gelding question

[Golden Girl]

There are soooo many opinions on this subject isn't there
But your concern if if he can get your mare/his dam bred correct? In his first year the answer is NO. he is not developed enough in that department. I have never castrated a colt any earlier the the first b-day. Although I have waited as long as two years on a couple to castrate. Since your colt & mare are drafty type, all though pony size still, I believe that if you put it off a year you should be safe as the colt will not exhibit strong stallion traits & moods. I have noticed that the smaller the animal (like a mini) the faster they mature. The larger, the slower they mature. I have male minis, small & large ponies, the full size horses. The last one I castrated was a yearling mini that was mounting him dam when she was in season. In the next year he continued the grow and become the sweetest little gelding. Even geldings show interest in mares in season, herding & the flemish response etc. Geldings will even scuffle between each other over a mare. But they are NOTHING as aggressive as a stallion.

Personally I LOVE geldings! Mares are great too. I have shown both, and even a stallion at one time. But it is the geldings that have won my heart in my now 40 years in the horse biz!

[Jen]

FYI there have been cases of colts under a year getting mares pregnant including fillies under a year old

lauragolden said:

There are soooo many opinions on this subject isn't there
But your concern if if he can get your mare/his dam bred correct? In his first year the answer is NO. he is not developed enough in that department. I have never castrated a colt any earlier the the first b-day. Although I have waited as long as two years on a couple to castrate. Since your colt & mare are drafty type, all though pony size still, I believe that if you put it off a year you should be safe as the colt will not exhibit strong stallion traits & moods. I have noticed that the smaller the animal (like a mini) the faster they mature. The larger, the slower they mature. I have male minis, small & large ponies, the full size horses. The last one I castrated was a yearling mini that was mounting him dam when she was in season. In the next year he continued the grow and become the sweetest little gelding. Even geldings show interest in mares in season, herding & the flemish response etc. Geldings will even scuffle between each other over a mare. But they are NOTHING as aggressive as a stallion.

Personally I LOVE geldings! Mares are great too. I have shown both, and even a stallion at one time. But it is the geldings that have won my heart in my now 40 years in the horse biz!

[Heather T]

OH YES!!! We know of a trainer that ran an 8 month old colt with his champion mares. One of the mares was in heat and he bred her - AND IT TOOK!!!!!! She had to lutilized (abortion shot) because she was a show mare and the owners didn't give permission for a breeding!!

SO - he doesn't run the little boys with the girls anymore. Amazing - where there's a will - there's a way!!!

[Golden Girl]

OMG, YOU ARE NOT SERIOUS Those cases have got to be the exceptions. I have never participated is a large breeding program, so I imagine the odds are it could & would happen.
BUT, I do know the nature of our beloved horses, and rarely will a dam show in heat let alone stand willingly to be bred by her own offspring! Please remember, The Horse Is A Noble Beast!
I am not so good at quoting, but someone somewhere said it, and I for believe it! ;D

[joy]

lauragolden said:

OMG, YOU ARE NOT SERIOUS Those cases have got to be the exceptions. I have never participated is a large breeding program, so I imagine the odds are it could & would happen.
BUT, I do know the nature of our beloved horses, and rarely will a dam show in heat let alone stand willingly to be bred by her own offspring! Please remember, The Horse Is A Noble Beast!
I am not so good at quoting, but someone somewhere said it, and I for believe it! ;D

Sorry Laura, I had to laugh at this one.........Horses are not prone to be moralistic.........Mother Nature will allow this to happen, son, father, brother, whatever the case may be..........Better to be safe than sorry. A mare will show heat, even to a gelding..................This is a pic of my daughter's colt, gelding I might add........sweet talking a little mare we have........She winks alot at him. (lol) This picture was taken after he had licked even her feet..............This mare is in heat, big time, and she don't care who..........


The gelding is the one being kissed.................I have more graphic pics, but this is a family affair here.......


I always love your messages, and I always agree with you, but not this time.......Please don't stop, you have alot to share........
Joy

[ShainaTN]

It's not unheard of for a ungelded colt under a year to get a mare in foal, but it is not very likely. You can get them gelded as soon as they drop. Some people wait for their colt to be a yearling or older to get them cut, but waiting till then will give you the characteristics you want to eliminate by gelding!

Rusty, my colt is not quite a year old, but he'll be getting gelded next month. I raised him by hand with no momma or other foals, and he is the sweetest colt ever! He doesn't show any studly behaviors yet... that is why we are going to go ahead and get him gelded.

I have also read that if you geld your colt early, he is more likely to grow 1 to 2 more inches in height... and for some, that can make a BIG difference.

I think that it is just a matter of preference and what you want to do and what you can afford. The later you wait the more costly it's going to be, because he's going to be bigger and stronger therefore needing more sedation and a bigger incision, hence bigger vet bill. They also say it's good to get them gelded while they are still with their momma because she will exercise him and give him comfort... the exercising keeps the swelling down and drainage down too!

But of course this is my opinion... and also what I have read out of a book!

[Golden Girl]

Yes, there are always allot of opinions, and ultimately it is up to us to decide what if the best for our animals ;D. Thanks for your reply Joy. I respect everyones right to their opinions!
In running my farm, it is important that my animals get along with each other. I pastured Little Big Man, then a two year old colt with my several of my mares before. The two that he was raised with would not even show heat around him. Ange, my TB and a QH mare Savannah. The QH mare I wanted him to breed too
He did get two bred though. One TB mare Jewel, she aborted twins , then another Quarter Pony mare, Fuzzy, caught also. She was young, Only 18 months! That was a surprise to me Anyway I got a cute App. filly out of that cross. I lost three foals that year The one that really hurt was Ange's foal out of Flip for JK. But that is old news, and now I have a nice two year colt out of Flip and an Appendix mare, and he is out in the pasture with Ange and Little Big Man (now a gelding) If Ange, now 20, lets Rajah breed her this summer, then maybe I will get my foal that I wanted after all these years. But it is up to Ange and Rajah. If nothing happens, next year he will probably get castrated I am not in the large horse breeding business, just miniatures. Now my miniature stallion is another long story for another time!

[Meghan]

We gelded our 2 yr old at 6 months

[mythicfriesians]

I have definately seen a lot of studies where the results imply (never a guarantee) that gelding earlier tends to produce more height, and gelding late leads to a bit more bulk, less height.

Really, when you geld should depend on a horse by horse basis. I had one 2 year old stud colt that didn't even notice a mare, even if she was squatting and winking for him. Then I have a yearling stud colt that would happily have been breeding by a month old, if he could have reached! I leave pretty much everything intact unless their personality dictates otherwise, and I definately notice that msot of my boys tend to bulk up before they grow much height.

Whether they can breed before a year is also on a horse by horse basis - but be assured that it's not all that unusual for them to physically be able to breed at 8-9 months! It's just a matter of whether or not they can reach (height wise), and if the mare will stand.

I only put my weaned stud colts out with pregnant mares, just to be safe And to teach them some manners!

Allison

[Jen]

with alot of the friesians, friesian crosses, and draft crosses, they will be bulky w/ or w/o hormones. My cross colt had the neck muscle from day one and still has them at almost a year old, and 6 months after gelding

mythicfriesians said:

I have definately seen a lot of studies where the results imply (never a guarantee) that gelding earlier tends to produce more height, and gelding late leads to a bit more bulk, less height.

Really, when you geld should depend on a horse by horse basis. I had one 2 year old stud colt that didn't even notice a mare, even if she was squatting and winking for him. Then I have a yearling stud colt that would happily have been breeding by a month old, if he could have reached! I leave pretty much everything intact unless their personality dictates otherwise, and I definately notice that msot of my boys tend to bulk up before they grow much height.

Whether they can breed before a year is also on a horse by horse basis - but be assured that it's not all that unusual for them to physically be able to breed at 8-9 months! It's just a matter of whether or not they can reach (height wise), and if the mare will stand.

I only put my weaned stud colts out with pregnant mares, just to be safe And to teach them some manners!

Allison

[tabby]

We have two vets around where I live and they wont touch a colt unless they are over 2 years old or almost 2 years old. Believe me I have tried. I have had some colts that start acting studly at a very young age. But of course, we found an old horseman that has cut probably more than what the vets have and he will do it when he thinks that colt is ready. He said as long as you can grab them, then he can cut them.

[mythicfriesians]

jen said:

with alot of the friesians, friesian crosses, and draft crosses, they will be bulky w/ or w/o hormones. My cross colt had the neck muscle from day one and still has them at almost a year old, and 6 months after gelding

True enough! All of my purebred boys have had the bulk and muscle from birth, except for one. Though, so does the Arab cross colt I have here now, rofl. But my one Friesian cross, when I bought him as a weanling, had little to no muscle definition when I bought him, and is still pretty gawky compared to my other boys. He was gelded at 10 months. Hard to say if he would have been bulkier if I hadn't cut him, but he was a real twit as a stud! =)

[Jen]

it could just be the stallion my colt is out of. He is baroque and breeds true to cross breeds, all his foals got more friesian in them than what is normal passed on.

mythicfriesians said:

jen said:

with alot of the friesians, friesian crosses, and draft crosses, they will be bulky w/ or w/o hormones. My cross colt had the neck muscle from day one and still has them at almost a year old, and 6 months after gelding

True enough! All of my purebred boys have had the bulk and muscle from birth, except for one. Though, so does the Arab cross colt I have here now, rofl. But my one Friesian cross, when I bought him as a weanling, had little to no muscle definition when I bought him, and is still pretty gawky compared to my other boys. He was gelded at 10 months. Hard to say if he would have been bulkier if I hadn't cut him, but he was a real twit as a stud! =)

[redsrider]

I had my bot done at two ,,,,with no probs,,,,he never acted studdy to begin with.