Stallion on bridleway

Eugh horrible. Brings back memories of a similar thing that happened to me when I lived in Portugal. I was out on a 4 year old mare who was in season. I hacked past the local gypsy horses as I did every day, giving them a wide berth as usual, but the stallion had somehow broken free from his tether and accosted us and mounted the mare from behind. She was only small and I didn't have a whip. After a lot of rearing and kicking and spinning, during which my Border terrier got knocked into the river (he came home safely later thank goodness!), we ended up going flat out all the way home with the stallion in pursuit, he would NOT leave us alone, I literally had to throw myself off as we got through the yard gate and only just managed to slam it in his face. The worst thing was that I could have easily been riding there with a group of Pony Club kids with me, I can only imagine what would have happened.
 
I saw that yesterday on FB and it was horrible to watch. Those two horses being ridden were amazing.

A few years ago I was in the hair dressers and there was a lady next to me with a broken leg. We got chatting and it turned out that she had been tending to her horses in her field and a stallion appeared on the adjoining lane and then jumped into her field and started going for her mare. The lady said it all happened so fast and the next thing she knew, she was lying on the floor having been kicked and her leg was quite obviously broken.
 
Was watching it yesterday on the pass wide and slow group on facebook. The poster/rider said on another group she posted it on people were saying "it was her own fault" how ignorant can people get?
Beggars belief they didn't even bother to read her comment of she didn't know they were in there on a public bridleway until after she was in the field.
Annoyed and very angry on her behalf, she coped well with the traveller's pony.
Horses I have ridden in the past would have flattened it.
Oz
 
The riders and their horses were brilliant. All credit to them. I've had this happen to me a couple of times too, once on the Black Mountains and once on a hacking route in Leicestershire.
The stallions were protecting their mares, but it's blooming scary, particularly when you know that there's a gate to open onto a busy main road. The mares I was riding on each occasion were brilliant. They understood the situation better than I did and kept us both safe. I trusted them and let them run to safety.
On a slightly less frantic note, I used to have a beautiful mare who went into magnificent mode when we passed a local stallions field. If she could have trotted like that in the dressage arena, we'd have been at the Olympics.
 
It does make me think carrying a schooling whip when hacking even if the horse you're riding doesn't require one is probably a good idea. Although if I started waving a whip around on The Beast that wouldn't help matters!
 
Those poor horses and riders, they did really well to get away.

We’ve been followed by a wild yearling colt on the common before but nothing as scary as that! He eventually got the message to bugger off when I had him across the nose with my whip.
 
That situation can happen with any loose stock with a bridleway running through; not that a stallion should be on a public path, obviously.
I thought the little chap was pretty calm and friendly. Many inquisitive geldings, mares or even cows would be just as much of a nuisance.

He didn't look to me to be 'attacking' or particularly trying to get at the mare, other than in a pesky colt lacking boundaries kind of a way.
 
Oh god what a nightmare. I would have been terrified.
I had two colts jump out of a field on top of me and the beast one time, but they weren't aggressive just curious. I'd have had a heart attack if I had met that stallion. The riders dealt with it brilliantly.
 
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ester said:
Yup the gelding they were using as 'block' was 17hh.
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what a stroke of luck they had a big horse like that, and that he handled it so well. I watched it imagining I was on Kira and I am fairly confident it would have been a very different outcome, the stuff of nightmares.
 
More likely to be owned by the type of people that don’t give two flying figs. Mind you they might care if someone went back with some sedalin, bute and a bull castration kit they might give a damn then ;) (tongue in cheek btw)

Very dangerous, had a look on the web to see if it was actually illegal and apparently it’s not for horses just bulls especially dairy bulls (kept my horses on dairy farms and bloody hell those bulls are the worst!) you can be taken to court if damages occur (and they can find you) but chances are this wouldn’t happen.
 
scruffyponies said:
That situation can happen with any loose stock with a bridleway running through; not that a stallion should be on a public path, obviously.
I thought the little chap was pretty calm and friendly. Many inquisitive geldings, mares or even cows would be just as much of a nuisance.

He didn't look to me to be 'attacking' or particularly trying to get at the mare, other than in a pesky colt lacking boundaries kind of a way.
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I'm not sure it's what I'd define as the usual "calm" and "friendly" behaviour...he is actively trying to mount the mare and very nearly succeeds toward the end of the video. I do agree that he's not doing anything malicious - he's just behaving naturally for him. Tbh I would actively avoid riding through any group of loose horses even without a loose stallion as I agree that geldings and mares can also be a real nuisance. But I do think you're underplaying his behaviour a little bit.
 
I saw it this morning and it was incredibly stressful to watch. The two women were very brave and mare with the pink thingy was a little superstar. Incredible they were all OK.
 
Also saw this yesterday and found it terrifying, poor women. Definitely nothing they’ve done wrong.

I avoid riding through horses full-stop though as had a scary experience years ago riding through a field on a bridleway with horses known to the one I was riding and one of them went for us. We were lucky to get out uninjured.
 
Oh god, most riders worst nightmare!

Ive had a loose stallion come at us in the show ring. He’d broken loose from his handler, flattened several people, flattened an elderly mare (actually had her on the floor with her handler under her) come through several sets of ting ropes and then started squaring up to cobbus (late cut gelding). Cobbus grew a hand and did his usual firebreathing dragon routine and squared up right back at him but is far too well mannered to actually start something whilst under saddle. At that point i was leaning desperately to try and get hold of the stallion because a loose cobbus would go to the nearest person who rustles something and beg them for sweeties, thats a heck of a lot safer than a loose aggressive stallion.
Thankfully cobbus squaring up to him had the stallion in shock and stallion froze, unfortunately just out of my reach no matter how much i leant over but it gave the ring steward enough time to grab the stallion. Very scarey all round.
 
I carry whip out hacking, I have used it to fend off / square up to aggressive dogs, and it has made me feel safer when I used to hack in an area with flashers.

I think it is a good rule to always carry a whip of some sort.

I got seriously chased and surrounded by a herd of about 30 curious cattle on foot a few days ago. I wasn't expecting it, I was on a foot path, cows normally ignore me, or are at a distance, or if one persists in following me, normally arms waving, stepping towards them and shouting deters them. Nothing was deterring these cows, and I was surrounded on all sides by cows. Ducked under a barbed wire fence and found a way out through a hedge.

Any good tips for safely getting through a field of cows on a footpath, when they are curious / nosy / expect food or something and are right near the footpath. I have walked same footpath a number of times and cows are normally further away and ignore me. No calves around.
 
We ride on the open hill most of the summer (usually!) and are sometimes faced with a similar situation where a hill pony stallion decides to take an interest in one of our ridden mares. It happens rarely however as the hill stallions are more often just getting on with their own stuff and are generally more concerned about keeping their harem away from trouble. We are happy to give them space, our ridden mares are very sensible and experienced now and all of our horses have been taught to ride a stallion off if necessary. We have not found that to be difficult or in any way 'dangerous' as if you ride confidently toward a stallion, shouting if need be, they do tend to back down (I am only referring to hill ponies in this situation however - I wouldn't necessarily try it in another setting!!!) The very worst culprit we have had to deal with was a shetland stallion who was unbelievably persistent even though he had no hope of covering any of our horses o_O The stallion in this footage is much harder to deal with than a hill pony who will have a degree of 'boundaries' around people and mares where this one is a complete oik. It is also not helped by the fact that he doesn't have an existing group of mares to keep him busy. It is dire that he is situated on a bridle path - presumably his handling/training has been non-existant/very limited. :( I am often asked how we cope with feral/hill pony stallions as we spend many hours on the hill - generally they really are not an issue. This situation really is a problem. Just horrible and very dangerous.
 
bouncing_ball said:
I carry whip out hacking, I have used it to fend off / square up to aggressive dogs, and it has made me feel safer when I used to hack in an area with flashers.

I think it is a good rule to always carry a whip of some sort.

I got seriously chased and surrounded by a herd of about 30 curious cattle on foot a few days ago. I wasn't expecting it, I was on a foot path, cows normally ignore me, or are at a distance, or if one persists in following me, normally arms waving, stepping towards them and shouting deters them. Nothing was deterring these cows, and I was surrounded on all sides by cows. Ducked under a barbed wire fence and found a way out through a hedge.

Any good tips for safely getting through a field of cows on a footpath, when they are curious / nosy / expect food or something and are right near the footpath. I have walked same footpath a number of times and cows are normally further away and ignore me. No calves around.
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Cattle are my worst nightmare - I have seen what can happen when an unsettled horse loses it's rider in a field of overexcited young bullocks. I try to avoid riding through cattle at all costs these days. Even if they are at the other end of a field they can move very quickly. Sometimes it is ok but increasingly I would advise extreme caution.
 
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