Bringing a shetland back into work???

McNally

McNally

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Its a long story i wont bore everyone with it but i basically did the "trust a forum person" idiotic thing, you know like other people do but you never would.......

So I now have a 5/6 year old shetland stallion with no papers.- I had thought i was getting a 15+ yr gelding as a companion.
The pony attacks my other horses so no good as a companion as things are so i keep him separate from them, not ideal but ok.
We long reined him and have walked him out in hand along the bridleway- my daughter has started riding him- just to check brakes, steering etc all of which seems to be in place. He would make a nice lead rein pony. He has the most amazing temprement, i mean my daughter literally can lie snuggled up to him in the field and we can do anything to him- never has he shown any inclination to kick or bite. My daughter is FAR too big but i would like him to be used and fussed.
My plan is to geld asap and get a PP sorted out but then what? At what point can i say, this pony is safe to let a small child on?
I am happy for him to stay with us for free if anyone wanted him on loan- he's such a poppet just lethal with other horses!
Whats next!? (he's too little really for us to get on and get going properly)
 
they are not lethal they are just little boys with big attitudes, i have a mini stallion of 17years and he goes out in a field with TB and Cob geldings, he stood his ground when he first was put in with them until they settled and now they are a happy lil family but he will still have his say if he wants the water trough first, stomping his feet and even kicking but the others soon learn he is just having a heigh issue, dont seperate them, give them a chance and it will make life easier for you.
 
I'm with beeswax - obviously none of us have seen his behaviour first hand, but they do play rough.
Even now, my shetland reverses into my mums 17hh warmblood and bucks between his front legs... a pre-empt to my mums horse bossing and biting his back.
He used to live with another shetland many years ago, and their play fighting was quite a spectacle. They'd be on their knees, biting, barging but they loved it, and were inseperable (sadly they became impossible to work either of them alone, so we had to permanently move my boy back home).

Obviously this type of behaviour may be shocking, and for horses not used to this, it can be a bit much.
However, as he's a stallion, he may actually mean it - maybe get him cut, and see how he's settled in 3 months grazing alongside them all.
I think he will settle given time.

Goodluck ;-)
 
No seriously i am the first one to say let them get on with it but my 16.2 has fetlock problems so is not the most nimble- the shetland brings him down onto the floor and draws serious blood, Not just him he has floored our youngster aswell but not actually hurt him. I have tried several times and against my better judgement left them together once while i went home expecting them to be ok when i got back....I felt absolutely awful when my horse flew at the gate calling madly. His lips were 3 times the size due to swelling there was blood everywhere and i dont think there was a 6" square patch of unbroken skin on him. I'm not risking it again.
 
Sounds like he needs some work with that attitude.
Check out the threads by nikkimariet, she is riding a shetland and has started doing dressage with it, she is very slim but tall so maybe your daughter could do some work with him, they are very strong for their size, which is why they are not always suitable for children.
You could do some longreining and lungeing to get him fitter, if he can go well on the lunge it would mean you could try this with a child on,although the sooner he is gelded the better and he may loose some of the attitude.
 
I'm not surprised that he's been playing the big "I Am" with your other horses. That's why stallions are almost always kept separately and turned out alone. It sounds like you're surprised that he's been behaving like that, but it's just how he's programmed to be. He's only little, but he's got exactly the same hormones going on as a 17hh warmblood stallion, and you wouldn't turn one of them out with your horses!!

I'd say geld him, let him have the winter to forget about his balls, and maybe he will be ok to re-introduce. Might be too late as he's conditioned to being little mr superstud, but some do turn into model citizens!!
 
How heavy is your daughter ? Our shetland easily carys my friends daughter who is about 6 stone.

Where abouts are you, there might be someone on here who has a small jokey to help you out.

Regarding his attitude, they do play rough, our mare loves to squeel and kick my ISH. I would have him cut and then place him along side your gelding giving him time to settle and see if they can go out near each other if your not happy putting them together.
 
Auslander said:
I'm not surprised that he's been playing the big "I Am" with your other horses. That's why stallions are almost always kept separately and turned out alone. It sounds like you're surprised that he's been behaving like that, but it's just how he's programmed to be. He's only little, but he's got exactly the same hormones going on as a 17hh warmblood stallion, and you wouldn't turn one of them out with your horses!!

I'd say geld him, let him have the winter to forget about his balls, and maybe he will be ok to re-introduce. Might be too late as he's conditioned to being little mr superstud, but some do turn into model citizens!!
Click to expand...

My shetland was a stallion up until the age of 4 and I could turn him out with my other 2 mares and 14.3hh gelding without any problems. By the time he was old enough to sire a baby, 1 of the mares was already pregnant so he couldn't do anything. He has had a baby with the same mare, right after he covered her a few times I got him castrated. I had him since the age of 1 however and he had very firm handling so knew how to behave properly.

I'd say get him castrated and he should be fine to introduce to the herd again.
 
Your right i wouldnt turn 17hh warmblood out with my horses- He was however turned out with horses in his previous home and when i first got him i had a friends TB at the yard who he was perfectly quiet and happy with, Someone recently pointed out that could have just been as it was before "mating season"
They are turned out along sides at the minute- he has a corner fenced off with electric tape- the weird thing is the bigger gelding seems to like to stand by him and you would swear they are best buddies!
He is amazing with children- he loves them and is indelibly gentle, its like he's a different horse around people or ponies!which is what makes me think he's wasted and will make a little person a lovely friend.
My daughter is 11 and has been riding him but he's not the average chunky square shettie- a very light friend got on him and said his back was bowing. I weigh nearly 9 stone so i'm too heavy. If there is any light weight little people out there we are in the Cotswolds area
 
my 17 year old shettie stallion was never handled before i got him he lived in a field full of other yearling colts and stallions and did his mating during mating time, i have had him since March and honestly i couldnt ask for a more suitable companion for my cob. he is a darling. he wanders around like a lil dog in the yard, swearing at the TB but never being nasty, he has taken bloody nips at my cob but that has only been when i arrived and gave them hay as the fields were bare, so they were either fighting over me or the food, they shared a stable together for 1 month whilst his box was being built and the cob used to bite his ass so he used to have a hissy fit and stamp his foot but that was it, at times the cob has been on the front of his fetlocks when they have had a real set-to but as quick as it started it stopped and when we meet other horses he doesnt bat an eyelid from fillies to colts out at work. anyway maybe i am just lucky, too late to geld him anyway, but yours should be gelded esp if you are not going to breed and your daughter or any child for that matter is going to take him further in the showing world. on the odd ocassion when i first got my boy he used to be quite cheeky when leading them together from the field and i just slapped him on his shoulder and he stopped so i would say he looks at me as the alpha mare, are you the alpha mare in your herd? good luck
 
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