I have a dream
By Kenneth Vendelboe

I have for many years believed that stallions were often only made geldings for the simple reason that, "That's what you do." For all these years I dreamt of finding a different way than the commonly accepted way to keep stallions (together with mares), where a castration was not necessary. This dream is the basis of this article.

Finding out how to keep a stallion without putting him in isolation for most of his life was not easy. When I wasn't running my forehead against the Wall of Prejudice and was told that stallions were dangerous, that stallions were fixated on sex, that stallions were uncontrollable, and that stallions really ought to be born pre-castrated, I was mostly just told that stallions couldn't be kept with other horses, that stallions could only think of fighting, and that stallions should just be outlawed. But I refused to believe all these prejudiced opinions. There was a little voice in the back of my head that kept saying it wasn't true. That it didn't have to be true.

In the meantime the dream developed. I lost my heart to the majestic exterior and gentle nature of the Friesian, and in the dream I just know that a 'real' horse herd consisted of this proud Friesian stallion and his mares. The problem was just that, as we all know, a herd with both mares and stallion usually results in a number of foals after about a year, and herein was my biggest problem - I am quite simply too sentimental. I would never be able to sell these foals off, which I got proof for when I bought a pregnant standardbred mare, Diana. Her daughter, Linda, is still running around the pasture, although she's long past the age where she ought to have been sold. She just turned three years old.

In the beginning of the new millenium - yes, we are that far back - I learned of someone in Australia who, to a certain degree, had accomplished what I was dreaming of. However, it turned out that his stallion lived with a naturally sterile mare, and those aren't so easy to come by. But it gave me courage to go on, and I started looking closer at various birth control injections for mares. Unfortunately that was a dead end, at the time the most effective drug was only about 65% effective, and when they were to stay together permanently, the 35% would kick in pretty fast. So that idea was dumped again, and I returned to the drawing board.

Then someone suggested a 'proud cut', as it's called, where the gelding gets to keep a certain amount of the testosterone production, keeps the stallion neck and muscles etc. - and keeps a certain interest in mares. I had my doubt on this solution, and after a bit of research I found out where the doubt came from. It turned out that he'd have trouble with ejaculation, and without that ... well, the mares wouldn't get a moment's peace because he'd keep trying and trying. In the end that sounded almost like animal abuse to me.

By that time I was close to believing my dream would remain a dream - that it simply wasn't possible to keep a stallion in any other way than by isolation from other horses, and that castration - to avoid the isolation - was the only solution.

Then in 2006 came the big breakthrough, the solution where I couldn't find a major drawback. During a conversation with a friend from the Netherlands the topic quickly turned to Friesians - they're from the Netherlands, after all. I think I jokingly asked him if he couldn't get me a cheap, naturally sterile Friesian stallion, and his reply was that it might not be impossible. He knew of a pony stallion who was allowed to freely live with his mares, who covered them a couple of times a day when they were in season, which was about once every three weeks since he couldn't get them pregnant.

This lucky pony stallion had gone through a vasectomy, which is a relatively simple surgical procedure where the vas deferens (the connection between testicles and penis) gets severed, but the testicles get to stay where they are. With this solution the stallion believes he's a stallion, the mares believe he's a stallion, and the only sign that he isn't is the absence of foals. A generally good solution for all parties involved. This idea was discussed for many months, with horse people in many countries, among these at least one expert in equine reproduction - a very sympathetic American. The result was an overwhelming encouragement to try.

For all of this time I had done nothing to make the dream of owning a Friesian stallion actually happen, but with the information I now possessed I started seriously searching through sales ads. In the middle of the summer of 2006 I finally found what I was looking for; a colt for sale in Germany. He was handsome, he was charming, and the price was affordable, so before I knew what was happening the herd had suddenly doubled from two to four, since the needed translator had a filly named Thira af Asgaard for sale. Also a Friesian, and quite adorable. So on Saturday, October 14th, 2006, I was suddenly a stallion owner - even if the 'stallion' at that time was very, very young, just six months old, and acted like anything but a stallion.

I chose to rename this newly arrived colt from his pedigree name of 'Mel Cou' to the more appropriate and easier to pronounce 'Valentin' - with the last syllable pronounced 'teen', not actually 'tin'. I strived to find a somewhat masculine name that wasn't too macho or raw, in an attempt to avoid a self-fulfilling prophecy like Rambo, Killer, Diablo etc. The name Valentin, as most probably know from Valentine's Day, is a name of love, and fit (and still fits) him quite well, both in appearance and nature.

As a big surprise to everyone it became apparent soon after their arrival that the herd's new problem child wasn't Valentin, but Thira, who refused to bend to the absolute rule of the much older mare Diana. Valentin, on the other hand, politely followed orders whenever Diana commanded him around, and after a couple of weeks I caught him nursing from her - she hadn't had milk in her udder for the past two years. She didn't seem to mind, and I haven't seen it happen since. Most probably he needed a bit of extra comfort, as he was very quiet and a bit nervous. For a few months, this was the FULL extent of Valentin's interest in the opposite sex.

Fall came and ... well, it was 2006, so the fall stayed through the winter. Thira slowly calmed down, although the family often agreed that if Valentin had been gifted with Thira's temper, a castration might just have been preferable. In the meantime Valentin really blossomed. He got a bit braver and more adventurous, though he still followed closely behind Thira. As the non-winter came to an end the time approached for the anticipated surgery, and in mid-February Valentin was sent with Thira for company to Ansager Animal Hospital for his vasectomy. The price of this was quite affordable, at only three times the price of a castration, and a week later the little ones were returned home.

I have in connection to writing this article attempted to contact Ansager Animal Hospital again to get their description of how the surgery went, but they have not replied back yet.

It was two somewhat shocked foals that came home from the hospital. Their stay in a strange stall, among strange people, and the transport back and forth had been a bit more than they could handle. Valentin all but stopped eating for the first week after coming home, and Thira only nipped at her grain now and then. It wasn't unusual to come out and find the food buckets virtually untouched. Hay went down a bit easier, but they both managed to lose several pounds before the mood and appetite returned. By mid-March they were a pair of trouble makers again and gaining weight.

Valentin was ordered stall rest by the vet, which would mean he'd be all alone and abandoned for ten days, since Diana's hocks swell if she stands still for too long. And since Diana is the herd's leader, the others would follow her out. Eventually the stable was closed off with all four inside, so they could at least walk around a bit, and since there was total peace in the herd I wasn't afraid they'd start kicking each other. Ten days later the doors were opened again, and the joy of the reunion with pool of mud we called the pasture was great. Like I said, this was the winter of 2006/2007, where every pasture in Southern Jutland was flooded.

Finally spring came, with longer nights, warmer days, dry weather and sprouting grass. The horses were allowed to stay out longer and longer. During this time the roles started switching between Thira and Valentin. Where Thira had so far been the dominant of the two, had always set the pace, had always decided when to play and not, it now started to be Valentin leading on, and unfortunately that power got a bit to his head. To start with he just nipped her a bit at random, but it turned into him chasing her around the pasture. Funnily I never got out to separate them - because every time I started putting on my shoes, Diana appeared out of nowhere to pry them apart, sending Thira into the stable and Valentin out to the pasture. Then they could each stay there and cool off, while she blocked the stable entrance. This repeated itself two or three times, and hasn't been observed since.

Near the beginning of April Diana, still the undisputed leader of the herd, decided that now she didn't want to sleep indoors anymore. This came suddenly after the big pasture, which had been allowed to stand untouched while the grass grew, had been re-opened. April offered wonderful weather, warm and dry, and as the month went Valentin started showing interest in the girls, if still not a lot. A bit of flehmening here and there, but that was all. On the 28th Thira celebrated her first birthday, and just a couple of days it dawned on Valentin why the mares suddenly seemed so interesting. Now the whole show was put on, with great interest in tails and what lay beneath, flehmening constantly, and three days later, on April 23rd, he lost his virginity to Diana late at night.

In these days, as Valentin truly found out his own gender, everyone paid close attention to his behavior. Did he get rougher? Did he turn aggressive? Did he fixate his thoughts on covering? Did he turn impossible to handle? Did he stop eating? No, quite the contrary:

He was still just as gentle; one night I went to check on the horses, he ended up sleeping in my lap for 45 minutes - and even after that long I had to force him to move, because it was getting late. While I sat with him in my lap he started dreaming, and it turned out he talks in his sleep, so to speak. At least the hurring, low nickering, which is usually used to convince a mare to raise her tail, revealed what he was dreaming about.

There was no aggression to find in him. The closest would have to be when he chased the dogs out of the pasture, but that was a game they'd played for months by then, so I didn't care much about it: He chases the dogs out of the pasture, the next second they chase him back towards the middle of it, and they can go on back and forth several times like that. They never hurt each other.

Fixated on covering, then? Countless times, the first day Thira was in season, she'd stand ready for him with her tail raised, and almost just as many times he'd walk right by her. It wasn't him, who could think of nothing else, but her, which again came as a bit of a surprise. Any concerns that he'd be rough during mating were put away as well, as he turned out to be both gentle and careful.

How about impossible to handle? ONE of the prejudices had to stick! But no, for the first time ever he was taken on a little trip in a lead rope outside the pasture, and he actually behaved better than Linda had done the day before. The mares were taken out after turn to teach him that they could leave the pasture without him being allowed to interfere, but to avoid him feeling overlooked, he also got a little walk.

But the food? Stallions forget all about eating when mares are nearby, right? Actually not. In reality it made me very unpopular with Thira when I stole his attention by asking if no one wanted breakfast. Valentin immediately forgot all about her and came trotting in to find his food bucket.

So as things are now the dream really has come true. If his gentle nature doesn't change drastically as he grows older, which I have a good feeling it won't, then Valentin, Diana, Linda and Thira now all have a life far closer to what it'd be in the wild. They have a herd as it would've looked on the plains, and they each of them seems the happier for it.

In time the herd's life will possibly be different from life in the more traditional domestic herds, which only consist of mares or geldings, who have nothing to do with each other, or in still rarer cases mares and geldings in the same herd. Valentin's life will most probably be far different from what most stallions are used to. I can say beyond doubt that I will be watching for any changes and developments as they happen, that I'll document them, that dreams just might become reality - and that castration is no longer the only solution.

If there are specific questions, problems or points of general curiosity you would like to have answered, you are more than welcome to send me an email - they will be answered in the next article.
_________________

Sky schreef op vrijdag 22 juni 2007, 22:46:


Wel een leuk verhaal.
Valentin lijkt me zo'n beetje even oud als Spirit, die bij een ruin en een drachtige merrie staat. Komende winter krijgt hij er wat meer merries bij. Het leuke is dat Spirit nu al zijn voorkeuren heeft: Hij wordt niet opgewonden van zijn eigen hengstige moeder en ook Peyo die nu net 1 is, kan geen gevoelens bij hem losmaken. Al zal ik de kat niet op het spek binden

Gisteren zijn verhaal weer ge-updated met het apekooiverhaal:
http://www.spirithorses.be/spirit.html
Ik zal straks wat foto's maken van hoe hij reageert op zijn hengstige moeder (als ze nog hengstig is).

Groet, Pien

Heel mooi verhaal! Blijf je alleen zitten met de hengsten waarmee gefokt (moet) worden... Hier komt de 'Poedertoren' om de hoek kijken, waar Eddy mee bezig is. bewijzen aan het grote publiek dat vruchtbare hengsten met elkaar samen kunnen leven en helemaal niet een éénzaam bestaan hoeven te lijden (bewuste woordkeuze).

Nadeel van vruchtbare hengsten in een groep zetten is dat ze nooit iets met hun hormonen kunnen. Aan de andere kant heb je in het wild ook een hengstengroep van diegene die uit een kudde zijn gestoten, omdat er dáár nou éénmaal maar één de leider kan zijn.

Ik zit ook al weer een tijd met deze gedachten vanwege Mikes testosteron. Eigenlijk zou ik hem een leven in een merrie kudde gunnen, maar die kans is zeer klein omdat die merries van andere eigenaars zullen zijn en toch het grootste percentage van eigenaren hun merrie niet gedekt willen hebben, in Mike's geval niet vanwege eventuele veulens, want die komen er nooit maar vanwege angst voor verwondingen bij de merrie. Ik kan het me financieel niet veroorloven. Niet eens één merrie...

Ben de laatste weken heel erg intensief bezig geweest met wat ik eventueel vanwege mijn gezondheid allemaal met Mike zou kunnen doen. Ben nu in contact gekomen met twee fantastische vrouwen die een aantal paarden op de NH wijze houden. Weidegang, hele jaar rond met schuilstal etc. Hier mogen de merries wel gedekt! Ze hebben er ook een jonge hengst bij staan. En een ruin die ook denkt dat hij hengst is

Maar zulke mensen zijn dus helaas schaars. Daar ben ik in mijn zoektocht voor mijzelf en Mike wel achter...

Denkend aan die hengstengroep in het wild is het misschien toch helemaal niet zo'n ramp als hengsten, in ieder geval met elkaar, in een groep samen mogen leven. In de natuur is dat tenslotte ook zo. Niet elke hengst die geboren wordt zal uiteindelijk zijn eigen kudde verkrijgen!

Ben jij het met de laatste alinea eens Eddy? Jij hebt ook een hengstengroep tenslotte?

Elzaliene Proost schreef op zaterdag 23 juni 2007, 12:49:


Sja, dat schijnt te bestaan. Anderzijds heb ik die constructie in het "wild" nog nooit gezien.
Wat ik wel zie zijn kudde-achtige conglomeraten, veel ingewikkelder qua interacties, die uit variabele subgroepjes zijn opgebouwd. Die subgroepjes linken naar familieverbanden, maar ook naar vriendschappen.

Als mijn beeld correct is opent dat juist veel meer ingangen naar de houderij thuis.
Groot vraagteken, voor mij, blijft wat je met al die ruinen aan moet... ik weet dat mijn grote vriend en pony-mentor Charl Werner (RIP) zijn hengsten altijd apart van de ruinen hield. Kan hem helaas niet meer vragen waarom maar het had vast en zeker reden.


Het is jammer dat ik de ruimte niet over heb (en het is gewoon te ver weg voor jou) anders zou Mike hier mogen.


Nou, helemaal prima dan toch?! Klinkt ideaal.


Heb je mijn laatste updates betreffend de koniks al gezien? Los daarvan, bij mij thuis altijd al hengsten en merries. Tezamen.


Blabla! , Egon
Reinforcement is a contingency - Bob Bailey

e m kraak schreef op zaterdag 23 juni 2007, 13:32:


Egon, Waar zijn die laatste updates betreffend de koniks te zien? heb je daar een website voor? Of staan er berichten op PN (Sorry, ik kan niet alles lezen)?

Monek

Moniek schreef op zaterdag 23 juni 2007, 15:24:


http://home.wanadoo.nl/egonkraak/foto/blog.html


Ook.


Blabla! , Egon
Reinforcement is a contingency - Bob Bailey

e m kraak schreef


Ik zou mijn hengst niet kunnen samenzetten met een merrie waarvan ik weet dat ik haar niet drachtig wil. Spirit vult zijn tijd met een ruin en een drachtige merrie en de merries die hij erbij 'krijgt' zullen dus ook drachtig mogen worden. Zover zijn we nog niet hoor, hij moet eerst nog wat opgevoed worden voor hij zijn eigen harem krijgt, anders krijgt ie veel teveel praatjes. Overigens gaat hij goed met alle ruinen. Ruin Cas en Spirit zijn ook (nog) dikke vrienden. Jammer alleen dat Cas en Winner niet met mekaar kunnen opschieten dus ik kan daar geen groep van maken.

Hoe regel jij dat Egon. Gaan jouw hengsten niet lopen vechten voor de dames of heb je 'harems' in gescheiden groepen?
Hoe voorkom jij drachtigheid? Je kunt ze niet 24/7 in de gaten houden, of durf jij het wel aan om een merrie samen met de hengst te laten en haar er alleen uit te halen als ze hengstig is? Want voor zover ik weet PZP jij niet he.

Pien

Spirithorses schreef op zaterdag 23 juni 2007, 18:31:


Ik scheid ze liever ook niet nu gaan de twee hengstjes nog goed met elkaar om en hoop dat dit zo blijft er staat nu dus een merrietje bij die zelf ook nog maar een jaar is. Maar waar ik zo bang voor ben is dat ik straks Sara er toch niet meer bij kan zetten want die is maar 1m27 en de kleintste hengst word toch 1m50 a 1m55 en de grootste ongeveer 1m60. Maar ja zolang ze niet om die merrie vechten laat ik het maar zo.

Het is een heel mooi verhaal.

Ik trek er ook de conclusie uit dat voor de opvoeding om een hengst op deze manier te kunnen houden een goede en ervaren leidmerrie cruciaal is.

Spirithorses schreef op zaterdag 23 juni 2007, 18:31:


Ik gok op opeten, maar na hoeveel tijd?
En laten we daar aub niet sentimenteel om doen.
Het gaat meer om het juiste tijdstp daarvoor te nemen,
direct bij de geboorte, na een half jaar of na een jaar?
En los van of Egon dit wel of niet doet, blijft het een interessante vraag.

Egon zou het een kwestie van ruimte gebrek zijn dat je famillie/vrienden groepjes aantreft in het "wild"? Net zoals de paarden zich hier om de hooiplek verdringen, waar als ze meer ruimte hadden, ze ver uit ekaar gingen eten.
Bij sterilisatie van een hengst, aan welk bedrag moet ik dan denken?
De amerikaan betaalde 3 maal de castratie kosten. En zitten er nog nadelen aan sterilisatie het klinkt wel ideaal als je geen veulens wilt, al onhoud je de groep wel van een wezenlijk iets, veulens. Daarom is slacht of verkoop wellicht nog beter, na een jaartje of langer toch?

Groetjes, Michiel

Michiel schreef op zaterdag 23 juni 2007, 20:14:


"Castration is not the solution, put them in your deepfreezer!"

Amen en uit.

marianne laenen schreef op zaterdag 23 juni 2007, 20:20:

zullen we dat met mensen ook zo doen?????????????? Weet 't , héél gemeen maar overschot is overschot!

Caatje schreef op zaterdag 23 juni 2007, 21:15:


Opeten is een idee, maar ik weet niet of het erg smakelijk is. Anders is castratie ook een oplossing. Aangezien mensen het meest van varkens weg hebben, moet het dan ook zonder verdoving.