Franklin Levinson's
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Abnormal stallion problem?
I have a 24 yr. old Arabian stallion. We bought him 3 years ago & have bred him to our 2 Arab mares. They have both foaled & 1 of them is bred back.
My question is this. We have moved the mares & their babies to a different pasture not on our property. We have 2 geldings. One has been here as long as the stallion. My husband bought a quarter horse gelding 1 week ago. Today we put the three together. The stallion is mounting the quarter horse & the quarter horse is allowing it with only minimal squealing. His "buddy" the Arab gelding is now not his "buddy" & he goes after him. Is this normal behavior? We would like to ride these horses but I'm concerned about this strange behavior. The Arab gelding is young & I am not rider enough to handle him. The quarter horse has been abused with too harsh a bit but is fine with his halter & 2 lead ropes for reins & I am not strong enough to control him at anything faster than a walk.. The only one I can ride is the stallion. Do you have any suggestions or tips?My husband is furious about this situation.
Thank you for taking the time to answer me.
Pam
Hi Pam,
Actually, what you are seeing is normal behavior for domesticated horses. As the setting is about as unnatural as can be for a horse, stallion or otherwise, this is what is the result. I would separate the horses, keeping the stallion on his own. Additionally, I would train the horses (or have them appropriately trained) to be ridden 'normally'. A hackamore should work fine for the horse that was carrying an abusive bit. Your horses need appropriate training. Without that they do not do so well in the unnatural world of the human. They are behaving quite normally for horses kept in an abnormal situation. I can coach you through training these horses if you want and feel you have enough of an understanding of the nature of horses to go through it. Let me know.......
Sincerely, Franklin