[SweetSavannah]

What are the major differences between training a stallion as opposed to say a mare or gelding?

I am in a position where I might have the opportunity of riding and training a very well bred Arabian stallion for endurance as well as dressage and shows.

I have worked with difficult horses before, and I'm fantastic with moody mares. I've worked with stallions before, leading, catching, grooming, tacking up etc etc but never riding or training them myself. I know you need to be extra aware of any mares around, and that they can act territorial around other horses so it's important to give them plenty of space, but other than that they just got treated as any other horse.

I know the "general rule" with geldings is they are more even in their moods and are easier to train. You can "drill" them a little more without them getting sour in their work.
Mares can be moody and can swing from a really good day to a really bad day during training. They can sour very quickly and don't respond to repetitive drilling very well. You're better off getting one really good movement and then changing to something else.
As for stallions... Well I don't know what sort of considerations you give to stallions.

Any thoughts?

[Crazy4Apps]

I've trained quit a few stallion and I really don't think there is much difference then training any other horse. The only think I found is some you have to be more consistent, and firm. Other than that treat him like any other horse. If you treat him like a stallion then you can expect him to act like a stallion.
Hope I helped a little bit. Good luck.

[SweetSavannah]

Well I'm pretty good at being firm and consistent, but thanks I'll make a special effort to keep that at the front of my mind.

My TB mare had a lot of issues caused by her previous owner and I needed to be firm to correct the bad behaviour, and consistent so I built her trust in me as a rider. It took a while but we got there in the end!

I agree, treat them like a stallion and you'll get a stallion in all his rearing aggressive glory! They need interaction, stimulation and WORK - not being locked in a box all week and only taken out for shows on the weekend.

If I take him on he'll be in a stable with a day yard and I'll have access to him 7 days a week for riding and schooling (I work 5mins away from the agistment place), and access to a dressage arena and round yard, along with lots of trail access.

[Kissitgoodbye]

There shouldn't be any different kind of training method. Training is training.

But going into a different angle might now always be a bad thing. Every stallion is different in one way.

[Crazy4Apps]

Originally Posted by SweetSavannah

Well I'm pretty good at being firm and consistent, but thanks I'll make a special effort to keep that at the front of my mind.

My TB mare had a lot of issues caused by her previous owner and I needed to be firm to correct the bad behaviour, and consistent so I built her trust in me as a rider. It took a while but we got there in the end!

I agree, treat them like a stallion and you'll get a stallion in all his rearing aggressive glory! They need interaction, stimulation and WORK - not being locked in a box all week and only taken out for shows on the weekend.

If I take him on he'll be in a stable with a day yard and I'll have access to him 7 days a week for riding and schooling (I work 5mins away from the agistment place), and access to a dressage arena and round yard, along with lots of trail access.

Sounds to me like you got a pretty good idea of what your doing. So I think you are gonna do justfine with him.

[SweetSavannah]

Kissitgoodbye

Yeah sometimes I think it's better to prepared to take a different angle. Like , if I just went in there thinking "Oh he'll be just like every other horse I've worked with" I might get eaten alive!

I'm going to start working him like any greenbroken horse and make changes as I go to cater for his temperament. He strikes me as a pretty sensible fellow. The colt next door to him is a beautiful fiery nutbag who fangs around bucking and carrying on while this guy just sorta watches him and shakes his head like "Hmmph teenagers!".

He's older than I would like for an unbroken stallion, but I'll get a professional to start him under saddle and then I'll continue his training from there.

Apps

I guess it's just the whole "Wow it's a stallion" factor that's making me a bit tentative. From when I first started riding, a "stallion" was always this big fiery animal that needed a big fiery man to control him.

But having seen several real stallions since then, and some being trained by 5'5" girls in their early twenties... well I guess I realised they were just like any other horse except that you had to be more aware of other horses around you.

But still, I have seen some stallions that also confirm the sterotype in my mind, but these tend to be the big WB types that are kept in boxes 24/7 and ridden once a week cos the owner is terrified of their own horse. I just don't want to end up like that I suppose.

The stallion's owner will always be around to ask for advice, but he doesn't ride anymore only breeds, and the girl that does ride doesn't have time to train a green horse.

[dressagemad91]

All i have to say from owning my first stallion is give them an inch and they'll take a mile. I have found things can quickly spiral out of control as far as the pecking order is concerned if you dont keep on top of ground training. e.g. my gelding has his ground training set in stone, he knows where he is in the pecking order and wont challenge that, however my stallion is different. He requires constant ground training to keep him in line.

[Cowgirl2135]

You need to be BLACK and WHITE. No grey shade. Stallions need to know whose the boss and the rules and trainers need to decide what kind of rules need to be set. The only difference is you need to be stricter then you would be with a gelding or mare

For example- You let your gelding greet other horses while you are leading him. Sometimes you let him greet but sometime you don't. With a Stallion, its either never greet other horses or always greet other horses. Once they know that they are allowed to greet other horses, stallion will want to greet them. They are more determind and stubburn.

[Haas Horse Farm]

I agree. You cannot treat a stallion like a mare or gelding. You have to remember he is indeed all male. It is time to load in the trailer... in a slant load you put him first so that he cannot tear as much up trying to get to others. If you have to load him in a side by side you better figure on a bit of a fight and making two trips. I have had the mares be the problem too... as in fighting with other mares to get close to him. Even in a slant you will have talking, pawing, etc. You also have to remember the pecking order. The senior stallion or alpha gets loaded first or all **** will break loose. They have it figured out and things are just better if you agree and do it that way. Much like a friend that fed for us while we were gone. We told her that everyone gets fed first and then the stallion gets fed last. Well she felt sorry for the stallion and fed him first... she had 20 ****** off mares that flat told her how it was. Every mare on the place got very vocal about it. Needless to say she believes me now.

[SweetSavannah]

Hmm well I helped the owner feed all his stallions on the weekend and I must say I'm very impressed. The hard and fast rule is that the stallion is NOT allowed to approach the feed bin until you have put in the food and moved away.

The 4yr old fella tried to sneak in before I had emptied the feed but I flapped my arms over my head and he quickly backed off. The stallion I'm thinking of working with would not even go near the feed bin until I was a good metre away from it - he just waited a good 10metres away from me until I was done.

The owner is VERY strict with his stallions and if any of them set one toe out of line they'd quickly find themselves in deep poop! They have impeccable manners, much better than most geldings and mares I've had to look after! The owner has already done the hard part - I just need to adopt the same rules he's already instilled in them and go from there to keep things consistent.

I have similar rules with my mares. Like when leading them into their stable they have to wait for me to go in first NOT push in front. They are NOT allowed to eat until I take their halter off and turn them loose. They MUST move away from the stable door when I walk in NOT crowd the door and make it impossible to enter. Simple things like that to establish my authority.

I think I'll have to step it up 10 fold to get a good respectful relationship with the stallion, but as I said the owner has done most of that already I just need to follow his methods.

I gave the beautiful boy a good grooming session while I was there. He's not used to that sort of thing but he let me spray de-tangler in his mane and tail, curry comb him and brush him all over, clean his feet out... he was a gem considering he's never really had that sort of attention before. The owner only takes them out for trimming their feet, doing their teeth and serving the odd mare as well as feeding them daily - apart from that they're pretty much left alone so grooming is a foreign concept to them!