I have had multiple horses who were gelded late and all were eventually able to be turned out with others but that doesn’t mean they could be turned out with just anybody. Being aggressive towards other horses has far more to do with herd hierarchy, herd dynamics and socialization of the species more so than simple hormone levels. My swedish warmblood was gelded at age 12 and he was used for breeding. He was able to be turned out with geldings but not mares. I gelded a 5 year old welsh cob and he was able to be turned out with certain geldings and certain mares but there was one horse I had that he just didn’t get along with and thus they weren’t turned out together.
[QUOTE=Ponyclubrocks;8701838]
We have had three different horses that had been recently gelded (as mature males, at 3, at 5 and at 7 years old respectively) introduced into the mixed herd successfully. The 3 and the 7 year olds were no problem.
The five year old’s problem wasn’t his gelding so much as his complete lack of “speaking horse”. I don’t know if this is because he came off the track or what. He would pester someone and they would pin their ears, bare their teeth, threaten to kick or whatever and this poor dumb guy would just stand there and then get pummeled for not moving away after all the warnings. It took him over a year to finally learn the lingo of the herd.
It’s true as others have said, it’s the mares that really teach the manners in the herd, we have a cadre of bossy mares, Mare number one and her lieutenants that keep the order and smack around anyone being rude.
I could sit and watch the herd dynamics all day…it is totally engrossing.[/QUOTE]
Yes it is.
I have two that didn’t learn to ‘speak horse’. One had been on the track for 7 years. Poor guy had no clue, so I gave him a turnout pony for company. Now he speaks ‘pony’ and it gets him in trouble with the other horses. Apparently what a 12.2 can get away with socially a 16.2 cannot.
My gelding wasn’t cut too late, maybe around 5, but he’s definitely what would call “studish.” He’s fine in groups, provided that the group is all geldings or that he’s the only gelding with a group of mares. If it’s a mixed group, he will literally exhaust himself trying to keep the other geldings away from his mares. He was going out with a group of mares for awhile and it ended up just being too much. Any time he wasn’t with them, he was calling to them or running the fence line looking for them, etc. So now he’s going out with two other geldings and seems happy as a clam.
In my experience though, it’s usually the mares who cause most of the problems. I used to have a mare who was basically a gelding with mare parts, and there were zero issues. However, the hussy type mares just drive him absolutely crazy! I kind of feel bad - it confuses his brain! :lol:
I spent years as a kid riding and leasing a school pony that had been gelded late after the BO took him out of a not-great situation - I suspect he was gelded around 8 or 10, and I met him around 12 or 14. He was in group turnout with 20 to 30 other horses the entire time I rode him, and is now semi-retired and living in turnout with a TB eventer.
He was one of the more dominant geldings in the herd despite being all of 12hh, but was certainly safe to turn out with others. I can’t remember him exhibiting any studdish behaviors at all. Definitely opinonated (he threw a few sassy bucks when I got on him a year or two ago, when he was 30!) but I always attributed it to pony attitude, not the late gelding.
One of the nicest horses I leased was gelded late, he was a big bodied TB who did the big jumpers. He was firey, and had some questionable stall activities (due to being gelded late we think), but he was overall a non-issue. Just more ego, which isn’t always a bad thing.
We also imported a stallion who was already 13, gelded him, and he was always the most polite well mannered horse in the stable. He had been that way when he was a stallion as well. He was also proud of himself, but never would I have thought twice about putting anyone on him, or even handle him. The machismo tooke a couple of months to fully leave the system, but his character was already there from the beginning
In Germany, gelding is often “late.” I own a supposedly gelded at 4 yoa horse who has never conceded that he is not a stud. I admit I supported his decision, which makes him very studdy and a big hit with all the mares, well almost all the mares. He has had sex with mares for years, and is nippy and all, but I allow his behavior. He did give up other mares when he met Hattie in 2008, so for the last 8 yrs he’s only bred one mare. Before that he was after all the mares outside of the ring. (Except Callie who turned down all studs since she’d had 6 foals before I bought her.)
I do admit I like studdy behavior in a male horse, and so far Cloudy has kept it outside of the ring for 16 years.
