I have a 3 month colt that I plan to geld this winter. I am located in So AZ, so the earliest it can be done is November due to flies. I only have the one colt and have a dry lot. If it rains significantly, which it can in Nov and Dec, the turnout turns into a mud bog. I can have the gelding done onsite or take him to the hospital in Phoenix. It will be about $600 more for the hospital visit where they can use the operating room and sew him up. This boy had a rough start; he was in and out of the hospital for the first couple of weeks, but finally everything was sorted out and he is thriving. I fear that something can go wrong during the gelding at home and if it rains he will lay in the mud increasing the risk of infection. Does anyone have advice either way? This is my first colt and I don’t quite know what to expect.
At home gelding can be fine for a colt of the age you have but I recently heard of two gelding of young stallions that didnt go so well. One was a Morgan 4 yrs old who herniated his intestines and died very sad. The other was a 12 yr old Andalushian stallion who also herniated his intestines he was saved. Had surgery and has slowly but not fully recovered from it months later. My vet believes that some breeds have an increased risk of herniation and essentially the larger the inguinal ring is where all the business drops through and out of the body cavity the more important it is to be careful. You have to decide but if its any consideration the little bit of extra cost is much less than his life or complications.
Good luck with your Boy…
For a normal colt, either way could be fine, other than not having a dry place to keep him until the incision closes.
Since your colt already had problems, why take unnecessary chances?
Ask your vet.
There are a couple of breeds that do seem to have a higher incidence of herniation post castration but not the two given as examples here. There is also a paper that indicates that castrating before they are a year old demonstrates a higher incidence of herniation. I live just north of Phoenix and will be gelding my colt towards the end of October/beginning of November. He will be getting close to 8 months old then. I will be having it done at home and won’t be taking him into the clinic. I’ve had them done here from 6 months to 5 years old. Knock on wood all have gone okay.
All my boys have been done at home. Never caused any trouble. 
Don’t forget to add in the stress of travel for your boy- does he travel well?
A lot of it depends on the vet in my experience… I’ve had colts that bled a lot after the procedure because the vet basically just “chopped” off the parts (20 years ago), and then for many years I had a vet that did a super job that barely even resulted in swelling afterwards. All of mine were done around 9 or 10 months of age (early spring) because that’s about the only time we don’t have flies and that was my main concern. Haven’t had any issues in many years except the bleeding mentioned earlier.
Good luck!
If you have it done at home, the vet can either do it standing or laid out. If you want it to be sewn, you have to lay the horse down.
Do you not have any stall which can be bedded with straw to castrate him in? And if he is in a muddy dry lot, how much exercise will he get? If you are relying on the colt exercising himself, that might not be enough – If he is hurting, he might just stand around. Will you be able to hand walk him? You need to train him to be led easily, before he is cut.
Have both of his testicles dropped? If not, clinic for sure.
Hospital.
I always swore I’d never watch a gelding, and swore if I had to have a horse gelded that I would have it done by my vet in his surgery on the table. So of course 6 1/2 yrs ago when I moved to another barn, the vet was coming out for shots for mine and for gelding the BO’s big 7 yr old stud. OK, so the vet from my hospital came alone, and the BO did not ask her husband to take off from work, nor did she ask her 2 teenage home schooled girls to help so I had to help. Well the horse got up 2x. Yes, he got up 2x. First time I saw him twitch and said to vet, Catherine, he’s getting up, get away from him. She put him under again. He got up again, and this time, the 2nd testicle flew up high into the air over and over, like slow mo in a cartoon, and landed with a plop in front of us. The horse staggered around on his knees, big horse, and BO couldn’t handle him. I thought the poor guy would break a leg. He was fine. In fact, the BO ignored most of the instructions that the vet gave her to hose the wound and stall the horse, and he was fine. It was not a fun experience, and the vet and I were not very happy with the whole incident.
Sp beware the flying testicle if you geld at the barn. I’d gladly pay the extra money for the hospital. The vet did not put him under a 3rd time to sew him up, so he had a long strip of skin having down dripping blood for a few days. I did hose him off several times.
All mine have been at home and, knock on wood, never had anything bad happen other than one 6 year old stallion who clearly experienced more pain than the vet expected after the drugs wore off. Vet came back and gave more drugs and the boy was fine.
I do hate to watch tho. It’s one of the reasons why I’m always happy to see that baby is a filly.
[QUOTE=cloudyandcallie;7751893]
Hospital.
I always swore I’d never watch a gelding, and swore if I had to have a horse gelded that I would have it done by my vet in his surgery on the table. So of course 6 1/2 yrs ago when I moved to another barn, the vet was coming out for shots for mine and for gelding the BO’s big 7 yr old stud. OK, so the vet from my hospital came alone, and the BO did not ask her husband to take off from work, nor did she ask her 2 teenage home schooled girls to help so I had to help. Well the horse got up 2x. Yes, he got up 2x. First time I saw him twitch and said to vet, Catherine, he’s getting up, get away from him. She put him under again. He got up again, and this time, the 2nd testicle flew up high into the air over and over, like slow mo in a cartoon, and landed with a plop in front of us. The horse staggered around on his knees, big horse, and BO couldn’t handle him. I thought the poor guy would break a leg. He was fine. In fact, the BO ignored most of the instructions that the vet gave her to hose the wound and stall the horse, and he was fine. It was not a fun experience, and the vet and I were not very happy with the whole incident.
Sp beware the flying testicle if you geld at the barn. I’d gladly pay the extra money for the hospital. The vet did not put him under a 3rd time to sew him up, so he had a long strip of skin having down dripping blood for a few days. I did hose him off several times.[/QUOTE]
One of my vets said he usually performs the surgery surrounded by a group of giggling females.
FWIW my other vet does it standing with a local and heavy sedation. We push the horse against the wall. The vet says it’s a bit more awkward but gravity helps
Thanks for all the feedback. The colt does travel very well due to the multiple trips to phoenix. We just did the last follow up a week ago and the vet and staff commented that he was better behaved than most of their adult patients. I handle him every day, so he leads, bathes, brushes, stands for feet, etc… I can easily lead him around the property and he will trot as well when asked. I can bed a stall with straw, my concern is turn out and the procedure in general. We just got 1.25" rain today and my turn out is a muddy mess again. I am leaning towards the hospital just to make it easier on him since he has already gone through quite a bit. I don’t think both testicles have dropped yet, although I would hope they would in another couple of months.
I think you will be less stressed if you have him done at the hospital. That alone is a good enough reason to have him done there. If anything goes wrong on the farm, it is hard for 1 vet to handle the complication. At the hospital, there should be a whole crowd of well trained people with lots of equipment to deal with any potential complications.
There is a big difference in the risk between gelding a 4-6 month old and a 4 or 12 YEAR old. the old horses have a much harder time. Of course there are always risks, but I would have him done at home and take him in if there are any issues. But to me, $600 is a lot of extra money for something as basic as gelding. Which honestly is an extremely basic procedure if your vet is competent. You vet can give you post-op care instructions. Start handling his man bits now so he gets used to you working with him “there” to make that easier. Hose it off and whatnot, feel him up now and then. :lol:
Of course, if you don’t mind spending the money, there is nothing wrong with sending him out, but I really think you can do this IF you want to. It’s totally up to you.
I think it’s almost criminal to geld a 7 or 8-year old stallion at home! The above post outlines the many reasons why, never mind the pain and suffering the stallion was subjected to… Weanlings, sure, yearlings, probably, but anything older than that belongs in a hospital to have the procedure done. … and I blame the vet more than the client for going along with it. Let’s suggest “gelding” him at home and see how he reacts to that!
Yes, to be clear, I meant that gelding is a very basic procedure for a weanling! But NOT the older stallions where it can be a much bigger deal and I too would want them done in a hospital setting. But that is why hearing about two “geldings gone wrong” in 4 and 12 year old stallions done at home is not to be wondered at and shouldn’t necessarily scare OP off doing this at home for her baby. That’s just a totally different scenario than gelding a weanling.
I have gelded large older colts…yearlings…who should have been done in clinic. They did have problems with bleeding and then infection. It was a new woman vet and I really believe it is very hard for a womans hand to close the emasculatome assertively enough to crush the vessels as much as you need to . Their balls and the vessels supplying them were much larger than average. I have also gelded a 3 yo and had a similar problem though it was a man vet…his “equipment” was record setting. I would not worry about a 3 month old being difficult as a rule they are easy except they can be squirrelly to handle if they have not gotten enough handling but that doesn’t apply in your case. Taking that age foal off farm would raise the stress and expose them to pathogens they are not ready to fight when they are stressed further by gelding but again your foal has already had those adventures…probably has friends there. PatO
