mares scared of mammoth jack

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Hi, Hope some of you who have jacks out there can help me out with this question. We purchased a lovely mammoth jack to use for breeding our three mares. The two quarter horse mares are absolutely terrified of this jack. To them, I think he is an alien from outer space! The horses are in a separate paddock from the jack and all can see and smell and hear each other. We lead the mares up to the jack's pen and you have never seen such rolling of eyes and snorting and pulling back in your life! These are retired show horses so they've been around almost every type of scary thing, but this jack has them baffled. He, on the other hand, is quite the gentlemen, and stands patiently at the gate watching them. He does bray, but doesn't do the rearing, running, showoff behavior that some stallions do. My third mare, a belgian, walks right up and sniffs then indicates it is not time for such nonsense and starts eating grass. I am guessing that this is going to be a long, drawn out event to get the QHs used to him. We cannot put him in the paddock with the mares as I am afraid they would run through the board fencing to get away from his "attentions". This jack has been hand bred and pasture bred all his life, and has excellent ground manners. Would it be better to take him over to visit them? Anyway, we hope to get this straightened out prior to breeding season as we would like to get some good show mules from them. Any suggestions? I do not think the mares have ever seen a donkey or mule, at least since I have owned them. I know none of them are cycling, but they don't want to get more than 10 feet close to the jack to even make an introduction. Thanks for your help

-- Cindy (colawson@mindspring.com), August 26, 2001

Answers

How long has the jack been at your place? It is my best guess ( been training and messing about with horses, Arabs in particular, what wooses they can be!!! for 25 years) that eventually they will get over their fear of the jack, and accept him as a herd mate. It is probably the ears that are throwing them for a loop! Most likely the first time they come in season will really change their mind in a big way! They will tell you in no uncertain terms when they are ready to be "introduced" to the jack, be patient, it will happen!

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), August 26, 2001.

Annie, Do you think it is better to take him over to their paddock, where they can "run away" then turn back to look him over, rather than lead them to his paddock? Right now if I lead them over, they see him at 50 feet and want to run the other way. I don't think it has much to do with them being in season or not, rather it's more like a horse that's seen a ghost! Anyway, just goes to show that no matter how long I have horses, I'll always have questions! Cindy

-- Cindy (colawson@mindspring.com), August 26, 2001.

BTW, when I was boarding horses, we had five stallions in the barn, two QHs, two arabs and one mixed breed (don't know why they kept him a stud). The nicest one we had was a five year old polish bred Arab stallion that could be led anywhere with just a piece of twine around his neck. His owners were a mother/daughter who bred Arabians and he was just great, just the opposite of what most folks say about Arabs being spooky, flighty, etc. He was rock solid and stayed here almost two years recuping from a gunshot that happened in a pasture the owners leased. So one day the vet pronounced him fit to ride and the girl (she was around 17 then) took him out to the riding arena, with nothing on but a halter and jumped right up and put him through a few dressage moves and he rode like he'd been out there every day. Goes to show that no matter what you hear about a breed, there will be one out there that will impress the fool out of you and be totally unlike whatever you've been told. On the other hand, we had an own son of Baskifix II boarded here that I finally had to tell the owner to move as he was downright dangerous - I called it "Poor people skills resulting from being babied to death by owner" syndrome. Hope all your "babies" are doing fine!

-- Cindy (colawson@mindspring.com), August 26, 2001.

Cindy, boy your not kidding about spoiling a horse and making it dangerouse. We have one on the ranch where I work that has tried to kill me twice[ she has never ran with horses]the last time she almost got me[ had me traped against a pole areana because I dared to fix her fly sheet]wrentched my shoulder, talk about your work stress!In answer to your question I once saw a breeding chute on a mule ranch and that is how they bred the mares there. seems to me thet it was dug down a little so the mare couldnt kick. Dont remember though.I think that after awhile they will get use to him. good luck.

-- kathy h (ckhart55@earthlink.net), August 26, 2001.

Cindy, since he is so well mannered, yes, I would lead him over to their pasture and introduce him to them, first outside of the pasture, and then take him just inside the gate and stand there and let them come investigate if they wish. Evenyually they will get curious and hopefully check him out.

I agree with you about not turning him loose in their pasture until they are totally acclimated with him, they could charge right through the fence, I've seen it happen, not a pretty sight!

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), August 26, 2001.



A man up the road from here where I live used to keep a little stud pony with his belgian mares to get them in the mood then removed him and let the jack take care of business.

-- Don (hihilldon@yahoo.com), August 26, 2001.

We would feed them in lots where they can see each other, but have the security of the fence. Feed them close to each other for a week or two. Just throw hay on the ground near the fence.That will lure the horses to get close to him. Once they feel secure feed them as usual. While they are eating bring in the Jack. If all goes well, give him some hay and let him eat with them. They should get over their fears very quickly with a little patience. This would work even better if there is a large lot where you can turn them loose to graze and watch each other from a distance for a while. They will eventually go to him once they realize he is not a monster. If you dont have that you will have to take it slow. This is how we always introduce a horse if there seems to be a problem. It has worked for us. They will be fine in time.

-- the pooles (mpoole@link2000.net), August 27, 2001.

Cindy,

Most mares will not allow jacks to breed them unless they are raised with donkeys. I can think of 2 things that might help.

1. buy a miniture stud and tease the mare with him and than lead the jack up to do his buisness while the little stud is up front. (this always worked very well with our mares.)

2. also with as cheap as donkeys are you could by a cheap jenny or john and run it with your mares this will get them use to donkeys. (but some mares will not accept breeding with a jack even if they accept other donkeys in there heard.) Hence I suggest option (1)

Good luck,

-- Montana Storm (storm@rconnect.com), August 29, 2001.


I dont know if you are still seeking help in introducing your Jack to your mares but perhaps I can help First Never turn your Jack in an open paddock with your mares. 99.9% of jacks will not pasture breed mares. Those few that do usually wind up being kicked to death by the mares The ones that are aggressive enough to get the mares bred will wind up being too aggressive around people. You need a breeding pit on your farm to serve your mares. This is mainly for safety for all concerned although when I breed really big draft mares I lower them down to facilitate the mating. Do not, I repeat, Do not let your mares work your jack over. They will. Most jacks if they are whipped by the mares enough will quit trying to breed mares altogether all the acclimating you need will be letting the mares see the Jack over the fence. Your jack will be better off this way too I have made more than a little money from rehabilitating spoiled jacks. THese animals need to be handled in particular way. A teaser stud is extremely useful to determine if your mares are in estrus. Use one to tease the mare butget him out of the way when you are ready to breed.One of my best friends[80yrs old } was crippled by a jack/stud fight after serving a mare. You will have the best results with the mare confined in a properly built pit with breeding hobbles on! Again this is for safety. A mare teased and constrained will usually accept the jack easily after the Jack has mounted her the first time. The jack must be on a lead line in hand and cannot be allowed to worry the mare This sometimes takes a lot of experiance to know what is the right amount of teasing with the jack, teaser stud,mare. Of course you might be getting along famously and think I'm crazy by now but the best advice I can give is Just develop the patience of Job and you will be ok. When I say mount the first time I do not mean serve Most jacks will want to mount a mare as a dominence act immidiately upon approaching the pit. They should be allowed to mount and then be pulled off Gently. There is a lot more I could tell you but we might need a publisher. If you are still having trouble let me know I 'll try to help Tony

-- Tony Clapier (tclapier@pmt.org), March 20, 2002.

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