# Really, really tired of neighbor and their stupid horse



## dixiegal62 (Aug 18, 2007)

It would seem my neighbor up the road thinks I'm running a free stud service and stable. Her horse has been here for over 2 weeks. During this time she's went into heat and been bred by my stud. How can your horse can be gone for that long and you not notice? Do you not feed or water it?? Can't catch her at home and the one day I did she was leaving the driveway while I tried to flag her down. She just smiled and waved and drove off. Meanwhile her horse is eating my feed and hay and causing fights between my stud and gelding. Really need to research boarding and stud fees in our area and leave her a bill. But I won't because I hate confrontations and I hate fighting with people. I just want to be left in peace. Last year this same horse was in our yard every other day, she's also a spoiled temperamental brat that has no manners( insert neighbor or horse ) I do not like her at all.
Any ideas how to settle this without feuding with neighbors?


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

The horse has been there 2 weeks and you havent contacted the owner yet?
:hrm:


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## secretcreek (Jan 24, 2010)

Betcha the neighbor absolutely knows where her horse is, and is enjoying someone else doing her responsibilities for free. Guess you could offer it for sale, and in the ad use the neighbors phone number ???? Leave a note well taped to her mailbox with a time frame to come get the horse or it goes up for sale, and you keep the $$ to cover the board fees.


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## unregistered41671 (Dec 29, 2009)

I have a friend that has a neighbor with a bull that he could not keep at home. The bull was tearing down fences and breeding the other cows that he was trying to AI. He finally carried the bull back several times and the neighbor acted like it was not his problem. My friend carried the bull to the sale and delivered the check to his neighbor. No more problems with that bull.


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## wolffeathers (Dec 20, 2010)

I would start with animal control. If they wouldn't do anything, call the police.

If you have contacted the owner and she will not pick up her horse. I would treat it like a horse that's been abandoned at a boarding barn. Ask around local barns and see what the local policy is. Usually it means sending a certified letter to the owner, waiting a certain amount of time, and then taking legal ownership of the horse. Most barns will sell the horse for backboard.

I cannot believe you've been taking care of the horse for two weeks. If anything happens to it while you're feeding it, she can sue you or claim she didn't know where it was. You need to CYA and contact the owner by any means necessary and/or contact authorities. She may claim it's not her horse.


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

Check with your ag office or brand inspector to see what you can do before you do anything. I would think that you can legally consider the horse abandoned or at least call the proper autorities, declare it a stray and let them come pick up the horse and impound it. 

If you're not cool about having the horse impounded and would rather handle it yourself, you need to do your homework and document everything, including the date she arrived on your doorstep, feed costs and such and every effort you have made to contact her. At a certain point in time, you certainly can sell her but are you in an area where you can easily find a buyer and will you even make enough off the sale to cover the feed bill, let alone the hassle of having her there?


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## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

I think you'll need to contact the sheriff's office or possibly animal control. No brand inspectors east of the Mississippi since there are no brand laws like there are in the western states.

How is she getting 'in' to your pastures? Is there any way you can fence her out of your property at least? Halter and leadrope, take her back to the neighbor's house and tie her to her front door?


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## offthegrid (Aug 11, 2009)

SFM in KY said:


> How is she getting 'in' to your pastures? Is there any way you can fence her out of your property at least? Halter and leadrope, take her back to the neighbor's house and tie her to her front door?


Seriously! How does someone's mare "get in" with your stallion?? What are your fences like? If she can get in, he can get out. It's a liability for both owners...not because the mare is pregnant but the damage that might be incurred by loose horses on roads and other people's property.

But why don't you just call them and tell them you have their mare? <<< "Hello neighbor. Obviously you must know your mare is loose. She's here at my barn. Please come get her today." >>>


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## Rogo (Jan 1, 2006)

Rules/regulations are different in different places.

I came home one day and found a mule tied to my fence. I called the sheriff to see what to do.

He said to put an ad in the paper asking for the owner. Run the ad for 3 consecutive days. If nothing happens, sell the mule. That's what I did.

It seems that if there's a lot of property and a lot of mules it's assumed that you can take care of someone else's!


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## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

I've had 'stray' horses a number of times in MT ... and I once had a mare that went 'visiting' on a pretty regular basis (she jumped the fence ... a 4-strand barbed wire fence that held the bulls) ... but ...

I always retrieved my mare.

The old stallion that came to visit our mares was always standing politely in the farm lot beside the barn and the neighbor would arrive horseback and lead him back to his pasture.

The neighbor whose mare would come to visit (and snack on the haystack while visiting) always knew where she was and would come and retrieve her the same day.


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## Kazahleenah (Nov 3, 2004)

2 weeks is WAY longer then I would keep a neighbor's horse (without an arrangement beforehand)... ESPICALLY since she has not only been bred (for free since you won't charge them), she has been fed for free, and is upsetting the applecart at your place. I have to ask.... WHY do you worry so much about upsetting the neighbors when it's obvious they don't care if they upset you?


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## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

This is a spoof, right? I mean really! In two weeks you haven't been able to leave a note telling your neighbour to come get their horse? At the very least you could have walked the horse home and tied it to your neighbour's front gate. All that has happened since the first day the horse showed up is your responsibility since you couldn't even be bothered to contact the neighbour.


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## dixiegal62 (Aug 18, 2007)

Yeah I realize it sounds crazy to y'all that I haven't taken care of the problem but in all honesty I have all on my plate I can handle right now and as bad as it sounds it never crossed my mind to leave a note. As for phones I guess she's unlisted or just has a cell phone. My husband is going through chemo for colon cancer and very sick from it so I'm doubled up on my work. My 30 year old son 2 months ago out of the blue went into psychosis and I've been dealing with doctors, hospitals and trying to find help for him.

She got in my pasture by knocking 2 boards off a section of fence, or my horse knocked them off to get at her. This horse is untrained and unruly and I'm not fighting her 1/4 of a mile up the road. 

I caught her home late last night and talked to her, her husband played dumb she admitted she knew the horse was here. Told me her problems and how overwhelmed she has been. Assured me she would get the horse this morning.


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

Well, she is going to be even more overwhelmed now that her horse is knocked up! Is it possible she doens't realize that YOUR horse is a stallion??


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## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

So sorry to hear you're dealing with so much and the neighbor's horse on top of everything else. Never a good times but seems like sometimes the difficult times start and never seem to quit.

What I would do is try to find 15 minutes to call the local sheriff's office and/or animal control and find out what your options might be. Tell them the circumstances, that this isn't a horse you feel comfortable handling and because you have a stallion you don't have a place to put the mare. Find out if they can or will do something if the situation happens again ... or she doesn't come get the mare.

If you know in advance what to do, it will be easier to cope with. No way to know what the regulations are in your area, but where I used to live you could call the brand inspector, he would come out, pick the animal up and 'warehouse' it at the local auction yard. I know you don't have brand inspectors where you live but it's possible the sheriff's office or animal control might have some option in place.


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

Good advice here already. I just want to say I'm sorry for your troubles with hubby and son. I know how hard it is when spouse is laid up and unable to help at all and needing to be taken care of. IT'S HARD! ((((hugs))))


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## Molly Mckee (Jul 8, 2006)

I'm sorry you have so much to deal with. Do what others have suggested and talk to the sheriff about what you can do in the future if she does get the horse this morning-or how to get rid of it if she doesn't show. You've got too much to do to be dealing with this.


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## nduetime (Dec 15, 2005)

Thinking about you and your family. I pray everything goes well. No advice, just prayers for you and yours.


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## chewie (Jun 9, 2008)

and letting the sheriff know asap will help cover your keester if it gets ugly. 

so sorry about the family issues, no, you do not need any more to think about!


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## Lauri (Sep 20, 2008)

Dixie,

My husband passed away 1 week ago...........

I _know_ how overwhelmed you are.

I am sorry for all you are dealing with.

Lauri


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## dunroven (Dec 6, 2004)

whatever you do, please don't let some of the rude comments on here bother you. Lots of folks jump to conclusions before they think. I'm so sorry for what you are going through too. Sometimes its easier to just have the mentality of I'll deal with it later. Right now I have this going on and I can't deal with one more problem.

I'll be praying for you and your family. Its a very tough road you are on. Peace be with you.

Valorie


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## farmgirl6 (May 20, 2011)

dixiegal62 said:


> Yeah I realize it sounds crazy to y'all that I haven't taken care of the problem but in all honesty I have all on my plate I can handle right now and as bad as it sounds it never crossed my mind to leave a note. As for phones I guess she's unlisted or just has a cell phone. My husband is going through chemo for colon cancer and very sick from it so I'm doubled up on my work. My 30 year old son 2 months ago out of the blue went into psychosis and I've been dealing with doctors, hospitals and trying to find help for him.
> 
> She got in my pasture by knocking 2 boards off a section of fence, or my horse knocked them off to get at her. This horse is untrained and unruly and I'm not fighting her 1/4 of a mile up the road.
> 
> I caught her home late last night and talked to her, her husband played dumb she admitted she knew the horse was here. Told me her problems and how overwhelmed she has been. Assured me she would get the horse this morning.


Dixie, where are you in Northern Alabama, I am in the same area. Maybe I can help


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

I can totally understand where you're coming from. DS has significant mental health problems and DH nearly died last Christmas when a cancerous tumor developed a bleeding ulcer. 

While you're waiting for your hubby during his chemo why don't you write up a bill for two weeks worth of boarding. Since it's your neighbor's horse I'd tell them you're giving them a discount. You could charge, say, $125 to $175 (or whatever would cover your cost and a little bit extra. Will this cause you to have problems with having enough hay? 

They risked your and your horses' health. You don't know if her horses have been getting vaccinations. Please make sure they, at minimum, pay their feed costs. Another thing I would do is to let the lady know what will happen next time. Please prepare a letter for the next time it happens. Send letters return receipt required so you can prove she received it should she deny it. 

Take care of yourself.


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## unregistered41671 (Dec 29, 2009)

Lauri said:


> Dixie,
> 
> My husband passed away 1 week ago...........
> 
> ...


I am sorry for your loss Lauri.


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## Rogo (Jan 1, 2006)

=== Really, really tired of neighbor and their stupid horse ===


It's not the horse that's stupid, it's the neighbor!!!

Sending lots of good vibes to get rid of this problem and for good health in your family.


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## dixiegal62 (Aug 18, 2007)

Lauri said:


> Dixie,
> 
> My husband passed away 1 week ago...........
> 
> ...


I'm so very sorry for your loss Lauri. If you ever just need to talk please feel free to pm me.


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## dixiegal62 (Aug 18, 2007)

farmgirl6 said:


> Dixie, where are you in Northern Alabama, I am in the same area. Maybe I can help


I'm near Arab. Where abouts are you? She finally came and got the horse last night. I'm happy to have her gone but my poor stallion is heart broken.  She was very excited about the fact hers might be expecting. Her horse is very small boned, mine is huge with his back being way above my head, he's large boned. I told her I hoped her horse wasn't because I worried about her giving birth. She was still excited and I got the impression that was what she wanted to begin with, but I could be wrong. I let the matter go about payment this time, if it comes up again we'll have to do something more drastic.


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

Right now, send her a nice note informing her in writing that from this day forward, if her horse shows up, boarding fees will be $30 a day, payable each and every week. If board fee is late, horse will be auctioned off to pay the board bill.

I suspect that the horse will be back. They couldn't keep it confined before and they got free feed and a free breeding out of their negligence.

My solution to irresponsible neighbors is to fence my place completely, so their animals can't get in.


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## Work horse (Apr 7, 2012)

dixiegal62 said:


> I'm near Arab. Where abouts are you? She finally came and got the horse last night. I'm happy to have her gone but my poor stallion is heart broken.  She was very excited about the fact hers might be expecting. *Her horse is very small boned, mine is huge with his back being way above my head, he's large boned. I told her I hoped her horse wasn't because I worried about her giving birth.* She was still excited and I got the impression that was what she wanted to begin with, but I could be wrong. I let the matter go about payment this time, if it comes up again we'll have to do something more drastic.


That won't be a problem.

But just so I understand, did you leave the mare in with the stallion for 2 weeks?


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## lmnde (Sep 25, 2006)

> But just so I understand, did you leave the mare in with the stallion for 2 weeks?



Not to sidetrack this post, but this brings up a question that has been running through my mind for quite some time when I read on here. It seems to me that stallions here in the USA lead very solitary lives w/out companionship for the most time? Not trying to be difficult - but can someone explain to me why?

When I was growing up back in Germany [a gazillion million years ago, not sure if it is still done that way nowadays], on farm holdings the stallion would share the pasture with the mares year round, unless the mare was not supposed to be bred. They were also expected to behave, work, and be biddable and easy to handle, got ridden and driven in teams, and mostly regardless if a mare was in season or not. The ladies were also expected to behave and be reliable during their heats too, although I remember them to be more of a challenge than the stallion ever was (.

What I read between the lines here, it is handled differently, even in small farms? I can see where that is hard to achieve on a stud farm, but in a family setting/farm setting? Can someone elaborate and explain this to me in a nice way, please?


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## goodhors (Sep 6, 2011)

lmnde said:


> Not to sidetrack this post, but this brings up a question that has been running through my mind for quite some time when I read on here. It seems to me that stallions here in the USA lead very solitary lives w/out companionship for the most time? Not trying to be difficult - but can someone explain to me why?
> 
> When I was growing up back in Germany [a gazillion million years ago, not sure if it is still done that way nowadays], on farm holdings the stallion would share the pasture with the mares year round, unless the mare was not supposed to be bred. They were also expected to behave, work, and be biddable and easy to handle, got ridden and driven in teams, and mostly regardless if a mare was in season or not. The ladies were also expected to behave and be reliable during their heats too, although I remember them to be more of a challenge than the stallion ever was (.
> 
> What I read between the lines here, it is handled differently, even in small farms? I can see where that is hard to achieve on a stud farm, but in a family setting/farm setting? Can someone elaborate and explain this to me in a nice way, please?


European horse owners who have higher quality animals, seem to have higher expectations from them. They EXPECT to have stallions trained, usable for whatever their capability will suit. Drafts drive, Warmbloods ride and drive, used on a regular basis. Most farms have limited acres, animals MUST be productive and usable to be kept. The ready access to the meat buyers is a bonus, no loss of money in getting rid of horses who don't work out. Every equine is worth SOMETHING. 

Part of this keeping animals trained, used, might be that stallions are not left entire in Europe unless owners expect to use them after Approvals by the Registry. Unlike the USA, breeding animals must meet a standard for quality, after inspection by the Breed Inspectors. If a stallion doesn't pass Inspection, he is not allowed to breed registered foals, or foals of any kind, last I heard.

In the USA it is legal to own and stand stallions, producing foals from any mare you let him cover. There is no inspection of either animal for usefulness, quality or temperment before breeding. In fact many horses who couldn't stand up to work, show competitions, get retired to be "breeding stock", producing more weakly built animals for the public to purchase.

There are a LOT of people who just never "get around" to training these stallions for much of a work life. They might get saddle trained, but never ridden after coming home from the trainer. Some never get any training except in covering the mares. Western ranches are more likely to have herds with a stallion included, because they have the acreage without close neighbors. People in the Eastern areas live mostly in smaller acreages where herds of horses are much less common. Stallions can be dangerous if they escape fences, take a dislike to the neighbor's gelding and go to beat him up.

With no real work, a lot of stallions have boundless energy. People can't work them enough to get them tired like in the old days! So energy goes into bad behaviour. Not enough talented, well-trained horse managers to go around. Just horse owners with little or no stallion or horse experience. They have limited budgets for building horse facilities that are safe at keeping horses home or OUT of your farm. Many stallion owners have 1-2 horses, but work full-time, so horses only get handled when there is time. Hay is tossed over the fence, horse stays in a shed in a field. Not handled regularly, not correctly, he kind of raises himself, learns to think on his own.

And lastly, most stallion owners are what we call "barn blind". They don't see their stallion as having any faults, he can MAKE MONEY with stud fees, PAY for his keep! It is all about money for many. With no discerning eyes, they can't tell a good horse from a poor one. Owners have INVESTED in this stallion, are quite unwilling to geld them for the betterment of the breed. I don't see the USA stallion owning public improving things, and watch the quality of horses continue to go downhill. Breeders want pretty faces and are willing to give up quality, trainability, temperment, bone structure, soundness, for the tiny heads with small brains inside. Sad, harsh to say, but it keeps happening in all the breeding, all the disciplines. Buyers want pretty heads, so all else is sacrificed for that. THEN buyers complain and carry on about all the "issues" of unsound, brainless, untrainable horses they purchase. No standards for horses to meet, means that mostly junk horses are getting produced for the market, whether higher or lower priced animals.


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## Rogo (Jan 1, 2006)

=== It seems to me that stallions here in the USA lead very solitary lives w/out companionship for the most time? Not trying to be difficult - but can someone explain to me why?

When I was growing up back in Germany [a gazillion million years ago, not sure if it is still done that way nowadays], on farm holdings the stallion would share the pasture with the mares year round, unless the mare was not supposed to be bred. They were also expected to behave, work, and be biddable and easy to handle, got ridden and driven in teams, and mostly regardless if a mare was in season or not. ===


I had the pleasure of watching a German trainer here in Arizona. His methods were unlike anything I had seen and so were his results. When folks came to buy a horse from him and would first ride the horse, there was no head gear on the horse -- just a string around their necks.

When I'd mention to folks that I was tired of hauling my mares to an outside Mammoth jack (breeding for mules) and I wanted to get my own, all I heard was they were killers, had to be kept on the north 40, and when you wanted to breed you were to use two big, burly men to get the deed done.

I got a baby, raised him like any other baby. When he was 3 years old I started riding him and also breeding him. Since I planned to ride him, I didn't want him beat up nor did I want his ladies beat up (mine and outside mares), so instead of pasture breeding, I hand bred by myself and with no problems. Even taught him when to drop and when to mount the mares. Altho he was alone on acreage, he could see the other equines. I'm a hair under 5 feet female.

I rode him a lot thru the years; alone, with groups, camping out, parades, etc. And he helped produce some great mules. No solitary life for him!


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## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

goodhors said:


> European horse owners who have higher quality animals, seem to have higher expectations from them. They EXPECT to have stallions trained, usable for whatever their capability will suit. Drafts drive, Warmbloods ride and drive, used on a regular basis. Most farms have limited acres, animals MUST be productive and usable to be kept. The ready access to the meat buyers is a bonus, no loss of money in getting rid of horses who don't work out. Every equine is worth SOMETHING.
> 
> Part of this keeping animals trained, used, might be that stallions are not left entire in Europe unless owners expect to use them after Approvals by the Registry. Unlike the USA, breeding animals must meet a standard for quality, after inspection by the Breed Inspectors. If a stallion doesn't pass Inspection, he is not allowed to breed registered foals, or foals of any kind, last I heard.
> 
> ...


I agree with most of your post, but there *are* quality working stallions in the US, there just aren't a lot of them. In my opinion, at least half of all stallions standing should be gelded because they just aren't breeding quality. Just as many mares shouldn't be bred either.


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## lmnde (Sep 25, 2006)

Thanks for clarifying. I just had a hard time to understand that nobody seems to be riding their stallions around here. I am referring to "regular peeps" not show or race horses etc. It's kinda sad though - I have the fondest memories of the young stallion I had the privilege to ride when I was young. I had loads of fun with him - he was eager, willing to try anything and other than when he had been stabled for a while without being ridden due to weather conditions, better trained and less complicated to ride than the mares at the same place. The owner did a lot of parades with him [both on horse and in front of a cart or as part of a wagon team], and I took him out cross country riding for loads of pleasure rides both by myself and along with the owners and their other horses. After the first 5 minutes or so where he needed to let off steam or run it off a bit, he was a total joy to ride. 

It is my understanding that in Germany stallions have to be "koered" or going through the "Koerung" a quality test that not only goes for pedigree and beauty but also evaluates temperament and brains. In some breeds there is also a Leistungstest - I'm having a hard time translating that one - ability/soundness/training combination test, that varies for the individual breeds, and subject to what they are used for.


I am in GA and near our country place there are several Hispanic families that own horses as well. They tend to go out in group rides, and I regularly see at least one and occasionally several stallions among them too - ridden like any other horse, and behaving well in the group. And unfortunately - also not far from my country place - there is a solitary stallion - always alone [I don't think they are breeding any longer, although they also have several mares] in his pasture - seperated by several fields from the rest of the horses. I have never not seen him in there - and I have been driving this route for about 5 years now. I think the only buddy he has, is a hawk or some smaller bird of prey - who often keeps him company. I see that bird sitting on the same fence post quite a bits...

So would you say that utilizing a stallion as a riding/pleasure horse seems to be somewhat of an ethnic thing too?


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## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

lmnde said:


> Thanks for clarifying. I just had a hard time to understand that nobody seems to be riding their stallions around here.
> 
> It is my understanding that in Germany stallions have to be "koered" or going through the "Koerung" a quality test that not only goes for pedigree and beauty but also evaluates temperament and brains.
> 
> I am in GA and near our country place there are several Hispanic families that own horses as well. They tend to go out in group rides, and I regularly see at least one and occasionally several stallions among them too - ridden like any other horse, and behaving well in the group. So would you say that utilizing a stallion as a riding/pleasure horse seems to be somewhat of an ethnic thing too?


I am familiar with the European Kuering process as I've raised warmbloods in the U.S. and they go through the same process. They are only used if they have passed the stallion testing ... otherwise their foals are not eligible for being approved and registered with the warmblood registries. It is a very expensive process here in the U.S. ... I looked into it a number of years ago and the baseline figures looked like around $10,000 to get a stallion through the process with no guarantee that he would, in fact, be approved.

I lived in Spain for several years and that was my first introduction to stallions being ridden routinely as pleasure horses ... I think it is, to some extent, an ethnic thing but it may also have something to do with the temperament of the most common breed of horse there, Andalusians. They are a very quiet, laid back sort of horse, even as a stallion. They had a very heavily government supported upgrading system when I was there and I've seen 100 or more stallions in barns, in tie stalls, side by side, with no issues at all.

For me, growing up on a ranch, the only time you kept a stallion was to turn out with a band of mares. Working ranch horses were always geldings, not even geldings and mares mixed ... stallions and mares both were kept only for breeding purposes on the working ranches. I was probably in my 30s ... and changes were starting to be made ... before I saw many mares being ridden on ranches ... or stallions being used as a working horse on a ranch.

Another problem with riding a stallion as a pleasure horse is that unfortunately most people who want to keep a couple of horses to trail ride simply don't have the knowledge or experience to train and handle a stallion safely ... and they don't ride enough to keep a stallion in a working 'mindset' ... for the average hobby horse owner/rider a stallion is pretty much an accident waiting to happen.


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## Teej (Jan 14, 2012)

lmnde said:


> Thanks for clarifying. I just had a hard time to understand that nobody seems to be riding their stallions around here. I am referring to "regular peeps" not show or race horses etc. It's kinda sad though - I have the fondest memories of the young stallion I had the privilege to ride when I was young. I had loads of fun with him - he was eager, willing to try anything and other than when he had been stabled for a while without being ridden due to weather conditions, better trained and less complicated to ride than the mares at the same place. The owner did a lot of parades with him [both on horse and in front of a cart or as part of a wagon team], and I took him out cross country riding for loads of pleasure rides both by myself and along with the owners and their other horses. After the first 5 minutes or so where he needed to let off steam or run it off a bit, he was a total joy to ride.
> 
> It is my understanding that in Germany stallions have to be "koered" or going through the "Koerung" a quality test that not only goes for pedigree and beauty but also evaluates temperament and brains. In some breeds there is also a Leistungstest - I'm having a hard time translating that one - ability/soundness/training combination test, that varies for the individual breeds, and subject to what they are used for.
> 
> ...


I think a big reason a lot of people don't use their stallions as pleasure horses is because so many are prejudiced against them. You can bet if your riding with a group of people and one person's mare is acting like an idiot it will be your stallions fault even though he's behaving like a perfect gentleman. Several different places where I trail ride either ban stallions altogether or you have to have written permission in advance and then you have to keep them in one of their stallion stalls which both places I'm thinking of are 10X10 stalls completely boarded up. Not even spaces between slats for them to be able to see out of. NO THANKS!

I will grant you that I've seen more stallions that should not be out in public than I have that should but that's the owners fault for not being a responsible stallion owner. With my paint & mini stallions, I expected them to act no different than any other horse on this farm and I never had a problem with either one. I had the paint from the time he was 2 mos. old & the mini was a yearling so I got to raise them the way I wanted.

The mini did get to live in a family unit. The paint was out with the geldings until he was 3, realized he had certain urges, and then got separated. He was still never kept stalled and could hang out with the rest of the herd with just a fence between them. He was in the dry lot during the day out at pasture at night. The mares had the opposite schedule. I didn't keep him out with the mares because 1) I didn't breed every one of them every year and 2) he was really bad about nipping at them to herd them around. He got one old mare pretty bad. He's gelded now and still likes to think he's the king of the herd so I have him, his dam (he never tries to boss her around), and another mare (who is not passive enough to let him) in one pasture. They all get along good. The geldings and his daughter are in the other pasture.


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## Sunrisesya (May 3, 2012)

OMG, just wait til that mare foals and both come visiting.......


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## Rogo (Jan 1, 2006)

The Latinos I know ride stallions, no geldings, no mares -- from the youngest in the family to the oldest. One little girl was voted queen for the year by her saddle club due to how well she handled her mount. She was 5 years old and she rode a stallion.

I'd rather ride stallions or geldings instead of mares. The guys are the same day in and day out. Never know what stage of PMS the mares are in!!

Whenever I've called a saddle club and asked if I could ride my stud on their upcoming ride, I've always been welcome. Most said the mares caused the problems!

I called the trail boss of one club and he said, "Sure. I've been riding my stud with the club for 20 years!"


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## TxHorseMom (Feb 21, 2011)

Back when I was breeding, our Stallion was kept with "his" mares. His paddock was about 10 acres. (once they were bred.) He was also trained to ride, barrel race, and have proper manners at all times. He would/could trail ride with a mare in heat and you'd never know he was a stallion. As a matter of fact, when we sent him off to be trained for barrels, the trainers said that he was so well behaved, that they had to "check" to see if he was really a stallion! lol (we broke him to ride, they finished him on barrels)

The problem I found was that many trail rides didn't allow stallions. We could go with family and friends on a trailride, but an "organized" ride more often than not did not allow them. And from what I've seen and heard about the "average" stallion, I don't really blame them.


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## jennigrey (Jan 27, 2005)

Our wagon train does not allow stallions. Or dog or guns or non-equine animals of any sort. In a day and age when few horses get WORKED enough to be reliable, and common sense is not so common, event organizers often have to practice risk management.


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