[oliverreed]

Well, I had enough excitement yesterday to last me quite some time. I went to the barn at 9:00 and had finished and was just leaving when I saw the Arabian stallion dashing across the stable yard towards the gelding pasture. They usually turn him out in the indoor arena every morning. The arena has a metal gate between it and the outside. He had gotten through the gate - afterwards it didn't appear that he had broken the chain or the clip, so it seems that someone had failed to properly fasten the gate.

There were only two other people at the barn - two twenty something girls who clean stalls, give lessons, and take care of the horses. I threw my car in park, shut it off, and began shouting "The stallion is loose!" at the top of my voice. The barn has no perimiter fence - he could have got out on the road. He was picking fights with the geldings across the fence to their pasture, rearing and striking. We tried a bucket of grain - no interest whatsoever. We were trying to corner him and get him away from the geldings. He would charge us wheneever we got close to him. We finally succeeded in driving him into a grass alleyway between the indoor and the mares' pasture. We finally cornered him and the bravest one of us (Not me!) managed to get a lead rope on his halter and get him into his stall.

If he had not been wearing halter I doubt we could have caught him. He could have killed a gelding. He could have killed one of us. He could have gotten on the road and killed someone in a car or on a bike. I have never been so scared in my life. If my gelding had been out in his paddock at the time he certainly would have gone after him - this stalliion HATES my gelding, I think because my gelding is convinced HE is a stud and behaves like one.

I called the BM at home and left a message telling her what happened (she is never at the barn on Sunday). My husband said "You are going to get someone in trouble," but I don't care. They have to make SURE this never happens again. It took me about an hour after I got home to finally get back to normal.

[Catersun]

a horse is a horse is a horse... intact or not doesn't make THAT much difference. I agree that it shouldn't happen, but your paranoia that HE COULD KILL SOMEONE- heck -ANY horse could KILL someone.

You must be a boarder... you have boarder mentality. I mean that as nice as possible. Perhaps some horsemanship lessons would go a long way to bolster your confidence for the rare and extreme situation that you might have to handle a horse other than your own.

[oliverreed]

Ummm - I don't need horsemanship lessons. This particular stallion is VERY aggressive. Should have made that clear in my first post.

[sketcher]

a horse is a horse is a horse... intact or not doesn't make THAT much difference. I agree that it shouldn't happen, but your paranoia that HE COULD KILL SOMEONE- heck -ANY horse could KILL someone.

You must be a boarder... you have boarder mentality. I mean that as nice as possible. Perhaps some horsemanship lessons would go a long way to bolster your confidence for the rare and extreme situation that you might have to handle a horse other than your own.

Wow, that was insulting.

It would be nice to think that is true but it simply is not. Yes, a horse is a horse is a horse but there is a reason stallions are most often separated from other horses (whether that is truly a necessity for most is another thread) and once they are separated and socialized differently then having one of them get loose means you often have a much different animal on your hands than a loose mare or gelding. And that much different animal can be very dangerous indeed, depending on the situation.

[oliverreed]

Yeah, it was insulting, wasn't it? Person with no knowledge of my experience/skills. But this is COTH, to be expected from some.

[GoForAGallop]

a horse is a horse is a horse... intact or not doesn't make THAT much difference. I agree that it shouldn't happen, but your paranoia that HE COULD KILL SOMEONE- heck -ANY horse could KILL someone.

You must be a boarder... you have boarder mentality. I mean that as nice as possible. Perhaps some horsemanship lessons would go a long way to bolster your confidence for the rare and extreme situation that you might have to handle a horse other than your own.

I have to say I read it the same way. If the stallion is that agressive that everyone was genuinely fearing for their life....then he needs to not be a stallion any more.

Accidents happen. Stallions can and do get loose. The TB farm I worked at had THREE studs, all happily stalled next to each other. The 7yo got loose one day and went galavanting around the farm, flirting with all the mares. I can assure you I didn't for one second fear for my life. He was mostly just excited to be out goofing around, and gave up the game once he realized he was cornered. That's why he gets to be a stud...'cause he's a good boy. The barn owner's 10 year old daughter rides him. Nobody fears for their life.

[Laurierace]

Testicles aren't atomic bombs with a short fuse. I agree that if he is that dangerous he needs to lose the testicles or be moved somewhere else.

[oliverreed]

No one understands why his owner (a boarder) hasn't gelded him. He is a retired show horse. He needs to be a gelding or go somewhere else, I agree. Maybe this will help one of those scenarios happen.

[sketcher]

My guess is there were multiple factors at play. A handful of people who may not be used to dealing with stallions and their "mystique" who perceive behaviors a certain way and a loose horse who is not kept with other horses, so getting loose may have amped him up more that usual.

[MandyVA]

The part about "He would charge us whenever we got close to him" is what makes this different from dealing with a mare or gelding, and I would be afraid for my life too! I would have gotten back in my car and called the owner and waited. Something definitely needs to be done differently in his management!

[Arab_Mare]

Several things are screaming at me:

First off, you didn't do anything wrong. *I'd* probably be a tad scared if I got charged by a testosterone-high loose stallion.

However, by that point, that stallion would not have his blueberries anymore. Completely unacceptable, more for a stallion. Stallions need to have the best manners on the farm. They should be approachable, easy to handle, and NOT be aggressive.

As he is not being used for breeding, and is a threat to human and animal life, he needs to be gelded PRONTO. I wouldn't allow this animal to be on my property.

[gumshoe]

If this stallion was put out in an unenclosed area (unlatched gate) then yes, someone needs to get in trouble. But I'd be pissed if my gelding was put out in an unenclosed area. Where he could get onto the road. Or cause fights over a fence. Or charge at people trying to catch him. Or do any number of dangerous things.

[MistyBlue]

Attacking other horses and charging people and the BO allows him to be boarded there?

Piss poor management decision IMO.

However, if it was an overexcited Yippee I'm FREE behavior of "meet, strike, snort" over the fences and cantering towards people looking for a way around them instead of "killing other horses and people" scenerio...then these things happen even though they shouldn't. But yes, odds are at least a time or two a gate will not be properly latched and something will get loose that shouldn't be. And it can be something that raises your BP a bit.

[Crackerdog]

It sounds like that stallion, retired show horse or not, needs some more training.

[Bravestrom]

I understand how scary this can be. My three year old Stallion got loose with my gelding and almost killed him - I was sure he was going to.

Needless to say he was bred one more time and then gelded.

Sounds to me that this horse does not need to be a stallion anymore - the only reason imo is to breed.

Glad no one including horses got hurt and it should definitely be a wakeup call for all.

[Derby Lyn Farms]

I know that when my horses get loose they think it is a free for all. Knock on wood. My horses respect my fence, but I had some friends horses here who didn't. They would get out in the neighbors yard and no amount shaking the grain bucket would work. They would buzz by me and laugh at me. In the pasture they won't run from me, only when they are loose.

The only horse I have that will come to me when loose is my stallion. He will stop and let me halter him without any grain. I think because he has had the most ground work out of any of my horses.

[atr]

We had a stallion break loose at a show this summer--you'd have thought he was a man-eating tiger from the panic and screaming and running that ensued. Which of course got him all riled up and running around even more, and also upset a bunch of other horses who were all tied to their trailers minding their own business, so a couple of them broke loose too, adding to the general chaos.

(I was sitting on my horse in the warm-up ring at the time, watching all this going down... Someone had sensibly shut the gate. )

As with all situations around horses, it's best to keep calm and quiet and keep the upset to a minimum.

[OTV]

I guess if the horse is actually aggressive, it's a different situation. I know my horse scares people when he sometimes gets away being led. He gallops around the property and will gallop towards people but it's just because he's trying to get past them, not an "he's going to attack!" charge.

He also does the sniff-snort-stamp thing to other horses over the fences and gets ALL the horses riled up. Sometimes he'll scare himself and start blowing and snorting when you go get him with his head lowered...there isn't an ounce of aggression in him though it could look like it, i guess.

[candyappy]

No one understands why his owner (a boarder) hasn't gelded him. He is a retired show horse. He needs to be a gelding or go somewhere else, I agree. Maybe this will help one of those scenarios happen.

Sounds like this poor guy needs a 24/7 turnout paddock attached to his stall. He has way too much energy to burn and that can lead to aggressive behavior.

[HPFarmette]

I hope the BO was grateful to Oliverreed and the others who dealt with a scary situation.