Q. I am from England, and next year I am planning to do a 2 year course in stud work. After that, I am going to do a higher course for another 2 years. I have never owned a very young horse before, but I love horses and I want to work with them. Stud work seems quite inviting. The only problem is that I recently met a stallion. He just stood there, but I still felt scared. Is this excitment, or if it was fear, what should I do?

A. I'm afraid I'm not the best person to answer your question. I have extremely limited direct experience with stallions and a HUGE distrust of them. I have known stallions who were poorly handled and very dangerously behaved, and I have known stallions who were very well handled and no less dangerous. One of the best-behaved and "gentlest" stallions I ever knew decided one day to reach over and rip about 40 stitches worth of flesh out of his owner's side for absolutely no apparent reason. It was enough to convince me that there is no such thing as a "gentle" or "safe" stallion, and that opinion has never been changed. In my experience, stallions are too preoccupied with their own purpose on the planet to make them safe or reliable in proximity to humans - an extreme opinion, I know, but it's kept my flesh intact. This is not to say that reasonable stallions do not exist. Perhaps they do. But I will be forever timid and distrustful around them.