My stud horse will drool and lower his penis after I have pushed him away from his food.

I have a horse that were not sure is a stud or gelding. He was cut, but still mounts everything and acts like a stud. We have been trying to catch him and develop a relationship with him, so we don't have to rope him or pen him to catch him. I have been pushing him away from his hay and making him come close to me and eat out of my hand before I let him eat. After he tries to push the other horses off their food and I keep pushing him away, he will go stand about 15 feet away from me and stop and drop his penis and start too drool. What does this mean and what should I do?


Answer:

The first thing I would need to know is the age of this horse and when you think he was cut. A veterinarian would be able to identify if he was done correctly or not.

Next I would want to know how many other horses he lives with and how many are mares vs. geldings. How long have you had him? What’s the feeding schedule?

Many horses gelded later will continue to display stud like behaviors and with time often these behaviors will dissipate (but some may not). Our horse Ajax is a good example of this. He was gelded at the age of 7 but he didn’t know it yet! It took him just over 2 years to finally relinquish all of his stud like behaviors! The picture above shows him trying after he had been with us the first year.

I have also encountered a few geldings that will drop their penis for no good explanation or reason at all. One friend of mine had a horse who would drop when she would do anything with him from ground work and even when she rode. I haven’t come across enough good scientific evidence to support the why, so don’t worry about this for now. I would think the drooling under these circumstances merely supports his wanting to eat and thus salivates in anticipation for food.


Since it sounds like “building trust” is what’s required, then I wouldn’t be pushing him away from food. That is usually something done when we are trying to build respect. Plus the hand feeding could come back as an unwanted behavior (without the correct use of Clicker Training) when he becomes comfortable with you and then tries mugging you later for food. Yet because you have been able to push him away and he will eat from your hand, let’s try this approach.

Let’s use the other horses and the food as the “tool”.

The next time you feed, spread out enough piles plus one extra and wait for the horses to settle in and start eating. While they are all eating go up to the friendliest horse, offer the back of your hand as a gesture for them to sniff and say Hello (I do this every time I approach my horses). When the horse turns back to the food, stroke their neck and then the body wherever it feels safe to do so. Do this with all of the other horses first then approach this one in the same way. The only difference is that you will move away and re-approach more often. For example: Allow him to sniff your hand, back up a few steps and come back in and do this again. Then if you can stroke his neck, do this once and back up a few steps again. If you sense he feels afraid, leave and go to another horse and come back. I promise, he’ll be watching you!

If the first time you can only walk up to him a few feet away, notice when he wants to retreat and back up and re-approach. Build in small steps and before you know it, he will become comfortable with your presents.

Hope this helps,

Elaine Polny
Training Horses Naturally