Is your stallion ready for the new season?

The way we handle and control our stallions is probably one of the most unnatural things we do in modern horse management. Horses are naturally herd animals with a single herd stallion living with a harem of mares. Dr Sue McDonnell of the University of Pennsylvania New Bolton Centre has studied stallion behaviour in her semi feral pony herd and produced some very interesting results. Probably the most important is that stallions need extended exposure to mares to allow their genitals to develop properly. In the wild horses organise into two distinct groups. The harem stallion with his mares in one group and the bachelor stallions in another group. These are young stallions waiting for the opportunity to gain a harem or older stallions that just can’t make it. Dr Mc Donnell has shown that the harem stallions not only have significantly higher levels of testosterone than their bachelor counterparts, but also bigger genitals. One interesting thing she found is if a stallion is removed from, or loses his harem then another from the bachelor band will quietly take his place. The new stallion’s behaviour immediately begins to change from the subdued bachelor boy to the more aggressive, assertive harem stallion. This change in status is accompanied by physiological changes that take about 60 days to complete. These changes will leave him with bigger genitals and higher levels of testosterone. If he loses his harem these changes will reverse.

So what is the relevance of all this to the stallion you have at home? Simply, if your boy is not up to the task it may be because he has insufficient exposure to his mares. Testosterone levels rise in the spring as mating comes closer and the mares start to cycle. As we have seen from the semi feral ponies the herd stallion’s levels rise to far in excess of his bachelor brothers. There is not space here to discuss the whole way in which we manage our stallions and keep them away from the mares. Suffice to say that it is far from perfect in terms of getting optimum performance from a stallion and I submit tends to make them harder not easier to handle.

If his hormone levels are good but he is still not interested or mating properly there are other simple things to look at. Is he comfortable in the surroundings that you are using for service? Traffic, human or vehicular may upset him, or he may have a soreness that you are unaware of. An example is a stallion that under saddle appeared fine but had low fertility. He had a small book of mares but even so his success rate was low. He was always quite shy and would be easily disturbed by spectators or some change in routine. The year before last even with plenty of mare contact and supposed optimum diet he didn’t manage to get any mares in foal. The semen was checked and found to be fine. The mystery was solved on further investigation when a sore hip was revealed.

Stallions use a huge amount of energy to serve a mare and much of this is focussed on the hind quarters. The injury in this case may have been caused by a previous strain during an earlier service. Clearly in this case the soreness was enough to stop him serving properly but not to show any apparent lameness at other times. The solution was remarkably simple. The owners used Devil’s Claw to help him with the apparent inflammation in the hip. Devil’s Claw is a fabulous anti inflammatory herb and has a long history of safe use. In this case the stallion was given 20 ml of liquid extract twice a day during the serving season. The effect was very pleasing; 10 mares in foal and a very happy owner.

As herbalists we are often asked about plants that can help to improve the libido. Just have a look in the internet to see the hundreds of products that people have come up with. Most of them I suspect are not qualified herbalists, because it is never as simple as taking a small blue pill. The other things you need to consider if your stallion is low in libido but otherwise healthy are diet, exercise and some herbs to help him. Providing your horse has a good balanced diet he should not need any special supplementation. However it is important that he has adequate levels of trace elements as some of these are of particular importance for males. Of special note are Zinc and Selenium. Seaweed meal is a good source of a wide range minerals and trace elements but a Selenium supplement should be given in accordance with your vet's advice; too much is as bad as too little.

Fitness is important. Mating needs a large amount of energy over quite a short period so a stallion needs to be fit. Regular riding is great if your horse is of a suitable temperament.

There are quite a few herbs that are specific for helping with male libido and sexual health. Oats are the best known and easiest to get. Oat grain in feed is very stimulating to males and a decoction of oat chaff is also very helpful. They are so good that we do not feed oat grain to any of our male horses; even the stallion. He doesn’t need it and it just makes him harder to handle. Other herbs to increase vitality are Damiana and Ginseng, which has also been shown to increase testosterone levels in humans. (I know of no work that has been done on horses). Circulatory problems can be helped with Gingko, ginger or hawthorn.

Most stallions can serve well with very few problems but if you are not sure speak to a qualified herbalist.

©James Hart