Conference noted::equitation

    You didn't say how old your horse is or whether he's ever been used
    for breeding before.  If he has been bred, then I would guess his
    personality might not change.  If he never has been used for breeding
    before, you could see a difference.
    
    I would like to put in a plug (no pun intended) for geldings.  Geldings
    are GREAT!  They never come in heat like mares, they never go looking
    for mares to breed.  A gelding can go out with others horses in
    a pasture.  A gelding can be trailered next to a mare in heat. 
    He can be your best friend.  
    
    Stallions always have to be segregated.  Stallions go looking for
    mares.  Sometimes stallions will be aggressive toward other horses.
    When you ride a stallion, even the best behaved one, you always
    have to remember he's a stallion.  
    
    If you've never owned a horse before, a stallion is not the easiest
    way to begin.  Please don't think I don't advocate owning stallions.
    I happen to have one -- the sweetest, best mannered horse in my
    barn.  I love him to pieces.  But I always have to remember what
    I'm dealing with.
    
    Good luck, whatever you decide.
    
    Gwen
    

    He is three years old, and to my knowledge has not been used for
    breeding.  We took him just to trial ride and to keep him from being
    put down.  I would hate to see a relapse of his antics from when we first
    got him.  
    
    Thanks for the advice,
    
    TRacy

    A stallion is, by nature, a dominant animal. He will try to dominate
    other horses and, at some point, will try to dominate you. Unless
    there is a compelling reason to use this animal for breeding, such
    as improvement of the breed, then you would be much better off gelding
    him. In the long run, the horse will be better off also.
    

    As a stallion owner and breeder, I probably am biased some when
    it comes to this subject, but given that I breed Arabians and not
    T-breds, I don't feel that I'm giving a biased view.
    
    When it comes to stallions, we reccomend to all of our clients that
    they geld colts.  I'm with Gwen when it comes to riding a horse,
    that is a gelding is better than either a stallion or a mare.  In
    my case, I run a breeding operation and use a stallion for that
    purpose.  If I sell a colt it is because he was not better than
    the stallion that produced him otherwise I'd keep the colt and geld
    the stallion.  We geld most of our colts for sale at one year.
    
    If you are beginning, I would suggest that you not start with breeding
    a stallion.  I have one of the most gentle stallions on earth but
    when it is breeding season, he is a different animal.  You have
    to have special fencing, take special handling precautions, and
    never take anything for granted.  A sex crazy animal that weighs
    over 1000 pounds is nothing if not dangerous.  You can be seriously
    injured or killed even if they didn't mean to hurt you.
    
    I've never seen a colt get more gentle after breeding but I've seen
    most get less managable.  Owning a stallion to stand at stud is
    only profitable when you are servicing mostly your own mares.  There
    are too many top contender studs around for cheap money to be able
    to make any money on a colt who hasn't been able to prove himself.
    Do yourself and your family a favor...   When in doubut, GELD -
    GELD - GELD.
    
    Regards,
    
    Bob
    

    I agree with the other replies - geld the horse.  Our neighbors
    have had a horse breeding business for over 15 years and have had
    stallions of various temperments (mostly very gentle, however).
    Last year our neighbor was leading a younger (5 years?) stallion
    out of the arena after working him and the horse jumped on him when
    he saw a mare fairly near by.  I'm not exact on all the details,
    but suffice it to say that our neighbor, who has handled many stallions
    over the years, came out of it with a broken hip.  He's been in
    the hospital a lot and eventually had a hip replacement operation.
    And the stallion wasn't very difficult to handle normally, but I
    think it was the first or second season that he had been breeding
    mares.
    
    My point is even experienced stallion handlers can get badly hurt.
    Don't risk it, especially knowing what his temperment was like before
    you got him.
    
    						Jan

    	After I'd ben working with horses for a couple of years,including
    a little work with stallions,we bought one from my boss for the
    same reasons that you mentioned. Dante was a registered Appaloosa,that
    was often mistaken for an Arabian because he was nearly pure white,and
    had a long flowing mane and tail,and a fine head,but,he was a handful.
    	He calmed down a lot after we got him,but we went ahead and
    had him gelded. Then,after a few weeks,he became a truly fine,reliable,
    and enjoyable all-around mount. based on this,and my observations
    of several similar cases,I feel that you'll get much more enjoyment
    out of your new horse if you have him gelded as soon as possible,you'll
    also be a lot safer.
    	One of the things that hasn't been mentioned yet is the possible
    liability of owning a stallion. I don't know what the laws are like
    where you live for sure,but many places put all the liability on
    stallion owners for any damages that the stallion does. That includes
    unwanted breedings,damage to lawns,gardens etc. when they break
    out of a fence etc. In addition,some areas require the owner to
    contain stallions behind particular types of enclosures such as
    eight foot high solid fences. When we lived in Massachusetts,it
    was illegal to pasture a stallion. As stated before,unless you are
    a breeder,stallions are a lot more problem than they're worth.
    (That's a general statement,I undeerstand that there may be some
    exceptions)
    
    	Good luck,and I hope you enjoy you new horse,
    
    		George
    

    The previous notes have given you many good reasons to have your
    horse gelded.  The reason you got the horse as a stallion is that
    on the track, most trainers don't bother to geld horses as long
    as they are racing well - sometimes gelding takes the edge off the
    horse and he doesn't race with the same spirit.  The don't leave
    them as stallions because they are perfect representations of the
    Thououghbred breed (and therefore excellent breeding studs), they
    do it out of convenience.  
    
    A good percentage of male track horses are stallions, and when they
    are sent to new homes to persue other careers they are gelded, unless 
    they have MANY outstanding features and attributes that will IMPROVE
    the Thoroughbred breed.  As it is now, there is a large population of
    TBs, and many of them end up in the same place you saved this one from.
    You also can't assume that the foal you end up with from the mating
    will be better than either of the parents (it could be worse), and
    that should be your goal as a breeder - random matings just so that
    someone can get a foal cheap does nothing for the horse industry
    that is fairly saturated right now.
    
    The horse will be more manageable after he is gelded, and he will
    be a safer, more trustworthy, and enjoyable animal for you.
                              
    You didn't yet mention the problems associated with retraining an
    ex-race horse - I suppose you're still trying to resolve this issue
    first :^) !!
    
    Good luck.

    Thanks for all the responses, and we are going to have him gelded.
    I understand that this is the best time of year to have it done,
    and I have researched the vets in the area.  As far as the retraining,
    I'm not sure what you mean.  We have been riding him for a couple
    of weeks now and he hasn't shown us any bad habits, as of yet. 
    He doesn't mind cars, kids, our inexperience with the tack, sheep
    and so on.  He is spunky at feeding time, but he doesn't get any
    thing until he settles down.  
    
    Thanks again for all the assistance,
    
    Tracy 
    

    Tracy - 
    
    Re: the retraining, depending on how the horse was trained for racing,
    you could find yourself having problems stopping this horse from
    a canter/gallop spree.  What have you been doing with him so far?
    A lot of trainers teach a race horse that more pressure on the reins
    means go faster.  This is not desirable when your horse gets spooked
    or something and your natural reaction is to pull on the reins to
    stop him.  I won't go into detail here on different ways to retrain
    an ex-race horse, but if you are not experienced yourself, you may
    wish to find a competent instructor/trainer in your area and have
    them work with both you and this horse.
    
    Depending on your plans for this horse (whether you want to just 
    trail ride or eventually show him) you may want to have someone
    professionally work with him for a couple of months, or you may
    just wish to have weekly lessons on him.  As the horse gets more
    fit, you may also find that he needs some obedience training (kind
    of like puppies do) and it will help if you are both working with
    an experienced trainer or instructor who can anticipate problems
    and deal with them before they become unmanageable.
    
    Basically and ex-race horse can be viewed as a green horse since
    most of what they know is galloping and walking.  Not much time is
    spent at the trot, and depending on who broke the horse, he may
    not know a thing about bending, leg aids, or relaxing his back.
    
    Good luck with the horse, and maybe start scouting around this
    winter for an instructor to work with in the spring. 

    
    
    Does anyone know what time the horses run at rockingham race track?
    
    	I would like to go on Saturday the 1. 
    
    Thanks
    

    Aren't you in Chelmsford ?
    The Boston Globe or Herald will list full entries and results
    and the Lowell Sun may.

    Rochingham and Suffolk switch meets so I can never keep
    track of when...except Rockingham runs in the summer.

    Do what I do when my dad's horse is running,    
    (I don't care for the herald) skim thru a paper in a store 
    and put it back.        

    Also they swap start times, some afternoons and some evenings.

    ps: you  may of missed them .....