Age to Geld

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Little Indian Acres

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I have three colts which are being kept back as hopefully a 3/4 of a driving foursome. .... no need to geld the filly. They are all weanlings and will all be gelded. I would like to get suggestions on what is the best age to do so, or the earliest age it is safe to.
 
My preference is as soon as they are weaned and testicles dropped. We had Jet gelded at 4 months.
 
As soon as they drop.

Lildrummer
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Mine would have been gelded before weaning. However, some vets won't do that, from what I have heard. My vet has no problem doing foals at just a few months old.
 
Thanks for the replies. I was hoping to do them very soon, but was not sure if it was ok to do them this young. I also have a two year old that needs to get done so it would be nice to get them done at the same time.
 
We geld as soon as they drop, which most of our horses and donkeys have usually dropped at about a year old.However if a baby drops in Summer we will wait a couple months for fall weather to geld...less flies and less risk of infection from flies.
 
Just food for thought. Altho I think gelding young is great to avoid the issues of young stallions (the behaviour that some exhibit and the housing problems that they can cause for example) I have read several articles stating that studies have shown that geldings grow taller. As I understand it testosterone causes the growth plates to close earlier thus an earlier maturation and a shorter horse. Since minis are a height breed I hesitate to geld before 3 years and see my horse grow even an extra inch.
 
I gelded a two-month-old and a two-year-old on the same day, and the foal had a MUCH easier time of it. Everything isn't as "developed" down there and the foal has the comfort of its mother... so I would not hesitate to geld a foal again!!! I do know that older breeding stallions have the most difficult time of it. As long as it is not during fly season, if the horse is dropped, geld it!

As for the "geldings grow taller than stallions" I just can't buy it. Yes, I have heard that a stallion spends its growth energy on breeding and matures faster while a gelding grows over a longer period of time... but how do they KNOW? How do they know if you geld a yearling, it will grow an extra .5 inch?

I personally feel a horse will grow as tall as it is going to grow. I have seen plenty of tiny geldings. I had two geldings myself, full brothers, that were about 36 inches tall while their full stallion brothers were an inch or two taller. Sooooo I don't put too much stock into it.

PLUS if you geld early, you get some desirable qualities such as less stallion behaviors, and a more refined neck!

Andrea
 
Oh I don't disagree with early gelding Andrea. In fact in MOST cases I think why wait. The pluses outweigh the minuses entirely. However the most recent study I read was not a hypothesis type of study. they had done a great deal of research and taken on going x-rays of a number of colts (don't know how large a number and that could effect outcomes too) (wish I could recall where I saw the article, if it was on line I'd post a link) and when a horse is going to mature close to the 34" mark it can be something to consider if gelding early will give him even a slight chance of greater height. Just to clarify my position, I DO believe in gelding anything that isn't destined to be a breeding horse regardless of build or bloodlines. I just prefer to wait on my A registered colts if they are already going to be pushing the height limits.
 
Geldings do grow longer, this is a fact, not a myth, the growth plates close later than in stallions, that's the fact of it, you can look it up....BUT...with a Mini this difference is probably only going to be a matter of half an inch at the most.

Foals are dropped at birth, or you are in real trouble, that is also a fact, therefore foals can be gelded on the mare, which is what I do whenever I can...it is after the foal is weaned that the testicles can sometimes be pulled back into the groin, although technically they could still be gelded, as an anaesthetic would drop the testicles back down.
 
I think I will get them all done together next week then. Or at least all but the one I am debating on. The older one I am gelding is a B, so I don't mind having some Bs anyway if someone happened to get a little taller. Is it going to be a problem that some of them still have their papers pending?
 
Another interesting topic. I have gelded a few, and I have discovered if you geld them young (before a year old) that they are just so slow to mature and fill out. I have left some of them till two years olds because they were well behaved, and they just matured faster and look much nicer. Right now I have a pair of geldings (brothers), both three and half years old (my driving team in progress), the one gelded at 11 months old is a gangly looking boy and especially thin in the neck/shoulders (fully harness trained), and his brother (same age, not hitched yet) was gelded at two and he has matured nicely and looks so much better. As for heights, I think they are gonna grow whatever height they are destined to be.
 

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