I found this quite interesting...
Teasing
Once at the stud, the mare will probably be kept in a small yard for awhile, perhaps overnight, before being let out into a paddock with either the wet mares or dry mares, depending on her status. Horses released into strange surroundings too soon have been known to gallop straight through fences. Also new arrivals need some supervision when first introduced to the mob, in case of problems due to bullying. Some resident mares will seriously chase a newcomer.
Every second day on average all the mares in a group are teased to detect oestrus. If on, they may be follicle tested by a vet or simply served every couple of days until going off, beginning on the third day. Teasing involves running the mares into a safe yard then leading the teaser amongst them, or confining the teaser to a small yard to which the mares have access and observing their behaviour, or leading the teaser amongst the mares out in the paddock. The teaser can be a small pony unable to serve large mares anyway because of the height difference, or a horse of inferior quality trained to the procedure, or a testosterone implanted gelding, or the stallion himself.
The author has had first hand experience with a number of stallions (mainly Thoroughbreds) over some years, and all of them did their own teasing. A teaser stallion was never kept on the property. None of the stallions was ever hurt, none of them ever became difficult to handle or sour. Stallions handled in this way soon get the message that their turn will come, they cannot go raping everything in sight. Also, in the author’s experience, they are never slow servers or rough or savage with their mares, and although not in constant contact with them as they would be in nature, they still build up a definite rapport with all members of their harem.
Irrespective of which teasing method is used, the mares must be given time. Some take longer than others to show any interest even when quite strongly in season, particularly wet mares. There is even the occasional mare that never appears to show to a stallion or teaser but only to other mares in the paddock. No doubt they would show if the stallion was running with them all the time, but otherwise it is a case of careful observation. Follicle palpation will reveal whether they are ready to be served or not, and if they are they seem to stand without fuss.
Preparing the mare
Once it is ascertained that a mare is ready to serve, the usual procedure is to take her to a special serving area, which may be under cover but certainly should be free of dust. The area around her vulva may be washed down with water (no soap or disinfectants, they can be spermicidal) and the top of her tail bandaged to stop hairs being swept into the vagina when the stallion serves her. Some studs routinely clip the tops of all tails with electrical clippers, which is more hygienic than a bandage, particularly one that is used the entire stud season on all mares and seldom washed. Usually if the mare is ready and the stallion allowed time to tease her up properly first, the tail will be held well clear anyway.
Various forms of restraint can be placed on the mare to prevent her injuring the stallion. These include a twitch and/or serving hobbles and sometimes serving boots. Speaking from experience these items are seldom necessary. They upset many mares, in fact some will go absolutely berserk in hobbles because they are so completely foreign to them. Also the stallion can get caught up in them. Mares stressed and upset by unnatural restraint methods and equipment may even suffer tubal blocking, which although unproven in horses, does occur in other species due to anxiety. Another point, too, is that the severely restrained mare forced to stand motionless like a petrified lump is non-conducive to the stallion ejaculating easily. This could be one of the reasons some horses become “difficult” servers - taking ages to get an erection, preferring to hassle and bite mares rather than serve them.
In the author’s experience, mares that are properly in season, ready to be served and quietly handled, do not kick. The only exception is some maiden mares and those with young foals. Even so, the stallion used to doing his own teasing and mostly allowed to play the mating game his way will get around these mares without getting kicked.
One of the golden rules of successful horse breeding is that if a mare is genuinely antagonistic towards the stallion, she is not ready to be served. Just occasionally this is despite the apparent readiness of her follicle - vets are not infallible when it comes to judging softness of follicles and proximity to ovulation. Mares show rejection of the stallion by laying back their ears, kicking, rearing and sometimes making the most desperate efforts to get away. If such a mare is forced to accept teasing, she can become a danger to whoever is holding her - and do heed those words. Never, ever hold such a mare too casually, even if she is normally your best friend. Arms and legs have been broken as a result. An odd few mares will accept enforced teasing in a sour “do-with-me-what-you-want” sort of fashion and even dribble a bit of urine, but there is no way they would ever stand for actual service.
Managing the stallion
Studies on wild herds show that stallions interact with their band of mares continuously throughout the day, but peak mating activity occurs early in the morning and late in the afternoon, and this is the routine generally followed on studs. Stallions can be used in the middle of the day but are more vigorous at sun-up and sundown. Where possible stud stallions are restricted to two services a day, though some can be used more frequently before suffering a decline in semen quality. If several mares are ready to be covered on the same day, it is better to miss one than have the stallion try to serve too many at once and end up with nothing in foal. Missed mares can be brought back into season quite quickly with a hormone if time is a factor.
Irrespective of what restraint gear is on the mare, it is much better if the person holding her does so over a solid rail, or from outside the serving yard provided quick access to her can be gained if required, perhaps through a narrow gap or pophole in the yard fence specially constructed for the purpose. This is considered poor horsemanship by some long-time stud personnel, the belief being that the handler should be at the mare’s head to restrict her movements as much as possible. However, the mare should be able to move and interact with the stallion to some extent, and secondly, it is natural for stallions to begin their foreplay at the head end of the mare and to dance about and kick up at times. Obviously this could cause injury to humans in close proximity to the mare, and chastising and even belting stallions for exercising these natural instincts is yet another reason they can end up as nut cases.
Within reason, stallions should be allowed to be themselves. There is nothing worse than hearing a handler talk about “straightening out” a stallion, or saying: “He wants standing up” or “He doesn’t serve mares the way I want him to.” The origins of these weird beliefs about correct stallion behaviour have been lost in the mists of time, there is little rhyme nor reason to them. Over-disciplined stallions, especially when the punishment is meaningless and severely contradicts their natural instinctive behaviour, can end up with serious problems. Libido decreases because the whole mating experience has become totally negative, to such extent that they may refuse to even try to serve a mare, or if they do, fail to ejaculate. Some become aggressive, rushing at mares (or people!) in an attempt to savage them.
The service itself
Once a mare is deemed ready to serve and has been prepared according to the routine of the stud, the stallion is led to her. He will be very much up on his toes, prancing and dancing and being very vocal, but will not be difficult to control. The performance is for the mare’s benefit, part of the pre-mating ritual.
As the stallion comes nearer, the mare will probably urinate. He will approach her instinctively from the side, thus being able to dodge a kick, and if not prevented from doing so by people in the way or fear of punishment, will touch noses with the mare, which will elicit squealing and other vocalisations and body language displays from both of them. The mare will often swing her quarters in to him as he works his way back along her body, sniffing, nudging and usually nipping as he goes, all making her show very strongly. He sniffs and “tastes” her vulva, lifting his head with the top lip raised. This is the Flehman response, also invoked when stallions sniff the ground where mares have urinated.
After a few minutes the stallion will mount the mare, usually fully erect but not always, in nature it has been observed that stallions will test mares out first by mounting them before they have a full erection and often from the side, obviously to avoid damage from a kick if the mare is not quite ready. Much emphasis is placed by stud personnel on training stallions to be fully erect before mounting, also to mount from directly behind the mare, but both behaviours fly in the face of nature. Once the weight of the stallion is across the mare’s hindquarters, he will dance himself around into the proper position behind her. The handler meantime should be standing well clear of flying hooves, but maintaining contact with the stallion’s head via a reasonable length of lead rope. This lead should never be allowed to become slack, or it can get wrapped around the horses’ legs or caught under their tails - a sure way to liven up the proceedings.
Once the stallion has actually begun to tease the mare and particularly during the service act itself, the handler should not be doing anything. Hitting, jerking or shouting at the stallion is unnecessary and off-putting. So also is the very unhygienic practice of grasping the penis and guiding it into the mare’s vagina. Once he achieves penetration, the stallion will begin making very vigorous pelvic thrusts. Within two minutes he should have ejaculated.
Failure to ejaculate is rare under normal circumstances although much is made of making sure it has occurred. It is easy to detect by the characteristic flagging of the tail, also by the pulsing of the urethra - which can be seen, it does not have to be felt. Some causes of failure of ejaculation, unless due to behavioural problems, include the absence of dung in the rectum and consequent lack of rigidity of the vagina walls below. For some unknown reason, dung was once deliberately removed from the rectum prior to service; this was known as backraking and hopefully by now is no longer practised on any horse stud. Another reason for absence of dung in the rectum is if the mare is follicle tested immediately prior to being served - the vet needs to remove all the faeces to permit palpation of the ovaries through the bowel wall. Still another possible cause of ejaculation failure is if the negative pressure in the vagina is destroyed, as may happen if the mare is a really bad windsucker or has been examined with a speculum or had some sort of per-vaginal infertility treatment pre-service.
The stallion might rest on the mare for a short time after ejaculation and appear so temporarily exhausted that he almost falls if she moves. In nature mares give the stallion a moment or two to recover from the extreme exertion before quietly moving off, letting him slip gently back onto all fours. It is another wrong practice to yank the stallion off the mare or force her to move out from under him too quickly, because it can cause too heavy a landing for him and another negative experience. Once the stallion is back on the ground he will show no further sexual interest and his penis will be quite flaccid - it should have been from the time he withdrew from the mare.
A common practice is to slosh the stallion’s deflating penis with a container of mild disinfectant. This is not appreciated by the horse and seems pointless unless the stud has a specific disease problem. It is a very hit-and-miss way of trying to disinfect the penis and sheath anyway, also the stallion will soon regather the bacteria that normally live harmlessly in the genital region.
Once the mare has been covered and has moved away, she will strain and get rid of the excess semen in her vagina. Walking her vigorously to prevent her doing this is a waste of time. The semen that will get the mare in foal has already entered her uterus and she will void any excess sooner or later anyway. |
