# Handing Breeding a 2 y/o Stallion for the first time. . .



## AKPaintLover (May 26, 2007)

Keep him separated from the mares - I don't see any way of you preventing conception if he is penned with them. If you can keep him with geldings, that is great - he still gets to socialize with other horses. My stallion only socializes with mares when breeding. I ride him very often in the company of mares, so he does get to be around them, but in a setting where he is not allowed to be a stallion. I actually keep my stud seperated from the geldings also, becasue he chases them relentlessly and picks fights. He has clear view of all our geldings and mares, and is near them, but not in with them. He gets time close to other horses when riding and being groomed and such, but not on his own. 

As for hand breeding, if he has impeccable ground manners, it should not be an issue. He needs to wait in hand for you to allow him to approach the mare, and he needs to be willing to come down and back off is he is getting too excited or aggressive. He will do all of that if you have very good control of him from the ground. 

As for how he acts with other people, you may just have to be the main one who works with him for a while. If you can supervise other experienced adults in handling him periodically, that would help keep him from being a one person horse.


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## valleychick2121 (May 1, 2008)

Thank you for the info. I have a pen right now that he is staying in, but really want to fence another pasture so he has a bigger area to run in. My gelding (i only have one) beats up on him if he gets rowdy and doesn't really like him, but I think that would be better than being totally alone if it still suits him after he starts breeding mares. He isn't aggressive at all, just refuses to move when someone else is messing with him. I will work with the girl that will be helping me breed next year with him and get him going good. Thank you!


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## misita (Oct 12, 2007)

Be very careful breeding him. The first impression in the breeding arena is very important and a bad experience could hurt him as a stallion for life. Get help with someone who know how to teach a young stallion the rules.

Also, if you plan to collect him in the future, it would probably be best not to live cover him first. It could make it much more difficult to phantom train him later.

These guys do tons of stallions. I would visit their site for tips or even contact them with questions. They're great. They've helped me with Bravo and saved me from lots of BIG mistakes.
www.equine-reproduction.com

Good luck with him and have fun.

www.hiddenvalleyfarms.net 

w


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## Lc Performance Horses (May 3, 2008)

First thing first is to keep him away from your yearling fillies, and seperate from your mares. He should be kept in a well fenced area where he does not have direct contact with them and is unable to hurt himself trying to get to them. 
If you are going to have him cover in hand, you will need to put hessian sacks or similar on the mares he is covering, take off hind shoes, put thick cotton wool or similar padding over her hind feet and enclose in a thick soft sack (i useally secure with bandage tape) or a pair of covering boots, this will protect your stallion from being kicked.
Have him on a reasonably long lead rope, tease the mare to ensure that she will accept him, keep him one side of a solid fence, and her the other side so you can see her behaviour. You will be able to see what her reaction is,and whether or not she is ready to accept him. They usually flash their vulva, and it will be folloed by gushing yellow liquid, this is usually a sign she will accept and is ready for covering.
He will respond accordingly, do ensure you are able to handle him as he will get over excited.
Once you are sure she is ready, bring him to your mare, keeping a secure hold of him, do not get in the way! He knows what to do, and he will mount his mare and get his job done, its part of nature, he knows what hes doing, even if hes never covered before.
My quarter stallion, first covering, i allowed him to run with the mare, once he was done, he began to graze and i got him out of there and into his stall for cleaning. It can be done that way first time so as he didnt feel uncomfortable or pressured. And after that he was fine to cover in hand as he had done it once and got his barings and knew what he was doing. I did the same with my Anglo Arabs, Arabs and welshies.
Before you breed, ensure all your vaccinations are in date. 
There are several innoculations to be given to your mare. Vaccinations should be current, as any infectious disease may cause your mare to abort. A Four-way vaccine for Eastern and Western encephalomyelitis, tetanus and influenze should be administered at the early stages of the pregnancy. She will require a booster one month before her due date, this will ensure that the mares colostrum has the correct levels of immunisation from the first suckling, this is essential; when the foal takes her first milk, they are temporarily immunised against disease and infection. The mare will also require a vaccine for equine rhinopneumonitis (virus abortion) at 5, 7 and 9 months gestation. There will be other vaccines neccesary for your area, as each area is different, so you need to consult your veterinarian. 
Just let him do his job and you should be fine.
Sharon  Good luck!


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## valleychick2121 (May 1, 2008)

Thank you! That was very helpful. I want to let him cover an experienced mare for the first time in the breeding pen by himself to get a feel for it, but will he balk when I then ask him to breed in hand? Or will he still not worry about anything when I'm there? If he talks i usually say a harsh "NO" and he totally quits his interest for a couple minutes looking at me to see what I'm going to do. He is pretty smart, lol. If I don't keep a lead rope tied around the gate to him pen, he gets out! He hasn't done anything serious yet. I've seen him mount my grey mare and try to do something, but he never ejaculates. I have a paint jack who is too short to breed with her and he actually bit her neck while standing on the side and masterbated!


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## irisheyes12 (May 19, 2008)

Just a question but why are you breeding him? What are you planning on doing with the offsping once they're on the ground? Have you had him checked for HERDA since he carries Poco Bueno lines?


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## valleychick2121 (May 1, 2008)

Well, since then I have decided to sell two of my yearlings to get a 2 y/o and he is for sale w/ a breeding stock APHA filly. I was going to breed him as a two year old if I got him riding well and he showed promise as a cutting horse. If not, I was going to geld him and start him lightly on barrels and do trail until the next year. As far as the herda goes, I read something that says it shows up in foals who are positive for it by the time they are two, and before I bred him, i would test him on that at the same time I DNA typed him. Why did you want to know?


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

That is one of the pains of owning a stallion. You have to make sure you have the right kind of facility and equipment available. He will never be able to be kept with other horses unless he is a very quiet stallion but even than I would not keep him with them. I would feel safer keeping him alone.

But again I would hate doing that as well. Big reason why I have always gelded all my studs.


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## AKPaintLover (May 26, 2007)

My2Geldings said:


> That is one of the pains of owning a stallion. You have to make sure you have the right kind of facility and equipment available. He will never be able to be kept with other horses unless he is a very quiet stallion but even than I would not keep him with them. I would feel safer keeping him alone.
> 
> But again I would hate doing that as well. Big reason why I have always gelded all my studs.


This is so true. Dez is such a quiet stallion, but I don't trust him enough to be in with the geldings. He is just so far beyond them in dominance that is is not fair. He has done great right next to our mare while she was in foal though.


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## irisheyes12 (May 19, 2008)

valleychick2121 said:


> Well, since then I have decided to sell two of my yearlings to get a 2 y/o and he is for sale w/ a breeding stock apha filly. I was going to breed him as a two year old if I got him riding well and he showed promise as a cutting horse. If not, I was going to geld him and start him lightly on barrels and do trail until the next year. As far as the herda goes, I read something that says it shows up in foals who are positive for it by the time they are two, and before I bred him, i would test him on that at the same time I DNA typed him. Why did you want to know?


I was just curious as to why you wanted to breed him since he doesn't have a show record and isn't trained in anything to make him marketable to a potential buyer for his offspring. There are way too many babies on the ground now that need new homes and alot of them have diseases such as HERDA that should have never been born to begin with.

I would get him DNA tested and await the results before making the decision for sure, but that's just me being responsible. If he carries anything that can be passed on in a negative fashion i'd have him gelded immediately.


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## valleychick2121 (May 1, 2008)

Lol, I have a tendency to be barn blind about my horses, but anyone elses i can point out flaws immediately. I've decided not to breed him because he kicked the fence and now has a partial bowed tendon in the back, which may render him unridable. My trainer and I took a look at him and decided he would be better off as a gelding, than a stud because he lacks muscle mass, although he is really pretty. Im going to post a for sale message on the other message board. I bought him for quite a bit not even halter broke, but since he may not be able to do any heavy riding, im going to give him a good home for $600.


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## valleychick2121 (May 1, 2008)

lol, believe it or not, he doesn't even pace the fence and I've got him to where he doesnt call or anything around the other horses when I'm with him. I've had more trouble with my yearling fillies than anyone else this year. 

They have both gotten hurt over the past couple months. Although he thinks he is a big boy and runs off anyone except the lead mare, lol. I had him penned by himslef, but with my other filly hurt I had to let him go and pen her up. 

Good thing is he is only turned out with a grey mare and donkeys, so no problem about the others getting bred accidently.


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