Gelding during summer?

[4horses]

My colt just turned a year old. I know gelding during the summer is not ideal. I can probably manage him for a couple months as long as he doesn’t decide going through fencing is a good idea but if I absolutely have to geld, can it be done safely during the summer with flies?

I was hoping to leave him intact and geld closer to age 2 (even November would be better) but not sure his hormones will agree with that! Do young colts adapt to the sudden surge in hormones and eventually settle?

He doesn’t seem to know what to do with himself - everything goes in his mouth and gets destroyed. I’ve started calling him my little alligator. He is aggravating my mares with his attempts at play. Turnout with a gelding might help?

[sascha]

I gelded my first horse for his 4th birthday which was in July. Precautions were taken and he was fine.

[ThreeBarPocoGal]

Vets around here don’t like to sedate when it’s super hot. But our summers are brutal here in Texas. He has to be completely out to be gelded. The flies are a whole other issue that can be managed. So do you mean 80 degree summer, or 103 degree summer?

[Bluey]

@4horses

My colt just turned a year old. I know gelding during the summer is not ideal. I can probably manage him for a couple months as long as he doesn’t decide going through fencing is a good idea but if I absolutely have to geld, can it be done safely during the summer with flies?

I was hoping to leave him intact and geld closer to age 2 (even November would be better) but not sure his hormones will agree with that! Do young colts adapt to the sudden surge in hormones and eventually settle?

He doesn’t seem to know what to do with himself - everything goes in his mouth and gets destroyed. I’ve started calling him my little alligator. He is aggravating my mares with his attempts at play. Turnout with a gelding might help?

Depends on who you turn him with.
The trouble is, his coltish play may get someone hurt, himself or his target.
My older sweet gelding was injured telling a youngster nicely to bug off.
He chipped a chunk out of a stifle taking a bad step, I saw it happen and he never was sound again after that.

Can happen any time, any place, is just more apt with the continuous aggravating need of a young colt to interact, not worth the chance once colts gets to that stage.

Here vets will geld any time needed and adjust recovery to the conditions of the place and weather just fine.
Maybe ask your vet what works there for them?

[Bonnie2]

He doesn’t need 6 months of practicing at being a juvenile delinquent. I would either move him to a situation where he can be in a large field with same age colts or I would geld him now.

[WildGooseChase]

I’d be looking at weather patterns and gelding him sooner than later. If it’s not 95+ degree summers for you, I think it’s manageable. But you really need to have this conversation with your vet. They will know the horse’s history, but since they should be pretty local to the area, they should be able to give you a more definitive answer.

[SLW]

Double check me but Im pretty sure a yearling can impregnate a mare. This could be an issue if your colt is turned out in the pasture with mares.

[luvmyhackney]

You can geld year round provided it’s not 110 degrees and raging heat wave.

If your concerned take him to a vet school and leave him for a day or two.

[NancyM]

Sure, you can geld in summer, maybe not in the middle of a heat wave. Don’t leave it until you something untoward happens, then kick yourself for not being proactive. If you can find a veterinarian who knows how to geld a horse standing without a general anesthetic, huge bonus. Apparently it’s getting rare these days that vets know how to do this adequately. Takes 20 minutes, done standing with tranquilizer and local freezing. Every old time vet I know and have used for decades knew how to do this simple surgery, and only used a general anesthetic if absolutely necessary. But apparently it’s not done as often these days, and costs a whole lot more too. The last one I had done (7 years ago now) was done at 5 months old, standing. I had to travel for that surgery, shipped into a friend’s race training farm, got in on the mass gelding of yearling colts that had come from the local yearling sale, and that wonderful vet has now retired. We overnighted at the farm, and shipped home the next day. It is not advisable to ship home right after gelding. It cost $250.

[JB]

@4horses

He is aggravating my mares with his attempts at play.

does this mean he is pastured with mares? If so, he needs to be gelded asap, or separated

Gelding during bug season can be managed, discuss it with your vet

What are the reasons for preferring to wait until he’s 2-ish? Any small gains in muscling will go away at that age. It’s only the mature stallion who retains (most of) the physical characteristics

[Heinz_57]

Just geld him now, before “summer” arrives. Is there a reason you’re waiting? My vet used a technique (the Henderson instrument, I believe?) that basically made aftercare nonexistent unless complications arose (in spring, though). Which was handy, because the colt I had grew up feral and was only minimally halter trained.

And I’m sure you know this, but…

@4horses

He doesn’t seem to know what to do with himself - everything goes in his mouth and gets destroyed. I’ve started calling him my little alligator. He is aggravating my mares with his attempts at play. Turnout with a gelding might help?

None of this behavior is necessarily going to stop once he’s gelded. Above colt, has been a gelding for over a year. He’s been stuck in solitary confinement in turnout since fall because he is still a bully.

[4horses]

He’s next to mares and has been since he was weaned. He spent a few months with a gelding buddy but the gelding had to go back.

He has a paddock behind the barn and away from mares as well. Today he was absolutely fine. I rode up and down his fence line and he didn’t even look up.

He does get supervised turnout with the 2nd in command (bossy) mare when she’s not in season. Supervised, meaning I sit on a lawn chair and watch. Fortunately she’s a mare that always cycles on schedule and is very obvious. They like to gallop around and rear at each other and act like fools and then settle down to graze. She’s very clearly boss, but he can be aggravating so I usually separate. Don’t want anyone getting hurt. I’m not really worried about anyone being pregnant at this point. He just turned one.

It already is in the 90s during the day, summers will be in the 100s. Even if I geld in the next 2 weeks, we already have summer weather.

[Posting_Trot]

Some of his behavior that you’ve cited might his reaction to mares being in heat, whether or not he can actually see them or interact with them.

I’d say ask your vet what their recommendation is. They would have a better idea of how easy or difficult it will be locally for the gelding operation and healing process to occur now instead of later in the fall, and they’ll know what options there might be for you (like having it done at a clinic in a more controlled environment rather than in the field, etc.)

[Zu_Zu]

Best to geld him NOW ~ before there is an accident of any kind ~ better safe than sorry ~ no need to wait •

[JB]

So what’s the reason for preferring to wait another year? It won’t give the permanent characteristics of a stallion

At some point he’s going to jump a fence and surprise!

Geld him now. It’s harder to manage the after care with heat and bugs, but the short amount of time spent doing that, the sooner he can live with mares without risk of adding to the herd, the better off he’ll be.

[EventerAJ]

I gelded my nice yearling TB colt on Sept 1 last year. In central Florida. It was hot, it was buggy, it was not ideal, but there were absolutely no complications due to environmental conditions. He had a lot of swelling, a lot of drainage, but that’s really common for well-endowed specimens of the AP Indy sireline. Despite the drippy drainage, there were nearly no flies around his incision and things stayed remarkably clean. I was really concerned about the weather and gelding during FL summer (bugs, flies, humidity, sweat, sticky sand, etc), but honestly it turned out to be a non-issue and I would do it again if necessary. I always prefer to geld in the winter (Jan-Feb here), and try to pick the coolest days possible, but the benefits of gelding ASAP far outweigh the environmental risks in my experience.

My vet prefers me to haul the colts to her farm, she drops them with ketamine and other sedatives, performs the castration with the colt on his back, ligates the major vessels internally, and leaves the incisions open to drain. When the colt is awake enough to stand and walk, I load him and go home (it’s a 5-minute trip).

[Warmblood1]

@4horses

I’m not really worried about anyone being pregnant at this point. He just turned one.

I would be. I’ve known colts as young as 8 months to successfully breed.

Geld now. You can deal with flies.