> Once again, it seems to come down to human behavior and decision-making, not > animal behavior. The head in charge is supposed to be the one with the > helmet, not the one with the bridle. It seems to me to be one thing for > mares in heat to come into passing contact with a stud on the trail. I > don't think it's too much to ask a stud to behave in that situation--but it > boggles my mind that anyone would expect a stud to spend hours side by side > or nose to tail with a mare and not be tested beyond either his or his > rider's ability to control his baser instincts.
Or, I might add, the head that is supposed to remain reeled up inside the sheath when he's busy working... I disagree that it is too much to ask of a stallion to control his "baser instincts" for hours side by side with a mare in heat, at least not if there is indeed a helmeted head on his back and a bridle on his own head. (The front one, that is.) I wouldn't suggest that he not become interested in the mare if there is not something else to do and someone else in charge, but given a task and a boss, he should be able to stay focused. If he doesn't have the sort of mind that can do that, then I don't want him in the breeding barn, either. It has been my experience that we've ridden side by side with mares in heat on our stallions on multiple occasions and not even had the mare owners KNOW we were riding stallions. I do agree that no mare owner should jam the mare right under a stallion's nose--nor should any rider jam ANY horse right under ANY other horse's nose. But I DO expect my stallions to mind me when brief encounters of that sort happen (I agree with Kat that it is not about punishment but about correction, and would go one step further and state that when another horse is tailgating OR cutting in front, I communicate with my stallion FIRST, before he has a chance to respond wrongly, and remind him that I'm here and I'm in charge--that communication may only be a twitch of a finger on a rein, or a light squeeze with a leg, but it gets the point across), and I don't consider a mare in heat trotting along in the adjacent jeep road track to be a "close encounter" of that order. I'm sure many of the folks who have jammed their way into a water tank where one of our stallions is drinking and who have left again without incident have never even been aware that they've "intruded" on a stallion's space, because I'm perfectly capable of seeing them coming too, and reminding him that he has to remember who's in charge before he has a chance to even chuckle. If a particular stallion is not sufficiently socially advanced to be able to handle that kind of proximity, then *I* back off. (It really isn't any different than knowing how much of the jam at the start a green horse can handle, and arranging his proximity to the crowd accordingly.) Stallions are perfectly capable of discerning the difference between an appropriate breeding situation at home and a working situation in public. The ones that aren't need to have a little bit of corrective surgery. (Or in some cases, maybe their owners do....) Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
