This message is from: GAIL RUSSELL <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Having left Odin until he was one year, I think it would have been better to geld him earlier....(or not at all...he is turning out to be a very nicely put together grey gelding with a rock-solid unflappable Fjord disposition).
My reasoning is that the year he spent being poisoned by testosterone COULD have left him with some fairly serious psychological problems if we had tried to train him and subdue all of his more difficult impulses. Fortunately, caring for my demented mother meant we were forced to more or less neglect his training until the age of two, so he did not have a long history of being nippy and obstinate, and then being (inexpertly) corrected by us. When we started him at two he was VERY difficult, but came along a little. Then we let him sit over the winter until age three and now he has finally figured out that he has a job to do and is just fine. So, my advice re the stud colt is to geld him right away. If you think you want him to be a stallion, DO NOT spend more time trying to train him yourselves using a whip. While it is true that he does need to learn to submit, a whip in the hands of someone who has not developed the right timing will just result in a confused, frustrated and dangerous colt. Turn him over to an expert trainer (if you can find such a thing who knows how to work with Fjords...who DO NOT necessarily respond to the usual techniques of so-called "trainers" ) OR turn him over to a really nasty mare. Another little caution. YOur baby sounds like Odin...very dominant. We found that geldings put up with WAY too much nonsense from him....he just walked all over them, and then, when they came back to discipline him, he did his little "I'm just a baby, don't hurt me" routine and never really suffered the consequences of his actions. Had we had a mare around (other than his mother, who was TOTALLY permissive with him) he might have been easier to work with when we started him. Gail Gail Russell Forestville CA [EMAIL PROTECTED]
