Gelding a mature stallion

[Melyni]

Seeking the wisdom of the crowd (?) on the wisdom (or not) of gelding an older stallion.

The situation is, I have a breeding stallion, he is 9 yrs old. He competes in dressage, and right on the boarder of going PSG.

I don’t ride him, he lives with a trainer.

I have had him collected and frozen and have about 50 doses in the tank.

He does not get that many mares, say 2-3 a year.
I have looked into selling him, he is a nice horse but not an outstanding horse, his biggest asset (other than the family jewels), is his super temperament, and he would be a great horse for an amateur or a YR, but amateurs and YRs don’t ride stallions.

For a stallion he is good, but he is still a stallion, screams and yells etc. Limited turnout opportunites etc.

Stallions are hard to board and expensive to maintain. He’s gonna be a lot easier to sell if he were a gelding.

I have been considering gelding him to make life easier and to make him more marketable. But I have heard that it can be much more negative to the horse than I maybe realise.

SO what say those of you who are experienced stallion owners?
Have you gelded an older mature stallion, did it work out well or not?

Input welcomed.
MW

[MuskokaLakesConnemaras]

I’ve have. No issues and they went on to be excellent members of the geldings community. That being said, if they were a-holes before, they very well could remain a-holes after. Mine are taught no yelling and screaming unless in a breeding situation, so they have been VERY delineated as to jobs. That made gelding success that much better.
But it certainly has been done very well, so I wouldn’t hesitate to chop.

[netg]

I don’t know how the actual gelding went, but my mom bought a gelding who hadn’t been one for long. He was used for breeding, then gelded around 9. Totally mellow, easygoing, turned out with my mare with no problems, and great babysitter for my mom.

I would talk to your vet for the specifics around your horse, but especially given you already have him collected, other than possible medical factors which I can’t give advice on, there seems to be little downside.

[goodpony]

My former stallion was gelded about a year after selling him at age 12. He has gone on to become a schoolmaster for the daughter of a professional-a job that he dearly loves and excels in. Im very proud of him and all he has accomplished, both when he was mine and now in his new home. Our boy moved up-town.

[2DogsFarm]

No vast experience, but I can report:

Years ago a friend had her 8yo OTTB gelded & he went on to become a decent Jumper for her.

My TWH was gelded at 8yo (just before I got him) and never showed a bit of studdish behavior.
He had been used for breeding as TWHBEA had a record of a son of his.

Talk to your vet & be prepared for a lot more bleeding - the older the stallion, the more vascularly developed the “parts”.

[ewells]

I have seen this done 3 different times personally.

1. QH stallion 8-10yrs old he had no issues and really he wasnt very stallion like to begin with but life was easier for him afterwords and it did alow him to be more marketable.

2. PRE 5yrs old HUGE Melon sized testicles no jokes biggest ive ever seen, the breeder owner had him collected and frozen. He was then gelded at a Vet College/ Hospital with the express purpose that they watch for possable hernia. He did fine and was a few months later sold to a YR home. Stunning horse. He was soo easy going it wouldent have made any difference but he will have an easier life not because of his behavior but more so that he could be treated normally by people :).

3. Older 12yr PRE stallion had had an extensive breeding career owner had decided to cycle other stallions into the program and he had been in her program for 8years so had made his mark but didnt want him breeding on the market this is controlling your genetic base. Lovely stallion was sold to trainer and gelded per their contracted agreement. Stallion did not do well he had a terrable hernia/ruptured abdominal muscle occure post gelding (it was done at home not a vet hospital) this required emergecy surgery. Durring recovery from that surgery he coliced and required colic surgery :(. He did survive but hasnt been the same since and then once recovered from above ended up with a ligament injury. At this point he’s a lovely gelding but not the same even the breeder feels badly about how it went.

[2tempe]

OP - I’m an amateur who just purchased a Lusitano stallion, that I’d been part leasing for a year or so. I did a lot of investigation and discussing on this topic, and have decided not to geld him. More than one vet said it should be done in hospital setting w/ them knocked out. Cleaner, safer, and all that other stuff. I have also read that studly behavior doesn’t always change.

My little guy is really well behaved, but clearly knows he is a stallion. I’ve shown him and my barn situation is such that he gets his 1/2 day turnout overlooking his best friend and all the other horses. He shares a barred wall with said BF gelding, so he can see, and talk to him. I like his “spark” and wouldn’t want to lose that. I didn’t want to take the risk of the gelding process.
I would not, however, have bought a stallion that I did not know, and that is the problem you will run into.

my link from early August http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?472768-gelding-the-adult-stallion

[Personal_Champ]

I am not an experienced stallion owner, but I did geld an 11 year old OTTB that was used live cover for 2 seasons. The gelding went textbook wonderfully. It did take some time for him to change his behaviors. That side was likely worse since he was used live cover, though.

[Melyni]

Thanks Guys,

Still on the fence about this decision, but it is good to hear that others have done it with good outcomes.

[spook1]

Hi
I gelded a 9 year old Arabian. He was kinda a jerk about the yelling and screaming around ANY other living creature but ridable. the gelding was done at the farm and went well although took a bit longer to heal but did heal fine. about 3 months later…he became a trusty school horse for beginners and kids. You would not have know that 3 months earlier he was a screaming idiot of a stallion. Much happier being turned out with other horses.

[DoubleDown]

We have a QH in our barn that was gelded when he was 19YO. He recovered just fine, and with no real personality difference because he was a SAINT before he was gelded. He’s a babysitter now to the babies.

[axl]

My sister got out of breeding and gave her fabulous pony stallion to another breeder, who subsequently decided to stop breeding. He was gelded at minimum 23, don’t know the exact age, but he was with my sister still at 23. He went on to become a happy, healthy short stirrup pony and really enjoyed turn out with other ponies after being solitary so long.

i was HORRIFIED when I heard because I know of the dangers but it radically improved his quality of life (breeding 3-10 mares and being alone all the time vs. company/group turnout) but I don’t know if it was done in a hospital.

i would like to reiterate that personality doesn’t change or not much in older stallions that get gelded. Chip was kid safe as an entire male unless there was a mare in heat in eyesight, therefore he was kid safe after gelding. A screaming, rearing, difficult-to-handle 2yo should improve with gelding. A 10yo will not, they are confirmed in their behavior.

[suzyq]

I did it to a 14 year old that I bought, he wasn’t bad acting but I thought life would be better for both of us! He did go to the vet for a couple days, and this vet had experience gelding older stallions. He did great.

[FatCatFarm]

I gelded my 6 year old gorgeous leopard Appaloosa stallion after he recovered from EPM in order to make his life and consequently mine, less stressful. He had HUGE testicles. My vet did it in my stable yard and it was uneventful. However, he did have an infection post gelding which took a couple of months to clear. I think it was induced in part by the generous loose skin he retained after losing his melons. He had only been used for breeding on a limited basis. In addition to hand breeding him, which he was very good about, I had tried allowing him to pasture breed and then remain with the mares once bred, but he was far to aggressive and pushy in that setting, and was removed. He was something of a hard head as a stallion and is certainly still a hard headed, stubborn guy as a gelding.

While perfectly fine to handle under saddle and on the ground, from a pasturing/turnout standpoint, he remains agressive and an alpha male, and you have to be careful about who you pasture him with. He will be top dog; he can be possessive about mares and he is not to be trusted with younger colts and geldings. He attacked and savaged a 8 month old colt I owned after breaking out of a stall and going after him. Fortunately the colt did recover but was left with multiple areas of dimpling in his neck from crushing bites sustained during the attack.

I did have success allowing him one companion at a time in a pasture of his own. One was a Welsh cross pony gelding and the other was a mini jenny donkey oddly enough. Both were quick to get out of his way though when he was in a mood, particularly at feeding times, which was a prerequisite.

He is currently on loan to a friend of mine with a therapeutic riding center. At 16hds and quite stocky, and most importantly, extremely lazy, he is a good, solid mount for some of their large adult riders. He is now in a coed pasture of mature horses, but he is definitely the boss. He no longer acts at all studdish, but he is definitely going to be the top dog of any grouping when it comes to pasturing. He can be trail ridden and trailered in mix company just fine though.

As others have said, a lot does depend on how he is now. Gelding him will remove the libido, but if he’s kind of a jerk now, I strongly suspect, he will still be kind of a jerk post castration. It will however definitely improve his quality of life, you just may need to ease him into it and then keep an eye on him for a while and pick his pasture companions carefully, and/or warn any potential buyers.

[Melissa.Van_Doren]

Last winter I purchased an 18 yr old APHA who had been gelded two years previously after a long breeding career. His surgery was done at a large clinic and was uneventful.

[outerbanks77]

Well, interesting story. I bought a 2.5 year old gelding several years ago and boarded him at a local private place. The BO turned him out with her gelding, who was about 10 and had been gelded at 8 or 9. Well, he about tore my horse a new one, ran him into the fence, etc. The BO was shocked because this horse normally acted like a gelding, turned out with all other horses and so on.

Well, I found out after moving barns, right before my horse turned three, that he was cryptorchid and had off the charts testosterone levels. So I think there was something back in that gelding’s latent stallion brain that told him to attack my young upstart. Anyway, kind of a novel situation, but while I think that gelding late mostly gives you a gelding, there are always going to be some stallion instincts left in there.

[cripplecreekfrm]

I too am seriously contemplating gelding my breeding stallion. My direction has changed and I am not breeding anymore. My guy is pretty easy and lives outside with other geldings and weanlings. I want to ride more and go and do more with him as he is my favorite mount under saddle. There are just so many restrictions while pleasure riding for stallions. I don’t want to change his personality or his attitude just take the jewels away.

[FatCatFarm]

[QUOTE=cripplecreekfrm;8309873]
I too am seriously contemplating gelding my breeding stallion. My direction has changed and I am not breeding anymore. My guy is pretty easy and lives outside with other geldings and weanlings. I want to ride more and go and do more with him as he is my favorite mount under saddle. There are just so many restrictions while pleasure riding for stallions. I don’t want to change his personality or his attitude just take the jewels away.[/QUOTE]

You/he should be fine.

[FatCatFarm]

[QUOTE=outerbanks77;8309665]
Well, interesting story. I bought a 2.5 year old gelding several years ago and boarded him at a local private place. The BO turned him out with her gelding, who was about 10 and had been gelded at 8 or 9. Well, he about tore my horse a new one, ran him into the fence, etc. The BO was shocked because this horse normally acted like a gelding, turned out with all other horses and so on.

Well, I found out after moving barns, right before my horse turned three, that he was cryptorchid and had off the charts testosterone levels. So I think there was something back in that gelding’s latent stallion brain that told him to attack my young upstart. Anyway, kind of a novel situation, but while I think that gelding late mostly gives you a gelding, there are always going to be some stallion instincts left in there.[/QUOTE]

Agree with this and think that owners need to mindful when trying to assimilate their former stallions into groups. From my own experience, young colts seem to be a trigger for ex-stallions.

[butiwantedapony]

I have a few experiences with this.

1. TB stallion, active breeding stallion at ages 3 and 4 for our private breeding operation, then gelded and turned out in large mixed herd. No issues.

2. TB stallion, active breeding stallion all his life until gelded at 17 years old. Level headed and good with other horses prior to gelding, ended up doing well in a geldings-only herd but had some aggressive tendencies when mares were near.

3. I just got a new horse - TB gelding. He is now 13 years old, but was a stallion until the age of 7. He is turned out with another gelding and my alpha mare. He is bottom of the totem pole. He exhibits some stallion-esque behaviors but it not aggressive.

I think the biggest thing is - how is this horse’s temperament NOW? We didn’t notice a HUGE difference before/after gelding with any of them - certainly a difference but they remained the same horse with the same personality - maybe just took the edge off.