Impotence and Abnormal Sexual Behavior
Abnormal sexual behavior generally involves impotence. Impotence is the inability to complete the mating. This can include disturbances to erection, mounting, thrusting and ejaculation. Another form of abnormal sexual behavior involves excessive aggressiveness toward the mare or handler.
Masturbation is a normal behavior. The stallion owner and sometimes Veterinarian may be concerned that this activity will satiate the libido (sex drive) of the stallion. Observations on both wild and domesticated stallions indicate that masturbation is a natural behavior of both and rarely is ejaculation observed during masturbation. Any attempt to decrease masturbation by placing a stallion ring over the penis or a brush strapped to the belly will likely lead to abnormal behavior. This behavior can range from impotence to stallion aggressiveness. Many stallions have been rendered infertile by such treatment as the impotence problems may not be correctable. These techniques should never be used on a stallion that will eventually be used for breeding. The conclusion is that masturbation is not a problem and it should be ignored in a breeding stallion.
Impotence can be classified into three types:
- Lack of erection - no erection achieved;
- Inadequate erection - complete erection not achieved or can not be maintained
- Non-emisive erection - erection occurs but ejaculation does not occur
Some cases of impotence can be due to pathological problems but most are due to psychogenic factors that were induced by bad sexual experiences, over-use and in general mismanagement. It is therefore essential that a stallion be trained properly to ensure normal sexual behavior.
Stallion management practices that can lead to impotence or abnormal behavior are:
- use of a 2 year old stallion
- overuse - pay attention to use during fall and winter
- unnecessary roughness, corrections during collection
- use for performance and breeding at the same time
- housing stallions in isolation
- lack of exercise
- being kicked during breeding
One of the most common mismanagement problems with stallion owners is beginning breeding too early in a stallions life. Stallions should not be used for breeding until 3 years of age. This is not associated with the number of sperm available but the metal maturity of the stallion and ability to develop good behavior characteristics. When a 2 year old is used for breeding, the incidence of developing bad habits such as mounting without an erection and excessive biting of the mare increases. What is even more important is that in older stallions these problems can usually be corrected but if this occurs in young stallions it is often impossible to ever change this behavior. Despite these concerns, stallion owners are often anxious to breed there young stallion. If breeding is done, no more than 5 - 10 mares should be bred in a season. Semen collection for artificial insemination should also be kept to a minimum, perhaps 1 time every other week. If abnormal behavior develops, breeding or semen collection should be discontinued.
Overuse of a stallion can be a problem both during the breeding and non-breeding seasons. The biggest problems occur however if the stallion is over collected during the non-breeding season of the fall and winter when testosterone levels are already low. Perhaps performance anxiety develops and then leads to increased aggressiveness.
Discipline in a stallion is always a problem. The stallion handler and owner must understand that you can not correct a stallion for acting like a stallion during the breeding or semen collection process. This includes making loud noises, wanting to be near the mare, small striking or kicking, and biting of the mare during mounting. While the stallion should not be allowed to endanger the breeding crew, corrections at this time need to be made with caution. You can easily cause impotence by too severe a correction. From this discussion you can now understand why it is not recommended to use a stallion for both performance and breeding at the same time. Training to ignore a female when in a performance event is just the opposite of what is wanted during breeding. This is often the cause of many impotence problems in stallions. It is strongly advised to not use a stallion for breeding until after any performance career is done.
Stallions should be housed were they can see other horses and given plenty of exercise.
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