My sister is looking into buying a eventer/dressage horse. Would you prefer a mare or a gelding?
NO STALLIONS!!!
[This message was edited by Horseluver on Oct. 22, 2001 at 03:59 PM.]
GELDING !!! i need to say no more 
Musical_Jumper
“Event riders leave no ring unrode, no jump over turned, and no ditch filled in.”
“Your competition just got better today, did you…”
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Don’t buy a horse based on gender (or color!). Buy him/her based on suitability for the sport you want to pursue, soundness, disposition, and rapport you have with him/her.
I figure I have enough raging hormones for the both of us!!! 
“The older I get, the better I used to be, but who the heck cares!”
though, I often find that I develop a better rapport with mares.
If not, chose the individual horse, not the gender.
For eventing, nothing beats built-in colors like an Appy! G Both my eventers were Appies and they were terrific and COLORFUL!
Seriously, I’ve had two mares and three geldings and loved them all. The geldings happened to be more talented, but it had nothing to do with the fact that they were geldings.
I would say it sometimes takes more tact to get along with a mare. But a hot TB gelding can be equally disinclined to suffer someone lacking tact.
And, of course, a disabling or limiting injury to a mare can leave you with the option of breeding, whereas a gelding can, sadly, end up “only” a pasture ornament.
My sister is looking into buying a eventer/dressage horse. Would you prefer a mare or a gelding?
NO STALLIONS!!!
[This message was edited by Horseluver on Oct. 22, 2001 at 03:59 PM.]
I read an interesting article several months ago about geldings. Seems research has been done that indicates that even though the testicles have been removed, there is some eveidence to support that the “conflict” gene remains. I.E., fighting and arguing and dominance is an inherited characteristic in the male horse. The article went on to say that even though a stallion has been gelded, the urge to fight training, handling, and express dominance, remains.
My opinion – I agree with this research after looking back over the 40-odd horses I’ve owned over the past 35 years. Mares may be more aware of surrounding because the instinct to protect is stronger. However, a gelding will normally “cheat” you every chance it thinks it can get away with it. Are there exceptions? Of course. But this has been my experience. I’ll deal with a mare’s quirks because I know I have a partner that will give 100% everytime.
Don;t GET me started!!!
MARE MARE MARE MARE MARE MARE MARE
Dont get me wrong, Geldings are nice, and you will find the majority of people have geldings, but honestly you usually do not have the option of selecting a sex, whatever horse works, works, not matter what gender it is (sort of like the color factor)
HOWEVER, why do I choose mare? several reasons:
Mares like stallions have the hormones that I believe makes them try harder. If you get a mare on your side she is there forever, and will do ANYTHING to please you. Geldings dont care.
I am not saying this is true for all horses, but mares also tend to have a personality that geldings do not have,
Mares can be bred if something goes wrong (EG: my mare freak bowed a tendon last summer and she is now pregnant, good deal!)
mares are usually what we call “allergic to the wood” (as far as jumping goes) and tend to learn quicker and have fewer rails.
OF COURSE this does not go for all mares, but I personally STRONGLY prefer a mare when I am looking for horses to buy, and I know several people that will buy nothing BUT mares.
PS> Chestnut mares tend to be cheaper than ANY other color/gender combo. THAT is a statistic!
I agree with Catuskate in the hormone fighting department. I’ve only run across a couple of mares in all my years of training that I can actually get along with.
Geldings, on the other hand, I don’t have a problem with…and I would argue with that information on the fighting. I’ve had studs that we’ve gelded and suddenly they are a LOT easier to deal with…and I’m not just talking about right after they’ve had surgery. They are pistol packing ponies when they were stallions and argued about everything. Once they were gelded and recovered (and we’re talking two year olds here), they were much sweeter and less prone to get into knock down drag out arguments and pitch fits.
Hey, they can say what they want in their “scientific” journals, but my first hand experience differs with their information. Maybe it’s the expectations I have and what the researchers have… 
(Oh, and I don’t know WHY you wouldn’t want a stallion. )
I have both and each has their good and bad points. I think it just depends on the horse if you don’t have a definate opinion one way or the other. While it seems there are more successful gelding, plenty of mares also do well, and you can always breed them if something happens.
When mares are good they are better than any gelding out there. Of course they do go up and down and sometimes forget to show up, but they are so much better. They don’t do things because they have to, they do them because they want to please you. I think they are much greater loailty and if you are on their side they will never cheat you out. I think at the end of a course they will give you more because they want to do their best for you and no less. Geldings aren’t bad, I just think that mares give more for you.
~Small Star~
-Speed’s my thing, pain
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