Passage Magazine October 2014 | Page 8

1) Congress_inglese_2) Congress_inglese 26/01/11 09.13 Pagina 34 tains an erection. Then the same process is repeated until he will maintain his erection long enough for the washer to clean the penis. After rubbing the underside of the stallion the washer should slowly and gently try to cradle the stallions penis in the left hand while obtaining a piece of cotton soaked with warm (37C) water with the right hand. Ring out some of the water so it does not drip too much as stallions may jump forward or kick out if they feel water drip onto their hind legs. While cradling the penis in the left hand, squeeze out some of the water from the cotton onto the stallion’s penis. If he tolerates that then you can gently use the cotton to rub the shaft and glans to clean it. Typically we would use 5 or 6 pieces of cotton to clean the stallion’s penis making sure that the glans fossa was well cleaned as well as the shaft. With a novice stallion that has not had his penis cleaned before, it may take some time to get him to tolerate the cleaning. If he becomes exceedingly frustrated then we will stop and proceed to the next step and attempt to make further progress at the next session. Our immediate goal is to get the stallion to mount the phantom and the washing procedure should be a pleasant experience that does not create a lot of anxiety. Patience, persistence and consistency with this process will result in a stallion that quickly obtains an erection and stands quietly without losing the erection for washing. phantom and lose his erection while turning back to look towards the tease mare. In this case we will back the stallion away from the phantom and position the tease mare on the right side of the phantom with her hindquarters alongside but slightly forward of the rear of the phantom. The stallion is then brought to the back of the phantom on a slight angle from the left side. The ideal position is for the stallion’s chest to be centered on the left rear corner of the phantom with the mare’s rear directly opposite. The stallion is then encouraged to tease the mare across the back corner of the phantom. In some cases it is helpful to lower the back of the phantom slightly to a level just below the mare’s croup to encourage the stallion to rise up in an attempt to mount the mare. Often times a mount is triggered when the stallion, with a good erection places his chin on the tease mare’s back and lifts his front end up and onto the phantom back. When he does this we will quickly and gently slide the AV onto the penis. This will usually encourage the stallion to square up behind the phantom, grip with both front legs and thrust into the AV until he ejaculates. With a novice stallion, getting to the point of mounting the phantom may take 15 minutes or as long as several days. The above scenario is not typical and most novice stallions will take longer before they reach a level of stimulation and frustration to cause them to mount the phantom in an attempt to get to the tease mare. Often novice stallions will try mount sideways or try to rush past the phantom on the near side or around to the far side to get to the mare. They may also mount the phantom without an erection and if they do we do not reprimand but just let them stay there until they chose to dismount and start again. This is where the patience, skill and experience of the stallion handler are critical. He must attempt to control the stallion and continuously reposition him at the correct angle for a successful mount. As the stallion’s frustration level increases his attention and respect of the stallion handler decreases. This can be physically demanding and mentally very frustrating for the handler and maintaining patience in this situation is critical. Introducing the stallion to the phantom After washing, the stallion is again presented to the tease mare in the stocks and allowed to tease to a point where he is extremely stimulated. We then turn and quickly take him to the back of the phantom and position him directly behind the phantom while the mare remains in the stocks. Although rare, some novice stallions will bump the back of the phantom with their chest, perhaps rub on the back of the phantom and mount. If this is the case we will quickly but gently slide the AV onto the stallion without grasping the penis and attempt to collect. In most cases however, the novice stallion has not made the association between the phantom and mounting and will ignore the 5 8 Passage Magazine