I’m looking at a young Holsteiner that has been recently backed but not broke. He is lovely, but I have no use for a stallion. He has not been bred yet.
Is it possibly worth collecting semen and then gelding him “just in case” he turns out to be a formidable competitor?
I would recommending contacting Kathy at www.equine-reproduction.com to help you answer that question.
Some people will disagree with me but our policy is that they either stay a stallion and you market them as such and see where they end up and how they perform or they are gelded and become great horses as geldings. There are many phenomenal stallions out there and I truely believe a great stallion should be able to compete as a stallion. Gelding can change so much of their personality ie can your horse deal with showing and collecting and be a gentleman, Can they seperate breeding from working. A stallion has a different way of dealing with life as a show horse then a gelding. You want your horse to be great and he might be, but I think he needs to be great as a stallion or as a gelding. Who knows how great some of the geldings would have been if left a stallion, I would say most would not get as far as they have.
Also, Some registries will not register offspring from stallions once they have been gelded. They feel that if they can not perform as a stallion them they do not need to pass on the genetics they have, (ie unable to concentrate in rings, attitude under saddle or hard to handle on the ground).
Good luck with your decision.
My two cents.
And of course, there is the issue that this stallion is not licensed or proven in any way.
I think if you like the horse, he has good blood lines and you want to breed for your self. Not everthing is about licensing and registrations.
The bloodlines I was given were Kensington (Rantares) x Candyman SS (Cambridge). He’s very tall, pretty and seems very correct. I am not really inclined to keep a stallion since I don’t have my own place nor my own trailer… but think he would be a fabulous sporthorse prospect.
I thought maybe if I collected and froze, I wouldn’t worry about any unwanted offspring should he max out at the lower levels, but would have something to work with should he turn out to be an UL horse.
[No, I wouldn’t want to breed my own. I already learned I don’t have the patience for babies and waiting for them to grow up! 
]
The cost may also be a consideration-there is usually clean out costs, test freeze(s), and then the costs for the freezing which use to run about $500 per collection (5-10 doses). Then you have to pay to store it every year ($200??) so that is alot to pay for a maybe. The good news is most sporthorse people wont second guess your decision to geld as there are so many great performing stallions and great performing geldings.
Storing frozen semen with a top rate facility runs $350-$500 depending on how much is stored, once you’ve paid the costs for a semen evauation (for both fresh and frozen stats) – typically done on site over several days at a facility that specializes that (Select Breeders’ Service or Equine-Reproduction.com).
But please know that good “stats” does not guarantee pregnancies. Not all stallions with fresh, cooled ship well. So you would need to ask for semen evaluations at 24 and 48 hrs. in an Equitainer at the facility.
Good stats with frozen doesn’t mean squat unless it translates to easy pregnancies. Of course, that cannot be learned until it is offered, which is why many stallion owners offer free test breedings before they put it on the market.
Very expensive. But if you in fact wind up with an UL horse, it might be worth it. It’s really a crap shoot. :winkgrin:
Good point ( a major point on whether it will even work regardless of what it looks like under the microscope.
There are several factors to consider. If he is not an approved licensed stallion, his offspring will NOT be eligible for registration papers. Given the vast number of stallions available to mare owners now and the fact that the economy has pushed the #of foals produced yearly down, I just don’t feel the semen from this boy would be attracting enough mare owners to cover the costs of collecting and freezing his semen. You will also have to have him EVA tested and vaccinated to make it marketable.
From what I have learned from Kathy & Jos, approximately 30% of all stallions do not freeze well. Meaning, they will never produce a live foal from a frozen semen breeding. Those stallions may have fresh shipped semen that is amazing, but it is not related to frozen semen fertility. Unfortunately, the equine reproduction world is not as advanced as the cattle world…but then, we breed for performance, not for fertility.
My personally opinion, even if your boy does end up doing well in the performance ring, the amount of money you are going to have to spend to do test collections, freezing and then shelling out money to store the semen, and the lack of him being approved with any registries as a stallion, you would be much further ahead to just purchase frozen semen from a top Grand Prix stallion in the future.
Thanks for the opinions all. Very helpful perspectives. He is not currently registered and as I’m not interested in breeding don’t plan on it. Seems like it’s better to not worry about semen and just have him gelded. Thanks!
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