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Facts About Stallions

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The movie "The Black Stallion" may have caused many young people to dream of owning a stallion, but owning a stud horse isn't for everyone. Stallions require more maintenance and care than regular horses. It often takes a person experienced with horses to be able to ride and successfully breed a good quality stallion.

Stallions

A stallion is a male horse who has not had his testicles removed and is therefore capable of reproduction. The process of removing a male horse's testicles is referred to as gelding and a stallion who has been gelded is called a gelding.

Breeding

Stallions are not commonly kept for pleasure because they are often more difficult to ride and handle than geldings or mares. Some stallions are capable of reproducing when they are only a year old though most become sexually mature and begin breeding between the ages of 3 and 4.

Handling Stallions

Stallions can not be turned out with other horses because they breed the mares indiscriminately and will often attack or harm the geldings. Stallions require a strictly supervised turnout and high quality fences or you will wind up with a lot more horses than you wanted to after breeding season. Breeding stallions have to be handled regularly and frequently when they are mated with various mares throughout the breeding season.

Breeding Considerations

The vast majority of healthy male horses are born with the ability to breed but not all of them should be used for breeding purposes. Thousands of unwanted horses fill rescues across the country and wind up in slaughter houses in Mexico and Canada every day due to overpopulation. Horses that have genetic defects, bad temperaments or simply do not have the ability to produce high quality offspring should not be allowed to breed. Your veterinarian will be able tell your if you should breed your stallion.