Adding older gelded stallion to herd

Miniature Horse Talk Forums

Help Support Miniature Horse Talk Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Renee

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2002
Messages
316
Reaction score
8
Location
Bangor, PA
I have an 8 year old stallion that I am going to be gelding this fall. I'm not going to be using him anymore and would like for him to be able to join my herd. He's not an overly aggressive stallion and does not run the fence line when there are mares on the other side. My herd of 12 is a mix of mares and geldings and my pastures are quite large. Has anyone put an older gelded stallion out with a herd? I know I will have to wait a few months for the hormones to settle down. I think I heard it was 1 month for every year old they are. Any thoughts or comments would be helpful.

Renee
 
Hi Renee, Im no expert but I can tell you what its like with my gelding. He was a stud and out in the pasture w/mares for 10yrs. before I purchased him. He was gelded 1 mo. before I got him. When he first arrived ( only horse here )he was a love bug, absolute joy! he was fine when we got our next gelding...they were good buddies. A year later I purchased 2 mares....was very studdy the first week and I actually saw him attempt to mount 1 mare. She had a come to Jesus meeting with him and that put an end to him ever attempting to mate either mare. It only happened that one time as far as I could tell. But he would follow the mares around all the time and really got quite a crush on one particular mare...shared stall and hay. But he hated the other gelding even getting close to ANY of the mares...put his ears right back and would charge him...nothing bad, no bites or kicks but to this day he just thinks that all mares on this property belong to him. Its sounds like its bad but it really isnt anymore.....I just feel bad for the other gelding because he seemed to be getting pushed away from the girls.

I had never heard about a month for every yr. but I would think that every horse is different.

I will say that I think that I could never let gelding #1 out with a stallion...he's just too dominant however my other guy I think would be a good little companion for a mild mannered stallion. Im just to chicken to ever try it but they are good buddies through the fence. Good luck w/you soon to be gelding and let us know how it worked out!
 
I can't help you with how long you should keep the stallion seperated after being gelded, but it's DEFINITELY possible for him to join. We have a 14 year old gelding who was gelded at 5 years old (I'm not sure if he was ever bred or not), but he's so protective of our little herd...not over protective at all, but perfect. Whenever a new horse comes in, or a strange dog, or even strange humans he rounds up all of his four little herd mates (three mares and one gelding) and just stares at whatever new is around and once he sees it's okay he lets them do their own thing xD It's actually really sweet. He rough houses with our young gelding a lot, but he's never left a mark on him...boys will always be boys
rolleyes.gif
haha So, yes I'd say he could for sure join your herd in the future, unless he's a special case of some kind lol
 
Our boy was just gelded this fall at 8 yrs. Vet did tell me to keep him seperate from the mares for 8-12 weeks to be sure he was no longer fertile.

He was always laid back and gets along great with everyone, mares, and colts. He did not try to breed any of the mares this year even when they were in season.
 
Yes you can run him with the herd. I have 2 geldings that were gelded late (one at 8 and the other at 10) and they are fine with each other and the mares. I haven't had any trouble with them trying to mount the mares at all but the mares would probably have straightened him out if either of them had tried. One of the geldings is at the top of the pecking order and the other is at the bottom but both are fine in the herd with the others. I waited about 3 months with each of them before I introduced them to the herd.

Mary
 
First I would wait a good while to be sure he is all closed up and no infection and all good and fine.

Here's what I would do and true to form, I'd do it bassackwards:

Instead of putting him in with the mares, I would put one or two mares in with him. See how that goes for a while. If all is ok, then add another mare to the mix slowly, and so on. See how its working and who it is working out the best with. You may never get him in with all your mares but just a couple. I'd rather do it this way then to turn him in with a whole bunch of mares all at once and risk injury to any of them. As John Lennon and Yoko once sang "Give Peace a Chance" and best wishes to you!
default_aktion033.gif
 
Over the years, we've had many younger (weanling - 2yo) horses gelded, but I've also had two "senior" stallions gelded. They were 5yo and 3yo at the time. The 5yo had bred mares. I did not have problems adding them to the herd at all. You want to wait a period of time, however, I think the season would be a factor and fall may mean you're able to acclimate a gelded former stallion into the herd sooner than if you'd had him gelded in the spring.

When we had senior stallions gelded, they needed to be exercised for a period of time (don't recall, maybe 5 days?) to reduce the swelling, which was not the case when we had younger ones gelded.

Over the years, we have had horses who were gelded young (one at 6mos) who later would act a little studdish and mount / "breed" mares. I actually haven't noticed it to be more likely the later the horse is gelded, but it seems like most of our geldings will do that if they get a chance, even the ones gelded quite young. Just a heads up! I know my eyes probably popped out the first time I saw this going on here
smile.gif
 
Thanks everyone. I've had many youngsters gelded, but never one this old. Hopefully all will go well and he will be a happy camper out with the herd.

Renee
 
To give you the other side of the coin, I gelded an eleven yr old this year who may never be able to just run with the herd. He was very studly to begin with, had been breeding mares for years and I'm sure was frustrated here as he did not have that kind of freedom lol. I did try him with the 3 geldings he'd been sharing a fenceline with, but he was pretty aggressive with them. With some time I imagine he'll be okay to put with a buddy or two but he'll always be in charge.
default_smile.png
So much depends on their personality...

Marty's way of doing it is probably the safest means of adapting them.

Jan
 
Here is my experience. We gelded our senior stallion in January at age 15. Kept him separated until early Spring then started introducing him to the herd. At first he would talk to the girls but quickly figured out food was more important. The only issue I have run into is the other geldings. The newly gelded "former stallion" likes to chase the other boys away from "his" girls. He tolerates some of the other boys better than others. If they are out in the field they are fine but if they are in a dry lot we have run into problems. When they are not out in the field I put him with a couple of his favorite mare and he is fine. I am hoping over time he accepts the other boys. Still don't regret my decision one bit...

kareng
 
While it might be all right with some horses it definitely was not with mine.

He had been a senior stallion in a herd prior to my purchase. He was gelded right before I bought him. The former owner told me that she thought that gelding him would make him not so agressive toward other horese.

I tried to introduce him to another gelding by themselves with no other horses in the large pen. They had lived next to each other for awhile in a stall/inside pen situation. Well, there was a terrible kicking, screaming fight and he ended up dragging the other gelding around by the top of the neck. It was not pretty. I separated him and have not tried to introduce him to any other horses.

He is very nice to handle and likes his scratches and brushing. He just does not like other horses.

I respect his opinions as he does so well with driving and showing in performance events.
 
It worked well with all my geldings, but the 7 year old herd stallion took to it the best. He was my youth gelding and watched over my young filly at that time. I'm sure it has to do with the horse, but I have never had and issues.

I waited two or three months here.
default_smile.png


Good luck and Congrats on your new gelding!
default_aktion033.gif
 

Latest posts

Back
Top