How it’s done at Red River Farms

Unlike most other equine breeds, the Thoroughbred industry requires live cover.

Making sure breeding is safe and efficient requires diligence on the part of all

handlers involved. Stallions obviously play an integral role and it takes time and

experience to properly prepare a stallion for his duty.

Close to nature

Adcock is the first to admit he keeps his stallions in a different manner from

many Thoroughbred farms, but the system works exceptionally well for Red River.

Unlike the majority of Thoroughbred breeding operations where stallions are housed

together in one complex, Red River’s stallions each have their own paddock and

stall, with the ability to stay outside as much as they like.

Paddocks range in size from one to 11⁄2 acres and each has plenty of good grazing.

Within each paddock is a wooden stall, (ranging in size from 12x12 feet to 12x16

feet), which has an automatic waterer, hay manger, and feed bin. Stalls have

rubber mats to provide safe footing, but bedding is unnecessary as the horses

rarely stay inside longer than it takes to eat and drink. The back door to their

stalls is always open to the paddock.

“My stallions have the ability to stay outside 24 hours a day,” said Adcock,

whose farm will stand ten stallions for the 2010 season. “Giving them the option

lets you know what the horses really want, and they want to be outside.”

The stallion paddocks are not isolated from the rest of the farm’s equine

population. For safety, there are alleyways between all paddock fencing so horses

cannot reach each other over the fence, but mares are pastured as close as ten to

30 feet away.

“All the stallions can see mares from their paddocks,” Adcock said. “They are

exposed to lots of activity; these horses see mares coming and going all the time.

Obviously, they pay attention and they’re active, but they’re not running up and

down the fence or trying to climb it. You’d be surprised how much activity

stallions will have out there on their own, especially when there are horses all

around.”

Due to round-the-clock turnout, stallions get plenty of exercise. They are not

blanketed during the cold months, but thanks to Louisiana’s relatively mild

winters, they do not get especially “woolly.”
Stallions are fed Purina crimped oats and Omolene 300, a 16% protein sweet feed.

Adcock avoids ¬supplements unless absolutely necessary and said no stallions

received any supplements last season. During breeding season, they will be fed

straight alfalfa, but through the rest of the year they will receive alfalfa/grass

mix hay so they do not put on excess weight when the grass comes in.
Adcock has routinely handled nearly three dozen stallions since he graduated

college in 1981 and got into the horse business. Keeping stallions this way has

worked exceptionally well—for both the horses and handlers.

“They don’t have libido problems or mental issues and they don’t have pent-up

energy,” he said. “When I go catch them to show or breed, they are well behaved.

”

Breeding season

Red River Farms stays busy during breeding season, and the farm consistently

breeds 350 to 400 mares per year.

Adcock, who handles each stallion himself, has developed a safe, efficient method

for breeding. Mares are prepped and led directly into the stallion’s paddock for

breeding.

“We bring the mare to the stallion so he’s in his own environment,” Adcock

said. “Their whole world revolves around the confines of their own paddock and

stall. The stallion knows what the story is when you bring in a mare, and the time

in the pen is very short. It’s a quick turnaround; it actually takes longer to

get the mare ready than it does to breed her.”

Holding stalls located convenient to the stallion area are used for mares that

ship in for breeding, while resident farm mares are simply walked over to the

stallion’s paddock. Each mare has her tail wrapped and is washed in preparation

for breeding.

Although the farm regularly uses a teaser to check for mares in heat, when it is

time to breed, Adcock uses the stallion to tease the mare. This lets the stallion

get ready and be washed before he goes to mount the mare. A twitch on the mare’s

nose and an ankle hobble ensure that she will stand. Two handlers hold the mare, a

third holds the tail, and Adcock handles the stallion.

He admits that the only downfall to not using an actual shed is that all breedings

take place outside, no matter the weather.

“If it’s raining and isn’t going to quit anytime soon, we all get wet,” Adcock

said with a laugh. “But I’ve never seen a stallion turn his nose up at breeding

in the rain and it doesn’t stop mares from getting pregnant.”

Another benefit of this breeding arrangement is that foals are not banned from

accompanying the mare, as happens with many breeding sheds.

“We don’t lock the foal up somewhere,” Adcock said. “Nothing good can happen

if you leave a foal screaming in the van and upsetting the mare. If a mare has a

foal at side, the foal comes right along to the paddock. Our stallions are exposed

to foals and I’ve never had a problem.”

Manners important

Perhaps the main reason things runs so smoothly is that Adcock spends time with

every new stallion, teaching him what is expected.

“I’m very comfortable saying my horses are very well behaved,” he said. “We

put a chain over their noses, but you could breed all these stallions with a lead

rope. You won’t see any of them running up on their hind legs to attack the mare.

I don’t have any stallions that try to savage a mare or any stallions I have to

muzzle. I honestly think letting them be outside, exposing them to mares, and

teaching them manners in the beginning plays a big part in it.”

Whenever a stallion joins the Red River roster—whether fresh off the racetrack,

never been used for breeding, or moving from another stallion operation—his

introduction to mares will be as a teaser for about the first 45 days.

All mares, both barren and those with foals at side, come into the barns twice

daily to be fed. During this time, Adcock will walk the new stallion from stall to

stall to visit and tease them. No mares are kept under lights, so teasing of

barren mares begins in late January, and most are ready to breed by the end of

March.

“Most of these stallions I’ve started out myself,” said Adcock, whose farm has

stood as many as 15 stallions at one time. “My stallions have manners and it’s

not drastic to teach them. You just have to teach them correctly from the start

and you usually don’t have a problem. I just have a chain over the nose, nothing

severe.

“You can’t afford to have an ill-behaved stallion. I want him to keep his feet

on the ground and not rear up. I don’t tolerate pawing, rearing, or biting. It’s

like playing a ballgame: You have to practice before you play. You have to teach a

stallion what’s correct and what’s not; you iron out all the problems before you

start.”

Adcock will tease with a stallion for 30 to 45 days, even after breeding season

has started if that particular horse needs it. Once a stallion knows the routine,

nothing changes with his routine when breeding season rolls around. The farm does

have two designated teasers, so when Adcock is confident about the behavior of his

breeding stallions, the teasers take over the task of checking mares for heat.

He emphasized that no stallion is “too good” to be used as a teaser to learn

manners in the beginning.

“I’m the one holding the stallion for breeding, so I want him to stand and

behave until it’s time to do his job,” Adcock said. “Leestown was, by far, the

best horse I’ve ever touched and I teased him to start out. He was so well-

behaved, you could have held him with a hay twine [for breeding]. Private Vow is

the same way, and I teased him up to the first week in March. He will walk up and

stand five feet away from the mare while we put the twitch on and hobble her. Once

I take a step forward, he knows he can mount her.”