Riding a stallion in company

Courbette

Courbette

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Question to those who either ride a stallion or ride out in the company of a stallion. I ride a lovely, well mannered stallion who is used to working in groups and has been well socialized. I have found that people are reluctant to hack out with him and we are not permitted in any of the local riding club events. One of the main areas of concern seem to be how his presence might effect other ridden horses particularly mares?

I have ridden quite a few stallions prior to him but often alone or in the company of other stallions / geldings. Is this a fair concern and can having a stallion in the vicinity really disrupt a ridden mare so badly? My previous riding club had stallions compete and I rode a mare but we were never in a class with a stallion but it wouldn't have concerned me unless it got away from the handler.
 
as the owner and rider of a (very well behaved) stallion i find this ridiculous-we are expected to have the boys 500% under the thumb but mare riders couldn't possibly do the same.....

ive hacked out with loads of mares and none have ever noticed, i let him sniff and greet every horse as i would with a gelding and again have NEVER had a negative reaction from any other horse, male or female.

however mine is very well socialised, the ones that would cause an issue are the ones kept in solitary confinement, who never see the light of day except to breed, owned by "LOOK AT MY STAAAAALLLLION" types! and i suppose the RC can hardly differentiate so safer to just say a blanket no! i have been turned down when trying to hire arenas in the past because i am bringing a pair of testicles lol!!! people do still regard them as man eating lunatics, which is a shame.
 
As someone who much prefers a nice gelding I can sympathise with you. Both stallions and mares are entire animals with all the good and bad points that come with that. It does seem unfair that stallions are the ones who get the bad press when ime mares can be so much worse in terms of behaviour and attitude. I can see why mare owners are worried about uninvited coverings but in polite company the boys would wait until asked and if the girls could control themselves as well there would be no cause for concern. Quite often the mares are the cause of the problem and not all riders are capable of managing stallions or mares, I include myself in that, I wouldnt feel confident enough to ride a stallion and I would never buy a mare again having had one a few years ago who was just plain nasty and spiteful!
 
I have in the past ridden with well behaved stallions both at home in professional competition yards and out competing, including being lined up in the show ring alongside them. I've ridden both mares and geldings in this company and have not experienced a problem. It is very common on the continent. I think it is reasonable to require a stallion to be identified as such (eg wear a disc or sash or similar as required by some competitions) so others can keep their distance if they feel they need to, but that should be sufficient. I'm not sure whether it is real or imagined that some mares may be more difficult when ridden in the company of a well behaved stallion but don't see why this is the stallion owner's issue and not the mare's. All horses should be trained to work and focus when required to do so, irrespective of gender. If they mixed more in this country it would probably be less of an issue. I don't understand people who are anti mares either. I keep seeing livery yards which say no mares! All horses are individuals and I've kept both mares and geldings together for many years with no issues. I don't think the gender of other people's horses is a fair concern no! What is important is whether they are well behaved. Any badly behaved horse risks upsetting others.
 
Quite a few of our local clubs don’t allow them either :( Quite frustrating when you have a sweet all rounder that turns out in company and has never caused an issue, hacks and travels in company, drives in a pair etc. It’s just not the thing in the UK to have entire males and everyone loses their head!
 
Leandy said:
I'm not sure whether it is real or imagined that some mares may be more difficult when ridden in the company of a well behaved stallion but don't see why this is the stallion owner's issue and not the mare's
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This has been my attitude. Obviously i’m very considerate of safety and i’m always very aware of others when riding in a group and try to keep him in his own space. I have ridden him with mares and not had an issue although I always ask other riders before entering the school with him. I’ve never noticed a mare go bonkers because he is in the vicinity but I don’t feel I have enough experience around mares to say conclusively that this is unlikely
 
I used to enter Olympia qualifying classes for Mountain and Moorland, specifically New Forest, breeds. Quite a few of the other entrants were stallions and at no time did they affect my own mare. Always these ponies had beautiful manners when lined up with mares. I have experienced far worse manners from random, badly educated equines out in public!
 
The UK has a bit of a thing about stallions! Competition yards have no issue. They stand side by side with mares in the show ring - including stallions that have been taken out of a field of mares specifically for the show then go back in with them after. But a lot of 'normal people ' see them as sex crazed lunatics!

I take my Wee Coloured Job out showing all the time. Yes he can call, holler and big himself up a little to say - I'm a man and I'm here! But that is as far as it goes. A little noise and bluster but he would never dream of doing anything whilst I am holding onto him. I have had kids come running up to pet him, he stands on a loose rope grazing at shows and for the most part you would never know he was entire!

Mare owners have as much responsibilty to socialise their horses as stallion owners do. There are too many excuses being made for what are quite simply bad mannered pigs of horses! 'She is a typical mare' is not a valid excuse for being a bolshy brat!
 
Well trained stallions know the difference between covering time and ridden time. They're not going to rush about and randomly leap on strange mares.
I've ridden and competed stallions - stood next to mares at show jumping clinics with no issues from either side, taken them xc (a great incentive not to fall off!!) And handled them on the ground at gradings.
Our huntsman used to hunt hounds off a stallion
There's a lot of nonsense talked about them
 
I read an article this week that women will never get as many unsolicited opinions from strangers as when they are pregnant. I think it is the same in the horse world if you ride a stallion as everyone will have an opinion even if they have never even been in patting distance.

Obviously I don't mind when it is useful information :)
 
I find the lower down the levels that you go, the more the participants and organisers get their knickers in a twist about entires.

Having competed stallions in M&M open ridden, whp and breed classes, there was never a problem.
My daughter spent 2 winter seasons whipping in on her pony stallion, nobody ever commented as he had manners to burn.
 
This has been reassuring as to be honest I was half expecting to be told I was being unreasonable. I just made a poor choice when wanted to be able to do RC activities! I expected that I'd be hacking out alone a lot anyway due to my working hours so a safe horse of any sex was my main criteria. It is just a shame as I don't have transport and it is the local events that he is not able to attend.
 
I agree with the above that banning stallions because of badly behaved mare’s isn’t fair, but how do you distinguish between well behaved animals and rude ones when you are making rules? My own mare really doesn’t like to be too close to anything else but wouldn’t dream of acting upon it. When I was a teenager my mare was stabled next to a stallion, who I also hacked out with without issue. I did feel a bit sorry for him when my mare chewed a hole In the partition and he used to stand vet politely with his nose in it until it was fixed. She used to squeal and be most offended even though she’d made the hole!
 
As a mare owner, I would happily ride out with stallion, I would expect both to do their jobs and wouldn’t think twice. I have met stallions far more polite than both mares and geldings. I actually wasn’t aware they is normally a overall ban on them attending clubs.
 
I have ridden stallions in company without any issues and they were kept on regular livery yards, were turned out and basically treated the same as the other horses really apart from being turned out on there own, I kept my own stallion on livery for 2 years had a few complaints mainly saying he shouldn't be turned out when there horses were, a lot of livery owners would be terrified of him although he never did anything to warrant such fear, I had the odd few that didn't want there horse stabled near him, had a few yard staff refuse to handle him for no real reason.
 
I would expect my mares to be able to contain themselves and focus on the job i'm asking of them. I've seen mares behave much worse than stallions and i think it is an unfair generalisation that all stallion will cause trouble..
I'd be more than happy to hack out with a stallion and my horses behaviour is my responsibility.
 
My mares are bloody tarts in the field but soon as a headcollar/bridle/whatever goes on they are 100% in work mode and I wouldn't think it's fair to penalise someone else if they misbehaved. My horses so my responsibility, same can be said of all horses regardless of gender/size/breed/whatever.
 
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Never have a problem with our stallions, which are all ridden by children. We have in the past ridden out with pony club friends (also children) on mares, with no problem at all. We weren't allowed to take them to pony club though, which was a shame. These aren't breeding stallions, which might make a difference, but somehow I think it's more about the socialisation.

Funny how the hunts are 100% OK with them... it's almost like they're just better, less paranoid riders :D
Our 12hh Dartmoor Stallion was hunted by my daughter when she was 7 or 8 years old. He used to have a bit of a huff under his breath at the meet, but that was the extent of it. Pretty sure in a boxing day field of 100, roughly half are mares, right?
 
We’ve got a couple on our livery yard and they’re no bother whatsoever. They share the school with geldings and mares and I’ve never seen them misbehave.
 
The safest horse I ever rode to lead rein my very young sons out on their gelding Thelwell sorts was a stunning 15.2 arab stallion. A total gent with impeccable manners and patience no matter how wayward the little ponies and their young riders were. It is always more about the horse, its training, the standards expected of it -not breed, gender or anything else IMO?
 
We used to ride with a friend who bred Welsh cobs and she always rode her stallions good as gold we mostly had mares and one gelding we were all sensible didn't get in front of him or ride too close his manners were exemplary.
 
As an almost exclusively mare owner I do not understand the problem with either mares or stallions I am happy to take said mares anywhere in any company. In 50 years of mare ownership have only once had a problem when a colt broke his chain and tried to mount her she booted him into next week he was caught and that was the end of it. She wasnt in season and resented his attentions. Both ponies were in hand showing. Colt was young and extremely badly behaved hence breaking the chain. Stallions are wonderful but I do wonder why so many people own stallions with no intention of using them over mares a good stallion will always make a better gelding. Before anyone has heart failure at that statement a lot (by no mean all) of stallions lead a miserable existance with no turnout, no proper quality of life leading lives of isolation and frustration and of course should anything happen to their owners/handlers they have fewer option to be rehomed
 
Dave's Mam said:
I have 2 friends who compete entire Exmoors. Both are always immaculately behaved. I have handled one on a regular basis & he is a gent.
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We have a local exmoor stallion who is awful so depends more on the owners abilities than breed I fear. I do love the presence and appreciate there needs to be a gene pool of stallions especially in the rare breeds but some people are not equipped to have one
 
I agree with the point above about people keeping them without the facilities to do so. If I were boxed 24/7 I'd be a mess.

Personally, I ended up with a non-breeding stallion because I took a FTGH which turned out to be monorchid - since I couldn't geld him, I trained him thoroughly and he's a saint. Of course that meant no mares from then on. I have since taken 4 colts from the sales, of which we gelded two; one because he's a born first pony (so rare!), and the other because I thought his urges made him unsettled. The remaining two are content as stallions. One came to me a troubled soul, and having got him happy I won't mess him about, and the other is the pony in my avatar... I confess I kept him entire because I can, and he has given me no reason not to.
 
Neither of the stallions I noted are kept cooped up. They run with mares when they are covering & one, the one I personally know has a "wife", a barren mare.
 
That is a bit odd. What about going to shows where stallions, mares and geldings can all compete in the ring together? There used to be a lovely Spanish stallion that someone brought to dressage competitions, in fact I didn't realise he was a stallion and I can recall my horse being an idiot when there were some pigs in the next field and this boy was perfectly well behaved.

My 14 year old daughter "won" a hack out on a stallion, although it was on his local route. When we got back all his mares rushed over to say hello and he didn't bat an eye.
 
I show in hand with stallions and mares albeit miniatures but still the same behaviours and when im showing a stallion a mare in front can sometimes be advantageous (provided the stallion is very well behaved and knows how to contain himself) but if shes in season i can see for the mare owner it would be very irritating if she is just dragging her arse on the floor the whole time so i do try to keep distance and if needed cross over the ring (with permission) to get away. If i have a mare in the ring i will circle around behind the stallion hell be damned because i know the trick and know many stallion owners will not go into the ring before a mare. The issues come when the people who treat a stallion like a wild beast and dont get it to listen to them from day one then go out wanting to seem big...and when the $%£ hits the fan they don't know what to do about it. I would have no issue hacking out with a stallion provided i knew the owner/control they have. I know one lady with a stallion who probably should not even have a dog...no matter how many times you ask her to stop or back up she just says "hes friendly" well my bloody hematoma and lame filly disagrees.
 
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