by JP Giacomini copyright 2005
Last year, I wrote an article about a horse that had bitten his handler and dragged him around by the arm, hurting him really badly, as the guy was just cinching him up (maybe a little too enthusiastically!). I had the ‘fun’ opportunity to attempt his ‘reformation’, which was one of the riskier moments of my training life. The goal was to get him manageable at breeding time and safe to be around. I worked on the horse with Endotapping and it succeeded in only two sessions, proving one thing: even the worse behavior is modifiable with that method. I followed my usual “Essential Principles” step by step, but I must say that this horse stretched the limits of my faith in my own method!! After the sessions, he apparently never displayed aggressiveness again, even when breeding, except when his previous trainer came to visit! The horse reverted to his previously nasty behavior as long as that person was near the stall, demonstrating how the emotional upset had started. He was later exhibited without a bridle in reining during the Paint World Show, sold to a young girl who has never had any trouble with him since. He was eventually gelded as his owner had no need for a stallion.
EMOTIONAL OPINIONS. Allow me to bring a little perspective to the stallion question. All my life, I have ridden and trained many stallions and I currently own five of them. This exposes me to an ongoing stream of opinions on this emotional subject, easily divided into two categories. First, the ‘stallion-haters’, who feel justified in their fear by occasional horror stories that they like to repeat to put fear in the mind of their listeners. Second, come the ‘stallion-lovers’, who treat them like big ‘pussycats’ and tell you that there is nothing to worry about: if something bad eventually happens, they never see it as the horse’s fault, only a result of human error. I think both of these opposing viewpoints are grossly exaggerated.
The problem with ‘stallion-haters’ is that they either refuse to have stallions in their barn or end up creating isolated life conditions for the male of the specie, resulting in complete alienation of the animal from the rest of the world. Those horses have no relationship with other horses and become harder and harder to handle, until they ‘flip out’. The problem with ‘stallion-lovers’ is that they neglect to establish an unquestionable ‘lead stallion’ position for themselves because their stallion is a nice one. Everything is OK for a while, but even nice stallions progressively challenge their owner, until a ‘breeding opportunity’ is perceived by the horse and somebody gets hurt, usually badly. This is how the whole ‘monster stallion’ legend perpetuates itself.
COMMON SENSE MANAGEMENT. The first rule needed to maintain a stallion’s sanity is to give him the best possible social life within his daily environment. Stallions are extremely sensitive emotionally and there lies the source of the trouble. They spend their life concerned with rank and relationships because the future of the genetic package they carry depends on their social position at breeding times (which may well be anytime). Here are a few rules to make stallion management easier (besides the obvious parameters of facility safety):
** If there is only one stallion on the place, he will be less anxious if he has direct contact with the mares (even share a paddock). Count on them to teach him how to behave!
** If there are several stallions kept together, then avoid unnecessary contact (visual or smell) with mares in heat as to prevent competition.
** Multiple stallions should be able to relate to each other through see-through dividers and touch noses as well as witness the entire barn activity, so they get used to it and feel they are ‘controlling traffic’, as they are genetically predisposed to do.
** House your stallions near their best friends, so they can have comforting company while pretending to ignore their rival across the aisle.
** Turn them out every day for a couple of hours and when possible, let them go out in pairs (for the purpose of ‘safe play’) with a SAFE electric fence divider between the paddocks (in addition to a ‘real’ fence, in case the juice runs out). I find that they stress more when they are out all the time because they start to run the fence line and forget to eat.
** When working with studs, always make sure that each one believes to be the ‘chosen one’, as to alleviate the effects of jealousy, particularly at breeding time. This precaution somewhat limits the potential for attacks between them.
PREVENTION of ATTACKS. On the question of the cause of ‘accidents’, remember that even the most cuddled stallion can become dangerous without any specific abuse, when the wrong situation is created. The main cause of an attack is usually that the horse becomes aware of a potential mating with a mare and suddenly starts to see everyone as another rival “stud”, including his handler. For stallions, sex = competition = aggression. This is a fact of nature. Handler’s dominance actually translates for the horse as giving you ‘first mating rights’, meaning that he sees you as the leading stallion and he has to wait for your permission to approach the mare. Bachelors behave similarly in wild herds and breed secretly and quietly. There is only one valid prevention of attacks: train the horse to ABSOLUTELY respect the handler, including when a hot mare is present and when the handler has only a ‘symbolic’ mean of control at hand. Establish this in increments, first with the horse and you alone, then in company, etc.
The simplest way I know to establish dominance easily for both horse and handler, is to use the Endotapping method I have invented. It changes the emotional content of any situation and can be used to induce a stallion into separating physical contact (‘pushing back’) from sexual intention and sexual intention from overt aggression. It is the correct ‘emotional solution’ to conflicts because it transmutes anxiety/aggression (of horse or rider) into relaxation, rather than inhibit/repress it (excessive discipline does that, but creates later resentment) or express it (ongoing, unresolved conflicts are dangerous immediately). Love and discipline are compatible: you can feed treats to your horse, while also demanding perfect behavior at all times.
If you are witnessing an attack from a horse that doesn’t know you and you want to help, do not try to appease him: rather jump up and down waiving a stick and screaming to convince him you are 7 foot tall. It is comparable to a bear entering into your camp to steal your food: you wouldn’t go pet him, right? If you are sensible, you would either run away or get your gun (even to only shoot in the air!) and try to scare him more than he is scaring you. It is hard to do, but it works because horses, though they don’t know how big they are, can sure judge your level of determination.
THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT. It is unreasonable to expect that a stallion is going to remain nice all his life just because ‘he has been pretty good so far’. Thorough training must be used to reshape the expression of basic survival and sexual instincts that govern the life of stallions. If not, plan to suffer from instant behavior change, going from pleasant to aggressive when the wrong conditions occur. It won't take very much to trigger it, all with potentially dire consequences. Aggression is predictable IF you are very experienced, yet a few experienced handlers have lost fingers, shoulders or arms when proper training has been neglected. After 35 years of handling stallions, I have suffered a couple of kicks and a few bites to remind me of never taking stallions for granted. Thanks to what the most magnificent representatives of the equine species have taught me, I have learned a lot about behavior modification and applied it to the easier horses: if it works with studs, it works with any horse.
If you want to own a stallion, avoid indulging into wishful thinking: decide if you have the guts for the higher responsibility implied and the right living environment for them. Furthermore, commit to educating yourself and your horse to the higher level of (self-) control that must be the benchmark of safety indispensable around breeding animals (broodmares can be dangerous too when involved in a hierarchical argument). Way too many people keep stallions that should not be bred, yet are a potential danger to their owners or others.
Promoting a stallion that is not of superior quality is like buying a lottery ticket: the financial odds are against you and the breed you proclaim to love will lose quality as the result of your choice. Yet, I freely admit that stallion handling has given a whole new and wonderful meaning to my study of horsemanship and I would not give it up for anything in the world!
