Considering getting a stallion - can anyone share experiences?

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I am considering taking on a 9 year old stallion pony for my daughter to ride on. I know the pony well, she has been learning to ride on him and he is wonderful. I have over 20 years experience of looking after and riding horses but still have a niggle in the back of my head about him being a stallion. We have our own land, he would be kept with two other geldings. He has never put a foot wrong, very easy, very calm around people and other horses and I trust the lady offering him to us. I think I've always just automatically turned down the idea of a stallion on reputation but would like to know others experiences? Also would he be too old to geld?
 
Never too old to geld. If he ticks all the boxes then I would get him and geld him as soon as the flies disappear. Having an entire is very restrictive when it comes to many things - pony club being one.
 
Firstly, 9 isn't too old to geld. My uncle had his 23 year old gelded and he came through fine, our local vets did it and said they're happy to geld up to 20 normally. He was a welsh D and fighting fit, still in hard work.

Secondly, we've had three stallions and run on a few colts. One was never a problem, despite being full Arab. At 28, he still lives out with a gelding herd and has had a long, happy life. He has never been kept separate or isolated and was only stabled one winter when we were between yards.

He has been nothing but sweet, kind and gentle and so have his foals. Most are RC superstars, crossed over heavier mares.

The other two - one was very similar nature and lived happily with us for three years. His exercise rider fell in love with him and he was brought for her as a 21st present. Still entire, still happy and aside from being a poor loader, a lovely horse. His foals do well.

The third turned into a right horror and became snappy, pushy and dominant. Despite careful handling, he was unpleasant to any other horse and we didn't want to reproduce that temper. He was gelded at 6, luckily before being used and became a successful PC jumper. He's now 10.

For our stallions, they run out with their mares and know they're not allowed to look at other horses when working. They ride and travel with mares.

In your case, I'd check what your daughter wants to do as there might be some restrictions - not all show classes allow stallions. Also, check with your local PC or RC and make sure if he's eligible.

Long and short, it depends on the stallion but if you treat them like a horse, most are fine. And you can always geld. A good pony is hard to find!
 
My daughters pony was gelded just before we got him, age unknown but estimated at 12yrs+. Apart from a tendency to do all his poo's in one big pile (quite handy!), he hasn't really shown any stallion behaviour. He is turned out with a gelding, but has been alongside mares.
 
My elderly aunt, who with her husband kept point-to-pointers all her life, was horrified when she heard I was getting a stallion. But Highland ponies, at least, seem mostly to be well behaved. You don't say what yours will be. I'm told this is because they were used by small farmers who were too poor to own their own and a communal stallion was 'travelled' or walked between farms to serve individual mares so they needed to be quiet and easy to handle.

Anyay, my stallion is a total sweetie. He used to be taken out from his mares, spruced up, then off to a show. He is a ridden champion at county level and at a show everyone thinks he is a gelding. Then after the show, back to family duties.

Stallions seem to like routine and prefer firm but fair treatment. I suppose liveries demand geldings only, but if that isn't the problem, why geld?

The video of my stallion, Josethdene, now 19 years old, is on Youtube and has so far had 9,600 views.

https://youtu.be/9EqALDTliuk
 
Dry Rot said:
My elderly aunt, who with her husband kept point-to-pointers all her life, was horrified when she heard I was getting a stallion. But Highland ponies, at least, seem mostly to be well behaved. You don't say what yours will be. I'm told this is because they were used by small farmers who were too poor to own their own and a communal stallion was 'travelled' or walked between farms to serve individual mares so they needed to be quiet and easy to handle.

Anyay, my stallion is a total sweetie. He used to be taken out from his mares, spruced up, then off to a show. He is a ridden champion at county level and at a show everyone thinks he is a gelding. Then after the show, back to family duties.

Stallions seem to like routine and prefer firm but fair treatment. I suppose liveries demand geldings only, but if that isn't the problem, why geld?

The video of my stallion, Josethdene, now 19 years old, is on Youtube and has so far had 9,600 views.

https://youtu.be/9EqALDTliuk
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I didn't realise you have Josethdene! I have always admired him! Along with the majority of the done ponies! It's a shame Scott toddled of to Australia with them but at least he kept Fyfedene.
 
EKW said:
I didn't realise you have Josethdene! I have always admired him! Along with the majority of the done ponies! It's a shame Scott toddled of to Australia with them but at least he kept Fyfedene.
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It is even more of a shame his breeding seems to be being lost through being "out crossed".

I know Joan Alexander has some of his breeding and I've missed a couple of dene mares. I gather Scott is not well, but he has a daughter.

I bred working pointers for over fifty years and sent them all over the world. I always had the best luck when breeding fairly close and would have liked to do the same with the ponies.

One lifetime is not enough. There is no doubt in my mind that there were, at one time, distinct breeds or types of Highland ponies that were kept more or less pure, so the pack horse and the riding type. But don't get me going! :) Fortunately, Joe does leave his mark so I love them all but they are not as close as I would like.
 
We used to keep a stallion at a small six box yard. He stabled next to mares, went out riding with mares, did tonnes of show jumping, fun rides etc. Turned out with geldings most of the year except when a few mares would be put in with him during summer.

He was NEVER difficult to manage, a gentleman in all situations, a child could have ridden that stallion next to mares.

IMO a stallion should be no different to handle than a gelding.
 
How old is your daughter? Some clubs and shows don't allow a certain age to handle stallions. He's not to old to geld at all. Would the current owner be happy to geld before he is sold?
 
I had a shetland stallion for a short time. I'd known him for a while. He was so lovely, but such a monkey! He was only 3-4yrs old when I had him, so he was also going through his stroppy teenage years! He was quite backwards to train, but no worse that some geldings I've had to handle. Although I don't think he realised he was so little!
He hadn't really ever been around mares, so when he saw one on one of our walks, he went a bit mad!
I was so sad I had to give him back to his owners :(

I guess if you know the pony, I can't see the harm. Aside from what others have mentioned about pony club etc.
 
Josethdene is beautiful! I have a dene pony too, Zaradene - by Auchnahillin Scarba and out of Jenniferdene. I would attach a photo if I could work out how!
 
Dry Rot said:
The video of my stallion, Josethdene, now 19 years old, is on Youtube and has so far had 9,600 views.

https://youtu.be/9EqALDTliuk
Click to expand...

Josethdene is beautiful! I have a dene pony too, Zaradene - by Auchnahillin Scarba and out of Jenniferdene. I would attach a photo if I could work out how! I can't work out how to delete my previous post, but I wanted to reply to Dry Rots post.
 
Stupid question here, I have no experience of stallions, but for those saying they have stallions turned out with mares how do you make sure you don't have a crop of foals every year?
 
I kept my mare on a small private yard and at one time we were two mares, two geldings and a stallion. The stallion was a huge Dutch warm blood who was incredibly well mannered and never caused a problem. When a mare came in to season we moved them to the most secure paddock just to be sure and other than my mare prancing past him, it was all a very quiet affair. He was very particular in his ways - wouldn't be caught if you went in with sunglasses on and you weren't wearing them the day before but he was just like being around any other horse.

I don't think this stallion sounds like a problem but if he proves to be then gelding him is the sensible option.
 
lovely pony Jo is I have a mare by Johnsondene Love her to bits a real bouncy but loveable girl.
LCS_2016_zpsh1rt8xi8.jpg


If I were you I would geld him as it will ensure his future and make all disciplines available
 
Dene was the suffix of Scott McGregor, I used to keep on of my Cleveland bay mares on his yard. His stallion Fyffedene was no trouble on the yard and was hacked out by head girl who took him all the way to BOB at HOYS.

I have two stallions on the yard. My Shagya stallion competed in endurance for 2 seasons, in the forest with mares, geldings and other stallions. He jumps now and is good as gold in crazy warm up arenas in France. I see plenty of stallions in competition over here though.
I cannot comment on what your local rules would be with regard to a child in charge of a stallion.
 
atropa said:
Stupid question here, I have no experience of stallions, but for those saying they have stallions turned out with mares how do you make sure you don't have a crop of foals every year?
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You can't unless they are already pregnant, barren or happy to get pregnant. I don't think anyone would just get them jabbed every time they were covered!

I have heard that a some do use contraception (marbel or the like) but I can't imagine it would be fool (or foal) proof.
 
equi said:
You can't unless they are already pregnant, barren or happy to get pregnant. I don't think anyone would just get them jabbed every time they were covered!

I have heard that a some do use contraception (marbel or the like) but I can't imagine it would be fool (or foal) proof.
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Or the stallion is proven infertile. They must be the happiest stallions - play with the ladies all summer long and never have to worry about babies getting in the way or the mare becoming pregnant and thus no longer on the mood to get jiggy with it!
 
OP, I have 5 stallions, who live with, and are best friends with my 6 geldings. All are ridden by children of all ages, including novices. If the pony suits your daughter, and you have your own land, I wouldn't worry. Most stallions aren't body-building lusty sex-gods. They just want the same things that every other pony wants... lots of good grass, and a little girl who loves them.
 
atropa said:
Stupid question here, I have no experience of stallions, but for those saying they have stallions turned out with mares how do you make sure you don't have a crop of foals every year?
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I think only Dry Rot mentioned turning hers out with mares, and I suspect that is because she wants a crop of nice Highland foals each year.
 
I think you'll find Dry Rot is male!!

Unless you're looking for foals then you wouldn't be turning a stallion out with a mare and sadly the market for unbroken, unproven ponies isn't strong at the moment so you wouldn't be wanting to breed unless you could keep/run on the progeny or had a guaranteed home lined up! Having said that many reputable breeders have cut back their breeding programmes which is likely to result in a shortage of high quality ponies in a few years time. Yes there are still lots of substandard animals being bred but you only have to look at the native breed statistics to see how numbers of registered youngsters have decreased over the last 2 or 3 years.
 
laura_nash said:
I think only Dry Rot mentioned turning hers out with mares, and I suspect that is because she wants a crop of nice Highland foals each year.
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Snowfilly and Peter also mentioned stallions in with mares, although perhaps they are breeders too. Thanks for the replies everyone, that's generally what I thought.
 
gallopingby said:
I think you'll find Dry Rot is male!!

Unless you're looking for foals then you wouldn't be turning a stallion out with a mare and sadly the market for unbroken, unproven ponies isn't strong at the moment so you wouldn't be wanting to breed unless you could keep/run on the progeny or had a guaranteed home lined up! Having said that many reputable breeders have cut back their breeding programmes which is likely to result in a shortage of high quality ponies in a few years time. Yes there are still lots of substandard animals being bred but you only have to look at the native breed statistics to see how numbers of registered youngsters have decreased over the last 2 or 3 years.
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I am indeed male!

As a 76yo pensioner, I find breeding a couple or so foals a year keeps me fit in mind and body. I get even more pleasure from seeing people doing well with them. I've never dared to work out the costs!

Not sure whether mine are substandard or it's just that my clients aren't fussy, but judging from the comments on my web page they seem quite happy. :D
 
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