Yards accepting stallions?

I was not expecting so many replies. I agree totally about safety but I have never had either of my boys away for training/backing at a yard where they did not get turn out and daily exercise. Both are stabled beside their 'favourite' mares with a talk grill when home here.

As I write the Shagya is in for the night, the Cleveland Bay is out at night and in during the day, he is terrified of the electric fence, which is wide tape on wooden posts. However, he is right beside the mares, we double fence as we move around the farm. I do make sure that the stallions cannot see each other when turned out and also when stabled. The Shagya does everything you would expect of a riding horse, hacks, jumps used to compete in endurance WITH mares on the trail.
 
Well-behaved stallions most certainly don't need to be separated from mares at all times. My little 12hh Dartmoor used to be hunted by an 8yo child. Other than a bit of huffing under his breath at the meet, you wouldn't have known he was entire... but then he had never been used for breeding. Once he got loose at a showground and grazed quietly until someone noticed, despite being less than 12feet from a couple of mares.
 
I found the biggest issues with yards when I was looking for one for my boy was not just if they would accept them but how and where they would be kept.

Many yards wanted to keep him in an isolated stable round the back of the yard and with no turnout! My boy was a very social chap and really thrived on being in an American barn set up next to both mares and geldings. I was lucky that he was a very well mannered and had obviously been very well trained before I got him. I, luckily, was able to find a perfect yard for him (twice) that had large turnout and lovely social stabling which suited him perfectly.

My biggest issue with keeping him on a livery yard, as others have said, were the tart mares! They often caused more issues than any of the stallions present on the yard did.

In an interesting event that happened with my mare, i had just bought her and did not yet realise her ability to open her stable door.... and what did she do but, of course, go and let herself out then the young stallion down the other end of the barn! They were found the next morning together and my mare had to get a couple of vet visits to stop any pregnancies! The stallion was not at fault at all and would have never caused any issues if he had not been let out by my mare in the first place.

That being said, I find it hard to tolerate rude horses (both mares, stallion and geldings) that have not been taught any manners and people use whether they still have their balls or not as an excuse for bad behaviour!
 
texenstar said:
I found the biggest issues with yards when I was looking for one for my boy was not just if they would accept them but how and where they would be kept.

Many yards wanted to keep him in an isolated stable round the back of the yard and with no turnout! My boy was a very social chap and really thrived on being in an American barn set up next to both mares and geldings. I was lucky that he was a very well mannered and had obviously been very well trained before I got him. I, luckily, was able to find a perfect yard for him (twice) that had large turnout and lovely social stabling which suited him perfectly.

My biggest issue with keeping him on a livery yard, as others have said, were the tart mares! They often caused more issues than any of the stallions present on the yard did.

In an interesting event that happened with my mare, i had just bought her and did not yet realise her ability to open her stable door.... and what did she do but, of course, go and let herself out then the young stallion down the other end of the barn! They were found the next morning together and my mare had to get a couple of vet visits to stop any pregnancies! The stallion was not at fault at all and would have never caused any issues if he had not been let out by my mare in the first place.

That being said, I find it hard to tolerate rude horses (both mares, stallion and geldings) that have not been taught any manners and people use whether they still have their balls or not as an excuse for bad behaviour!
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This is all so true.
I do think in the UK leisure culture few are exposed to stallions and so build up a sort of ‘fear’ or poor reputation.

I’ve been lucky enough to work with a number of sporthorse stallions.
There are very few that would have fitted into the ‘raging hormonal beast’ catagory - only 2 off the top of my head. The remainder were soppy sods and very easy to manage.
 
The first yard I went to when my horse was a 2 year old colt it used to be an Arab stud so she had 7 ft high fencing on 2 fields made for colts and stallions and mine went out overnight next door to another colt which worked fine, and he was stabled next door to the other colt and a stallion they were all very close and would call and wicker to one another never any aggressive behaviour, I only had my horse cut because I found it so hard to find livery and I wasn't going to breed from him so thought it was the sensible thing to do.
 
We had 4 at our old yard - 2 arabs, a welsh D and a hanovarian.

They got turned out daily in normal paddocks with extra electric but did get turned out next to geldings with the mares the other side of the property.

As long as you didn't do something stupid like tie a mare in season up outside their box - they were very well behaved.

Although they all did nibble - so it wasn't a good idea to stand too close while chatting as you would get nibbled at and sometimes maybe a little nip if you weren't paying attention.
 
If I had to move to a livery yard I’d castrate mine. Can you imagine faff finding somewhere to accept a stallion for group turnout. He is welsh and he has his welsh moments so is no paragon of virtue, but he’s not dominant so is below the other geldings in his field, works in a Driving pair with others, stables in nose contact of mares without drama competing, stands in a line up, camps in electric padlocks competing etc.
 
Chinchilla said:
The thing that horrifies me about this thread is the things people are saying the mare owners are doing! Get it into your thick skulls that every single mare on the planet is an absolute tart, and doubly so if she's in season, so therefore keep her away from the stallion!? Not to mention teach them to behave omg.

Oh. My. God. *facepalms*
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I have to agree with this. Its very difficult for a stallion to cover a mare unless it stands, in fact a stallion is likely to be injured by the mare, hence AI is becoming more common. My brood mares had the fastest back legs ever, and the only time I have had a colt gelded in was due to the mare in the next field that wasn't mine constantly giving him the wink. He never once tried to climb over the fence.

The whole trouble with horsemanship now is its so sanitised and they are not seen as animals. I saw my first horse covered at 12 years old, with a travelling stallion. It came out of a trailer, did the job, money changed hands and it was loaded to go home. All done with an audience of rapt teenagers as it was a small riding school.
 
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