certainly not be a pain or menace to me or others we meet out and about - if he is and it is incurable, I will be recommending to his owner that his bits get chopped 
	
	
		
		
	


	





Also noteworthy that i used to hack on both a mare and gelding with a stallion who was kept the traditional way i.e on solitary turnout, and he was never a problem. Both he and the TB mare i used to ride were quite sharp, but they were both as bad as each other 
	
	
		
		
	


	





Come to think of it, I remember meeting a woman on a stallion out hacking F (who is an ex-stallion, he pushed his luck too far 
	
	
		
		
	


	




) and she screamed at me from 100 yards KEEP BACK HE'S A STALLION!!!  KEEP BACK!!! Ironically the horse was evidently used to her and happily plodded past us (encroaching on OUR space, i may point out) without a care in the world 
	
	
		
		
	


	





I am not aware of any particular rules for keeping stallions, apart from common sense.


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## Eriskayowner (15 March 2009)

There are two stallions on our yard - one arab, one lusitano.

Both are very laid back - you would never guess they are stallions. The arab is ridden out with mares and geldings, and is no problem. The lusitano is only 3 years old but both are fully integrated in the yard with no issues at all.


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## henryhorn (15 March 2009)

I think there is a law saying you can't turn them out on bridlepaths or footpaths but nothing about next to them.
Ours is turned out next to the road and will charge up and down sometimes when horses go past but really anyone's horse should be under sufficient control for that not to be a problem. Stallion's naturally make a lot of noise when they see other horses when turned out and it's not always threatening, often it's just a "Hello, girls. fancy me do you?!" type noise.
Ours competes and behaves perfectly in company out hunting etc , but when loose he is only exhibiting normal behaviour.
Provided you don't think the stallion can actually reach your horse to touch it , it's probably unlikely to try getting out.


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## littlemisslauren (15 March 2009)

When i kept my very tarty mare at home there were several stallions we would hack past - many on a daily basis.

They would call to her and prance about but never showed agression or tried to get out. I never felt unsafe hacking past them, even if my mare wanted to go play! haha

She was also kept with a rig at one point... we didnt know he was a rig untill we saw them 'play' before people start calling me a rubbish owner! the rig and my mate were hacked together regulary and there were never any problems.

I agree that stallions only begin to act like stallions when they are treated like stallions!


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## Storminateacup (15 March 2009)

We had a stallion RID. 
He was 17 hh at 3 years old. Seems he was pretty ok up until his first natural service and then all hell broke loose. 
Until they know what they've got they are far more manageable. I ve heard that stallions kept only for AI and never do NS are generally more settled and end up behaving like gelding. I have a friend whos warmblood 5 year old stallion appears a complete angel and he is kept at a competion mixed livery yard, but he has never done NS.

Also many horses abroad are kept entire, I believe something to do with not being able to use anaesthetics for relatively minor procedure (food chain issues etc) like castration. ( I may be out of date on this now but it used too be the case) Also livery yards in some countries are either mare or stallion yards which keeps things peaceful. 
Subordinate stallions in the wild apparently are emotionally (and effectively chemically) castrated by their lowly position within a herd. 
Perhaps this is what happens in single sex barns in USA.

With our stallion even the stallion man reccomended castration as the horse was such an enormously strong and determined  fellow. 

Certainly if I was ever buying a stallion for anything other than the obvious breeding purposes I would get it snipped pretty quick.  
Stallions are generally more motivated, magnificent and ultimately move more powerfully than a gelding. 
Its the testosterone that make them so, and its that which makes then potentially more dangerous.


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## fatpiggy (16 March 2009)

You used to have to have a licence under the Dangerous Animals Act in order to keep a stallion but unfortunately any eejit keep have one now. I used to have to pass one on next to the road with flimsy fences on my way to a turn-out field - I used to take two mares with me. You can imagine what it was like if one was in season and the other was in the "f**k off" days at the end of a season!!  Stallions are like any other entire male - they have to be taught that covering mares is one thing and being a horse is another. Last year I watched a young stallion in the ring at a riding club show. He was going demented - the handler was very lucky no-one got hurt.


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## Tinkle (16 March 2009)

This one is by the roadside with dry stone walls round the field that are about chest height on it. I reckon it's probably around 14.2-3hh ish. Like I say nothing that bad has happened yet but it flies up and down when you ride past whether you're on a mare or a gelding. Certainly won't be taking my girl past when she's in season though.

I don't have anything against stallions. We live close to the Whitakers and see them out hacking - I guess a few of those must be stallions but they're always very well-behaved. I'm just not sure I trust the common sense of the people who run this livery.

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