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  Discussion on Stallion Hates Mare
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Member:
Mftgirl

Posted on Friday, May 14, 2004 - 10:51 pm:

Our 4 year old stallion in his 2nd year of breeding only our few mares seems to hate one particular mare. She showed very strongly in heat on Sunday and they seemed to get along fine across the gate. However, when we turned them in together (we pasture breed only), he immediately pinned his ears and began chasing her at a full out run. When he caught her, he bit her on the leg and would not turn loose. This continued until they ran through the gate I was trying to exit (yes stupid for me to be in there, but that's another story). Only when she could get 200 yards or so away, did it stop. Background on the two horses are as follows: the mare was bought at auction, assumed brought up in a stable (knowing who her previous owner was) as she displayed no herd sense when we turned her out, jumped the fence several times and would run straight to the barn. All of our horses boss her around and she has finally learned some communication skills, but is still low man on the totum pole. About a month ago, I walked out to the barn to check horses and found the stallion, the brood mare he was turned out with, and her baby all standing in the barn, and the above mare out of her stall and in the pasture. Gate had been torn off hinges. Poor mare was cut up all over her hips. Normally our stallion is the most laid back horse, never aggressive, and actually pretty low in pecking order with our mares. His personality is the only reason we even considered owning a stallion. Best I can figure out with the barn situation is that the mare, Sassy, is an escape artist and can open her stall. Normally, we keep a rope latched around which she can't undo. This must have been left off after feeding and she got out. Storm, our stallion, was in the pasture adjacent to the barn gate at the time and has been known to pull the gate off the hinges by getting his head through the gate and raising up. The gate to his paddock is actually chained on both sides to prevent this. He must have noticed her wandering around loose in there and stuck his head in to check her out. We originally thought the cuts/bites on Sassy's hips were from the mare with the baby being bossy. My question is this, why has he suddenly decided to be this extremely bad mannered to this one mare? They spent a long time together last summer in his paddock and got along fine. Is it simply because she is the one horse he knows he can boss? I would like to breed her, but don't want to torture her to do it. As it is, it will probably be another month or more before she's healed up again from his biting her. My husband thinks they just need to work out their differences, but I am concerned that as she does nothing to fight back, Storm will just keep beating the c---out of her.
Member:
Mrose

Posted on Friday, May 14, 2004 - 11:53 pm:

Do you have a safe place to tease the mare with your stallion? Maybe if you spend a lot of time teasing you can either tell if it's safe to turn them out together, or (preferabley imo) hand breed this pair. If the stallion acts agresively toward the mare while teasing, I'd skip it all together or collect the stallion and breed AI. I would be afraid to "let them work it out." One of them could get seriously injured.
Member:
Mftgirl

Posted on Saturday, May 15, 2004 - 2:21 pm:

Thanks for the advise Sara. That's what I was worried about. It seemed that his paddock would be too small to let them work it out and one might end up going through the fence. I didn't really want to leave them in the larger pasture either as it seemed too large to force them to work out anything. We'll try the teasing and let you know how that works.
Member:
Christos

Posted on Saturday, May 15, 2004 - 7:00 pm:

Tonya,
Controlled handbreeding is not torturing anybody to do it. It is simply the safest method for the animals we love and care for.
I believe that turning a stallion and a mare loose and letting them work it out naturally is, to say the least, dangerous.
We lost a fine stallion in our area this year, victim to a more "natural" approach in breeding (massive bleeding, multiple fractures).
I'm afraid I will never understand this approach.
Member:
Mftgirl

Posted on Saturday, May 15, 2004 - 10:29 pm:

Christos,
I'm not in favor on them trying to work out their differences either as the mare has already been injured (bites, cuts). So far nothing serious, but I can see how it could become serious quickly. I tried my best to intervene to get him to quit biting her, which is how they ended up in the other pasture. I was more puzzled and suprised by his behavior, as he normally flirts with the mares and has never behaved this way at all that we've seen. They quickly put him in his place if he gets out of line. I was wondering if anyone else had seen a horse, stallion or not, so intensly dislike another horse in particular. Our mares are only pasture bred by a stallion that has only ever pasture bred. He almost always has a buddy, a mare or two, or weanlings, in his pasture with him for socialization. While I'm sure there's nothing wrong with handbreeding and never thought of it as torture, the living conditions of many stallions in our area who are only handbred leave a lot to be desired (isolation in a small area, etc). In my previous post, I was referring to Sara's advise on repeated teasing to see if he is aggressive and if not then handbreeding. If he is aggressive towards her, then I don't think they would be a worthwhile match.
Member:
Mrose

Posted on Sunday, May 16, 2004 - 9:56 am:

A beautiful stallion in our area had both hind legs broken by pasture breeding, and I know of another up north that got kicked in the testicles and injured so badly he was never able to breed again. I prefer some controll. There are some great sites on breeding and some great clinics given each year too. They are well worth looking at/attending even if one has been breeding for years. There are humane ways to control both stallion and mare so that no one gets hurt, including the handlers.
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