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By Larry Trocha
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Dear Friend and
Horseman,
Here it is,
Springtime again. I both love and hate this time of year. I love it for
the nice weather, spring flowers etc. I also hate it because this is the
time of year when the 3 year-old stallions get zapped with their first
big dose of testosterone. It turns some of them into holey terrors. It’s
also the time of year when the mares start to cycle, driving the young
stallions crazy. All this makes a trainer’s job more difficult,
oftentimes unpleasant and sometimes down right dangerous. But that’s
just part of the profession, you take the bad with the good.
If you have a
stallion and you are inexperienced with studs, let me share with you my personal
philosophy…
If your stallion
ever gives you that “I’m going to get you” look, it would
probably be wise to let a more experienced handler take over. No stud is worth getting hurt or
killed over. Hardly anybody realizes it but many people have been
injured by stallions. More people than you would ever imagine, have been
maimed or killed.
Now, let me
make something perfectly clear...
Not all stallions are overly aggressive. In fact some of the best horses
I've ever ridden were stallions. However, let me point out that they
were the exception, not the rule.
If a stallion is
to become a sire, he should be exceptional. To
my way of thinking, the only horse that deserves to be
a stud is one that possesses those exceptionally good qualities and
consistently passes them on to his offspring.
On the other side
of the coin, we have the problem stallions. These are the ones
you need to watch out for. These are the ones that are overly aggressive
and threaten to get you. This over-aggressiveness is sometimes a
stallion's normal behavior. Sometimes the aggressiveness is man-made.
Either way, it's dangerous.
Some
owners who have a problem stallion, refuse to castrate them. These folks have not
been viciously mauled… yet. Their time will come.
I have been
attacked several times and luckily escaped without serious injury. But,
I have personally witnessed people getting maimed by studs. One guy lost
his ear and part of his shoulder muscle. Another guy was almost mauled
to death before anyone could get the stud off him.
A trainer friend of
mine came crawling to the show arena on his hands and knees, covered in
blood. His cutting stallion had attacked and mauled him just a few
minutes prior to the class. Pretty scary stuff.
Most people don’t have a clue how quickly a
stallion can change from “passive” to “attacking”. Seldom do you have
much warning. With experience, you can learn to read a stud and learn
what they are thinking. But, the learning process can be a little risky.
I remember well the first time I was attacked by a
stallion. I was 10 years old. I wanted a palomino stallion in the worst
way and to my surprise my folks got me one. (In my parent's defense, I
should tell you I had horses since I was 7 and was a heck of a good
rider by the time I was 10. They just didn't realize the danger).
I can remember it like it was yesterday. It was
Spring, a Friday and I was walking home from school. As I came down the
driveway and into the barnyard, there was a cattle truck parked there at
the loading chute. My folks were standing there talking to the driver of
the truck. I approached and asked what was going on. With an
enthusiastic smile on her face, my Mom said there was a surprise waiting
for me in the barn.
Just then I heard the unmistakable scream of an
excited stallion and I knew my dream horse was inside our barn.
I ran to the barn
and went inside. Standing loose in the big stall was a beautiful
palomino stallion with a white mane and tail. He was short, about 14.1
hands, but he was stout. He was upset because he could see the mares
standing outside in the pasture and he wanted to get out there with
them.
I should have known
better than to go in his stall without haltering him first, but I went
in to pet him anyway. As I walked up to pet his neck, he opened his
mouth wide, like an alligator, and lightning-fast took hold of my
shoulder. He picked me up, shook me like a rag doll, then threw me into
the corner.
He wasn’t finished
with me yet! I’m on the ground and here he comes again with his mouth
wide open. Man, I was scared. I figured here he comes again and I’m a
gonner. My hands and legs were flailing about trying to fend him off.
Just by shear luck, I hit the stud in the eye just as he was coming in
to bite me again. The poke in the eye startled him enough to give me
time to get the heck out of there.
If you have
children who love horses, pay close attention to this next part.
There I was, 10
years old, shirt all torn up and I'm hurt bad. What would you guess I
did next? If you guessed I ran to my parents and showed them what had
happened, you guessed wrong. If they knew the stud had attacked me, they
would have gotten rid of him.
I was way more
afraid of losing the horse than getting mauled again!
I stayed in the
barn until the coast was clear, then ran to the house, cleaned myself up
and went upstairs to my room before anyone suspected anything. While I
was going up the stairs, my two younger sisters saw my injured shoulder
and I had to bribe them to keep their mouth shut. (Actually, during my
entire childhood, I had to continually bribe them to keep quiet about
stuff I had done).
Next morning, I was
up at dawn. I fed all the horses but not the stud. I had other plans for
him and I had to do them before my parents came outside.
First thing I did
was rope that rank little stud in the stall and snub him up real short
to the corner post. I managed to get him saddled and bridled without
getting bitten. The next part was the most dangerous. I had to figure
out a way to get him out of the barn and get on him without being
attacked.
The stud had that
mean, “I’m going to get you” look in his eye, so I knew I didn’t dare
untie and lead him. Instead, I climbed on his back first, gathered up
the reins and then untied him from the safety of the saddle. Once he
realized he was untied, he bogged his head and gave a couple of crow
hops but nothing too bad.
I stayed on his
back while opening the stall gate. Once we were outside, I headed him up
the drive way and away we went. I figured I would tire him out by riding
him to all the neighboring farms and ranches and show them my new
stallion.
That little
palomino son-of-a-gun was rank… and not very broke. For the first hour
all he did was scream and run off with me. After about three hours
though, he was dripping with sweat and starting to run out of steam. I
just kept riding him and visiting all my friends in the area.
By the time we
returned home, it was almost dark. And guess what? That little stud was
too tired to do anything but hang his head and put one foot in front of
the other. When we got to the barn, I fed him a double ration of hay and
said good night.
The following
morning, when I went out to feed, my little stallion had a different
expression on his face. That mean “I’m going to get you” look was gone.
He still was a handful to saddle and bridle. And he still tried to bite
me, but the "viciousness" was no longer there.
I gave him another
“all day” ride. And for the next two weeks, I rode him everyday before
and after school. I rode him so much, that stud thought he had died and
gone to hell. Within a month he was dog gentle.
I learned a lot
about horse nature from that little stud. Most of all though, I learned
that the easiest horses to get along with are the tired
ones.
Take care and have
fun training your horse.
Larry Trocha
www.HorseTrainingVideos.com
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