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Discussion on Introducing pasture-breeding stallion to new mares
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Posted on Tuesday, Mar 19, 2002 - 5:17 pm:
I have been given a 20-year old TB stallion who has been breeding mares since he was 4. He is a gentleman and not difficult to handle. During the last 5 years, he has been pasture-breeding. Although I have worked with stallions before and have seen breedings, I have never been in charge of the stallion or mare when a breeding is taking place. Since I lack experience and he has it, I have decided the best place to start is by allowing him to pasture breed two of my mares. Both mares have had foals before and at least one of the mares allows the geldings to breed her. My question is how do I introduce the stallion to the mares? Is it handled differently than introducing a new horse into a non-breeding herd? Under normal circumstances, I would put the new horse in a pasture by himself adjacent to the one with the horses he will end up with. I usually give that two-three days and then put him out with the group. So far, it has worked well and new introductions are very anti-climatic. I have a 5-foot round pen which is adjacent to the pasture where the stallion and mares will end up. I am using this pen for his turn-out area at the moment while I'm setting up the new fencing for the stallion pasture.
Any suggested reading material would also be appreciated!
Thanks!
Nancy
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Posted on Wednesday, Mar 20, 2002 - 6:27 am:
Hello Nancy,
Probably the safest thing to do is see how the last owners handled this situation and follow their lead, this will be what he is use to.
Since he has been pasture breeding for the past 5 years, I don't think problems are likely. The problem with many stallions is a lack of socialization so they tend to get into trouble quick or are overly aggressive.
DrO
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