Super Excited!

Kathleen K · Well Schooled

Super Excited!

Barbara F · Grand Prix

I'm so excited for you! Take pictures and post them for us! I have never ridden a Fjord, so I'd be interested to know how they feel.
Have fun!!

Jackie Cochran · Advanced

I hope he is the horse of your dreams, Kathleen. I know I always get excited when I get to ride an Arabian, my favorite breed. I like the Fjords too, just looking at the pictures, I have never got to meet one.

I have noticed with my limited experience with stallions, that they seem to admire courage in a human. Calm, quiet and consistent handling can get good results, just like with any horse.

Nikki Salo · Grand Prix

Good luck! aww Stallions need a handler (and rider) that is very calm and aware, they are inclined to being very playful (in a male horse way -- which means nipping, being pushy etc.), you need to be able to think a few steps ahead of him, for example if you know you'll be walking him past a field of mares, or riding with a mare in the arena, you need to be aware of this and help him to stay focused without being rough with him.

Let us know how it goes! There is a Fjord farm not too far away from here and they usually have 1-2 foals out front every spring (to make people drool!), very pretty horses.

Goatgirl · Advanced

Fjords are soooh cool. I've met a few but never been fortunate enough to ride one. The people who bought my parents farm have fjords...

I looooooove horsies with bit butts....

Hope it all works out....best wishes

Kathleen K · Well Schooled

Goatgirl wrote:
I looooooove horsies with bit butts....

Me too! I'm a sucker for the short, stocky type with a bit of junk in the trunk! biggrin

Thanks for the well wishes and stallion handling advice everybody!

IrideaClyde · Well Schooled

Kathleen how exciting for you, I am green with envy... Let us know how it goes and post some photos if you can. I agree that stallions can be very nippy, and pushy. They require a confident and sometimes firm hand. I hope that this goes well for you and you have a great horse to ride all summer. :)

Kathleen K · Well Schooled

Well, I met Kessel today. He's soooo cute. Typical fluffy Fjord! I didn't get pictures but I will try and get some soon.

He's a bit pushy when it comes to leading and bit mouthy (not in I'm going to bite you way though, thankfully). So I'll definitely be working on those things. Very sweet and very people orientated. He's been lightly backed - only bareback at a walk. They're working on finding a saddle wide enough to fit him, ha ha. He is apparently well behaved and hopefully he stays that way!

His former owners knew nothing about horses - left him in a barn by himself, he never went outside, didn't get a lot of handling, never had his feet done, never got wormed - so he just needs the basics put on him. Definitely not a bad horse, he just doesn't know what he's supposed to be doing.

And he's just about the cutest thing I've ever seen!

Barnmouser Ash · Grand Prix

Glad to hear you had a good time with him, Kathleen! He sounds like a nice horse; I'm excited to see photos!

Do be mindful of his stallion status, though. I know you're a smart individual who catches on to behavioural issues (mouthy for example), but I would suggest wearing a helmet when handling him. As goofy as you will look, even the nicest and most well-behaved stallions can have a sudden change in hormones that will cause them to snap. They may not have a mean spirit, but accidents happen, and we love having you here with us. :) Stay safe!

Kathleen K · Well Schooled

Yeah, I'm definitely going to be super cautious. A) Because he's a horse I don't know and B) he's a stallion. There will be zero funny business tolerated. He definitely acts like a stallion - a sweet one, but still a stallion. He's pretty much got the training of yearling with the hormones of six year old.

I'm almost happy the mare I ride is a bit crazy - at least I'm conditioned to ALWAYS be paying 100% attention and I do whatever it takes to keep msyelf and others safe.

Thankfully he should only be a stallion for a few more weeks.

Barnmouser Ash · Grand Prix

That's great :) I'm glad you are vigilant about snotty behavior across the board biggrin

One thing I really strongly caution you on though is that although his hormone levels will be significantly dropped after he is gelded, some stallions gelded that late will keep their stallion behavior. I'm sure you are aware of this, but why not state the obvious in case there are lurkers who didn't know ;) So, some stallions turn into big fruitcake teddy bears once they are gelded, but the occasional few can sometimes still be very pushy and not realize at all that they've lost their jewels confuse

I can't wait to see pictures of him :D Fjords are some of the most beautiful horses there are, in my opinion.

darkhorserunning · Well Schooled

HI, Studs are fun, in my experance if you dont treat them with silk gloves you will be fine, one of my favorite moments when i was a kid was riding a black and white stud on the farm chasing cows, trail riding, chasing large amounts of horses back to the farm during round up, he was never treated any different then any horse was put out with his mares and brought back in, used he stayed with the geldings in the pasture with the mares in the barn, he was used as part of a paint team which were both studs again no problems, it think he turned out so good because of the fact he was not treated any different they also ran all the studs together in the winter with no problem, about forty to fifty of them, The place i am at now he have each one of the three studs in different pens away from each other and wow can it get interesting if a couple of them even see a stud while moving them, the one the old man was shown and came from cali, he is fine i have had him act up once and popped him on the shoulder to get his attention and away we when, he also hates some men, but the fondest moment i have of him is my other half, and me getting him from his band of mares we drove the truck the trailer right in the pasture got out the lead shank and halter, and while my other half was trying to figure out how the rope halter worked he lowered his head and stuck it in, he then waited while i showed my other half how to tye and untie it and and for him to try it out i couple times, we loaded him with no problems then back to the yard and into apen with no problems. so i really think it is how they are brought up, not saying to let your gaurd down but i would still expect what you expect out of any other horse manner wise.

Kathleen K · Well Schooled

Very good points in the above two posts.

Ash - It can take up to two months for all the stallion "juices" to leave the system! And like you said, even then not all of them settle down once gelded.

Dark Horse Running: You make an excellent point. Stallions really should be expected to behave just like a mare or a gelding. If the behaviour isn't acceptable in a gelding, it shouldn't be acceptable in a stallion.