Festival of Light

[Heidilady]

I know he's not technically a stallion anymore but he was for what I wanted to ask about.

He savaged a farm employee in 2003 and was gelded but sired a crop of foals that are now 2yos. I happened upon seeing Spanish Guitar and Sweet as Honey (dam of Borrego) as having been bred to him and wondered if anybody knew specifically about the experience of trying to breed Festival of Light who was that hard to handle and ust in general what's done to work with these sorts of stallions during the breeding experience and how much risk are the mares in. I'm sure some stallions can suspend their feistiness to 'get some' in a single minded pursuit but the pumping testosterone I would assume doesn't make things easier.

Does anybody happen to know what's up with Festival of Light now and did gelding take the edge off like they were hoping? Sometimes it doesn't do any good so I was wondering.

[Tairaterces]

I think he is not of this world anymore . . . . . . . . .

[austique]

Somebody on the board had called and inquired about him recently, but I can't find the post. He was still alive according to Valor when they called.

[summerhorse]

Someone else posted that he was still too mean and they put him down. But I don't know. I guess call the farm he DID stand out and see if you can track down the person who took him as a riding horse. They may not know if he was put down or not. Nobody might have told them.

Wouldn't it be a shame if he turned out to be the next coming of Storm Cat or Northern Dancer and his attitude did him in? (well provided he didn't pass it on!)

As for how they handle them, usually it is with an assortment of sticks (i.e. a chain that instead of a leadrope has a long pole on it so you can walk the h orse without being close to him sort of like a catch pole for animal control), one on each side, muzzles, lots of protection for the mare (heavy leather guard blanket), that sort of thing. I think once MOST of them see the mare they are able to focus for a few minutes.

Some of them will savage the mare too so sometimes she is in a kind of stock thing that limits the stallions access afterwards so they can move him away in time.

In Tissar was so vicious they had to build a chute system and some sort of stock for the mare (can't remember what) and she wore a heavy protective blanket. they would herd him from his paddock through the chute to the mare where he'd do his job and they'd herd him back through another. I am guessing he didn't pass on his temper because I can't imagine going to that much trouble to put more killer horses on the track! obviously they could run a bit because people kept breeding to him.

[Heidilady]

Could you imagine having a horse that mean as a riding horse? I'd be afraid he'd do something malicious. Even if a horse is spooky or 'nuts' often they're still pretty honest and not out to hurt you. He probably would be and the challenge would be the only thing I could see as fun here.

[summerhorse]

Yeah he really did want to hurt people. they did try riding him around the farm thinking maybe the exercise and the change of scenery would help but it was just too dangerous. I wouldn't want to deal with a horse like that. he'd have to produce like Storm Cat before I'd want to bother. O fcourse if he did I guess I could PAY someone else to deal with him huh?

[JimP]

Hi Guys,

I can't image keeping a horse around that was that mean let alone breeding to him. If he was put down it was probably for the best.

[summerhorse]

Oh yeah back to FOL. I'm sure if they did put him down they felt they had no other choice otherwise they wouldn't have bothered to geld him and find him another career/home. But a lot of behavior is learned and even gelding won't undo it. I've known some wicked mean geldings. None like THAT though!

[sb]

I had considered breeding Captive Pro to FOL when I learned that he had been gelded. Big surprise! My first reaction to this was that gelding him wouldn't change his attitude, or at least not for a year or so, and I had wondered whether he was really gelded or put down which would be the thing to do if he was that dangerous. RIBOT comes to mind who was also quite dangerous, but apparently, he was at least manageable and didn't kill anybody. One has to wonder how they managed FOL while he was racing and whether he just turned nasty when he became a stallion.
Guess we will never know. You must wonder why they are so hush/hush about it since noone wants to have such a beast in their barn. He must have really been bad as he's not the only stallion around that is potentially dangerous, even when not in the breeding shed.

I just can't believe that anybody would have bothered with him that briefly after he was gelded, but then again, he WAS ridden as a race horse. Perhapsn someone wanted to make a Grand Prix jumper out of him?? I understand he was of good size and a good looking horse.

SB

[Scott]

You could email [email protected] to possibly learn what you seek - FOL stood here.

[summerhorse]

Not saying this is what happened with FOL but sometimes horses can get tumors in the testicles that cause excessive testosterone production (not sure if all are cancerous or not) and that can make them extremely dangerous but gelding of course usually brings them back to normal (whatever that may be for the horse!) after the testosterone is out of their system. Many horses are OK on the track (more or less) but when they get to breeding and developing into big bad stallions (in their own minds at least) they can more and more aggressive esp. if not handled properly (properly for THEM at least).

Many times a bad horse will turn around once you snip snip but it takes a GOOD trainer to handle them and teach them to be a mannerly horse again. I guess if the horse was good looking enough it is worth the try, I mean you can ALWAYS put them down but you can't bring 'em back from the dead.

[Derring]

Somebody on the board had called and inquired about him recently, but I can't find the post. He was still alive according to Valor when they called.

Okay: These are the facts that I know.

I was the one that called Valor Farm recently. They said he was alive and well and was a riding horse last time they heard.

He did not kill anyone. I spoke to the stallion manager right after they gelded him. He was the one that FOL put in the hospital.

When I visited the farm about 2 months before he was gelded, they used a chain shank---the same as many stallions---nothing else. It was over his nose, not in his mouth or over his gums. He was grabbing the shank with his mouth, etc. He had lost a lot of weight during breeding season but looked awesome, a real beauty. They said he had a lot of nervous energy.

My opinion: I don't know if he was 'savage' on the track. I worked at a breeding farm and sometimes those hormones can make them very dangerous.

[henthorn]

As for my mare Spanish Guitar's breeding adventure with Festival of Light, I was not aware at the time that he was vicious, or I would have passed. Spanish had just retired from racing with a bad knee that I didn't want to re-operate; and she had to have a laceration treated over that knee when she fell during the breeding. I don't know if the stallion knocked her down or if other factors caused the fall.

Her 2yo filly Music Fest is a big, smart, assertive girl, very athletic. Not a mean bone in her body. A little crooked in one knee. I think she inherited a lot of her mother's traits. She sold in August's Fasig-Tipton Texas sale for $7200, and a later FOL filly sold for over $30K.

I suspect his foals will be athletic, and I don't know how many are difficult to work with. I liked the breeding so well that when FOL retired from stud, I sought out his half-brother Arch, whose foal Spanish Guitar now is carrying, due in May.

Both Spanish and Music are in the database with photos.

[Derring]

I also like his breeding. Have you checked out Altar Boy in the Fasig Tipton 2-year-old sale catalog? Very similar breeding.


Oops! Forgot to add it's the Texas sale.

[sb]

Anybody here from Texas by any chance? If so, I'd like to talk with 'you,' since I have anewed plans to move to Tyler, Tx in the not too distant future.

SB