Currently having a midlife crisis and bought a 4, will be 5 in July stallion. Had 90 day’s professional start last year. Has been turned out with mares.
Planning on getting him cut this month. Definitely don’t need a stallion. Will it make a difference? Feeling extra crazy right now.
My home set up isn’t super great. It’s mostly pasture and I have a small paddock area. All my other horses are geldings. Mostly worried about the after care.
I know a couple people who’ve gelded horses late. Both were old guys. One had his old stud cut so his grand kid could ride/show him, that horse was at least in his teens. The other old guy was past breeding and didn’t have anything to show, so had that stud gelded (around 10)and then showed & sold him. I was around the second horse a bit, he was fine to be around.
My old Amish friend gelded many of the horses in his area. I don’t remember it being a big deal, other the horses being understandably ouchy for a couple days. The all seemed to heal fairly quickly.
I wouldn’t say that’s super late. If he is pretty studdy now you may still see some of that after the gelding but I’ve known a few gelded around that age that are your typical gelding now. Do you have a field he can be in on his own for a bit afterwards? Gelding aftercare isn’t too bad, mostly lots of handwalking (alongside regular turnout) to try and keep the swelling at bay.
He didn’t seem too awful today. Stood tied up next to some geldings for about an hour. Was also tied in a round pen next to some pregnant mares. Didn’t seem to whinny or be obnoxious. Just very green. Slightly perked up when a mare was being ridden in the same arena.
He was turned out with mares on a few 100 acres so he’s been bred before. Got him as a loose horse auction.
We do have two different pastures and I can always split one in half. 10 acres in the front and 10 in the back. Debating boarding him for 3ish weeks. Don’t really want to pay for board for 3 weeks then another month plus training. Especially if I can just keep him at home after being cut.
I did geld a five year-old. The most important thing is to make sure they get exercise after being gelded so they don’t develop adhesions. My horse took a short while to quit acting “studdy,” but he had not bred a mare. He is now a kid’s pony and a perfect gentleman. I did not turn him out with other horses until his hormones settled down.
Years ago I bought a very sweet and well mannered 17 year old stallion (who had always pasture bred the owner’s mares) and had him gelded.
He was never studdy. What did happen was his immune system weakened in terms of allergies. He was only 14.2H and when the ragweed was in full bloom, I had to stop riding him where it was.
The little doll face stayed with me until his end time at age 27. He was a great trail horse and a great trail cutting horse. I could walk ahead, out of sight, cutting a trail and he would stay put eating tree leaves until I called him. A very special fella who was Lippitt Morgan/Egyptian Arab cross.
Also, as has already been stated, make sure the horse has enough exercise to keep his stitches draining.
No experience with after care.
The only 2 I know were:
*Friend’s OTTB, bought as an 8yo stud. She gelded & showed him successfully as a Hunter.
His JC name was Pollenate 
*My own TWH, also gelded at 8, with at least 1 colt on the ground (per TWHBEA records). I got him as a 10yo. Sweet-mannered horse, who never had a studly moment
Thanks everyone. This is him. He’s been hauled 300ish miles in the last 3 days. We currently have 2 feet of snow. Hopefully he will get cut next month.
We gelded an 8yr old herd stallion, without any problems. Horse had been trained and used as a ranch horse before being turned out with his mares. Owner firmly believed that a horse had to have brains to handle training, learn to work at ages 3-4-5yrs, BEFORE being allowed the privilege of reproducing himself. Then horse had to manage his small (5 to 7) herd of mares by keeping them in good flesh, pregnant again, foals (not his babies) on the ground also in good condition. Older mares taught him “No means NO!!” He politely would ask “Anyone ready to breed?” Not just jump them. Then his foals were evaluated the next spring to see if they were of a quality good enough to breed more.
At any point in developing him, even after breeding him, the owner could decide to geld him.
The stallion we bought was pretty easy to handle, well socialized with herd life. We had no mares to breed, so he got cut once we got home. We took him to the Vet Clinic, they have the supplies, Dr on hand should things go bad. Older horse has bigger blood vessels, needs special attention during and after the procedure. Do get him moving a few hours after gelding and several times a day after. He will probably take longer to heal and close, simply because the incision will be larger than a younger horse. So a few blood drops even a couple months after, is not an impossibility or an emergency. Check with the Vet if it worries you. Has happened to us with 2 big horses. Our old, very wise Vet was reassuring, “Big, older horse means bigger incision, which equals longer healing time.” They did close up fine.
The stallion was a dominant horse but not obnoxious about it. Easy to live with, but noticed almost everything. That could have been his Great Plains home, used to seeing miles before moving to Michigan with our trees that shortened the views. He actually lost top spot after gelding, another dominent gelding moved up. Not a big fight, ex-stallion just got shoved over. He got more settled as time went along, stayed easy.
We sold him to be used as a Pony Horse at the track. Buyer loved him!! Called back about how well he did his job, out walking the young horses who had to hurry to keep up, no time to get in trouble! No young colts ever tried knocking horse around. He would exude confidence, “give them the LOOK, and they behaved!” Buyer said the best part was he was never sore, no matter how many hours a day he rode the horse! Some days he was in the saddle all day, could climb off and just walk away, not sore.
I don’t think OP will have much trouble with their late gelding. Horse just needs good training, consistent handling. He will probably be bolder, more confident than other geldings, but losing his testerone may change some of that. He is not old enough for it to have been ingrained like our stallion was. Sounds VERY good with his behaving when tied a while, nice acting around other horses. Being out with mares should have instilled gentlemanly behavior, good social, herd manners. You don’t jump the girls just because she is near you! THAT can get your head kicked in!!
I WOULD be careful for a LONG time keeping him apart, in dealing with only one fence between him and other horses. Striking at new horses while nose sniffing, may put someone’s leg into the fencing, get hurt. We have all double row fencing, one of wire, one inside that of hot tape so no one can touch others in the next field or paddock. Pick his future buddies, stall them on both sides so they can learn each other safely. He is used to being with other horses, not isolated like some people keep stallions. Then it will be less exciting when you let them out together. Three might be better than just two, the odd horse will keep butting in, not just two horses facing off. Best of luck with the new horse!
It just depends, there are no hard and fast rules about it. Some stallions are exceptionally quiet and that translates to them as geldings, few stallions are difficult to handle after gelding but they are generally exceptionally difficult to handle prior to gelding. I believe it’s more beneficial to you him having been in a herd - he has undoubtably been taught manners by other mares and is accustomed to being near them. If anything, I feel horses gelded late in life can be more attached to mares/herd bound and possibly more aggressive with geldings. I had a horse who was bred and later gelded at 8 - he (unpredictably) attacked another gelding when first introduced in turn out and tried driving them through the fence. It was a vicious attack. I would exercise caution and introduce one on one in a large field to the geldings he will be turned out with. I would introduce horses on a lead so you can intervene if the new horse becomes dangerous. I would then look at incorporating the new guy in with mares at least a month after gelding if you plan to do so so hormones can settle - I’d also avoid sharing fence lines until then as well. He may be a quiet boy, I think a lot of stallions automatically get a bad rep by people who over hype stallions. A lot of people speak on them with no experience with them and give them a bad name.
You may want to ask how long after gelding, that he is still fertile. I don’t think a month is long enough for hormones to be really settled yet, or to have lost his fertility. But OP only has geldings, so fertility probably is not an issue.
The saying hormone wise is - in a month they will be good, in 3 months they will be great. They adjust quite a bit hormonally over a 4 week span and that continues to taper.
Sperm can last about 4 days in the ductus deferens. Some studies have shown that it can take several months to devoid the body completely of spermatozoa, however, pregnancy is highly unlikely 1 week after gelding.
No advice on the gelding I just wanted to say what a cutie! Love hissleepy expression.
Fun update. Not really. Stud was in a tiny quarantine pen since he was purchased at a loose auction.
Spent 30 days there. Was sick for a bit. Got over it. He just got gelded this Friday. Also got with wolf teeth removed. He’s a little funny and hard to catch.
Get him loaded up. All goes well. We go home. He’s settled. We leave. 10 minutes later my father in law calls and says the horse is gushing blood. I drive back out. He sure it. It’s Friday, 7 o’clock. We called every emergency vet within a 100 mile radius and nothing. Our friend up the road says it’s pretty normal.
At this point the horse is so uncomfortable. He was pawing, laying down. Can’t get near his mouth to give him any oral banamine. I ended up laying down with him til about 12 o’clock.
Anyways he’s back to his regular perky, spooky self. I probably wouldn’t do this again. His back legs are still covered in blood and mud. Messed with him a bit today and he let me hose him down a bit. The faucet I was using has awful water pressure.
You described my Hackney pony perfectly. He was gelded sometime around age 10 to 12–don’t remember exactly as I got this from his registration. I got him when he was 22, and he had so much studdy behavior. It didn’t help that my mare was constantly saying “come on, big boy, you know you can do it.” She was 15.2 and the pony was 12.2, but somehow they did the deed. I knew he wasn’t a cryptorchid, so the only result was muddy hoofprints on the mare. And boy, did he hate any male horse. Around other geldings, he was bad enough, always picking fights. But we met an intact horse once, and my little guy went nuts.
Rebecca
The effect of late gelding seems to vary a lot. I have known about 6 or 7horses gelded after age 4. Two of them were always “studdy”. The others were more typical geldings. One horse was bred and had foals on the ground when he was gelded around age 6. He was a totally non-studdy gelding.
And yet my grade gelding who was reportedly gelded young, had delusions of stallionhood. He would even “do the deed” with a favorite mare if given the chance.
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