Gelding older Stallion - Attitude change

[Becky Horat]

I'm sure this has been asked before, but had troubles finding it. I'm gelding a 5yr old this next week, as he has a very "study" attitude. We just bought him this weekend and he is a nice horse w/ nice movement. But he can't concentrate on anything. He wants to fence fight everything and is very obnoxious. I know it varies from horse to horse, but do you usually see an attitude change fairly quickly? We have neighboring mares in another field and can't even turn him out at all (even though other mares are about 1/2 acre away). The other thing, is the previous owner wants to get a breeding out of him before we geld him. Another friend, discouraged this as she says will make his problem worse. I believe he's bred mares before.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

If he is not used to being bred then I would not breed the mare- in fact, so long as you do not have a contract, I would not do it anyway, it can be a recipe for disaster. For a start, where are you going to keep the mare while she is being bred? Who is responsible for her and who pays for her keep. What happens if she returns in season? You could end up keeping him entire a whole summer just to get one mare in foal. It will also definitely NOT help his attitude. I have found the horses that are "loudest" often settle the quickest, if it is any consolation, but I would not expect any real change for a couple of weeks.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

I had a horse with a similar attitude gelded at 5 yrs and altho I would never have described him as 'obnoxious' he went from being very full of himself, easily distracted (I called him ADD) and unsociable to a horse that fits in with the herd very nicely. He is still pretty full of himself (just who he is and part of his charm for us) but is very easy to train now and able to focus even when the other horses are right beside him. He never bred a mare but it hasn't been my experience that it mattered much one way or another in how much they changed. Breeding stallions that have been gelded here (one bred the morning he was gelded) settled just as quickly as those who did not. It does take some time for the hormones to settle and the learned behaviour to ease up, the rule of thumb I go by is one month for every year of life, so a 5 year old will take nearly half a year to finish settling down. As for whether to breed or not only you can decide whether it will be a great inconvenience to you and how you want to handle it. If it is a one time try or a breed til she takes situation will affect how much trouble you must go to. Doesn't sound like a stallion who should be allowed to pasture breed tho so for me it would depend on whether I felt inclined to handle him while covering the mare.

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

We gelded three of our breeding stallions.

Horse A: took him a few weeks, settled down nicely. He was ten? when gelded.Turned out with geldings while we owned him, he was fine.

Horse B: woke up from the procedure and knew he was a gelding immediately. Never another problem! Gelded at 7-8 years. Turned out with mares with no reactions!

Horse C: he's finally realised he's a gelding- two years later! Still talks to the girls but isn't as fussy anymore. Actually has been turned out with a yearling gelding and is fine with him, even with mares in the next field. gelded at 7.

 

[MountainWoman]

I did an older boy and wow, what a difference after a few months. Now almost a year later, he's a completely different horse in a good way.

 

[Carolyn R]

I don't consider five that old, and given that some boys need to fill out a little prior to being gelded the age may be completely acceptable to some. (some believe there are male horses that tend to remain on the frail, underdeveloped look if they don't get to mature a bit. This must be judged on a horse by horse basis and be be determined if it is filling out that is needed or just not so great conformation.)

I have gelded everything from 6 months to 16-17 old stud. The biggest difference I dealt with was a two year old who could not handle his hormones, knock down drag out, tried every trick in the book, would gain his respect, then 20 minutes later we were right back at the beginning all over again.he was gelded and I saw differences in 48-72 hours.

My senior stallion was gelded at 16-17 years old, after I decided I was no longer breeding but had no desire to send him packing. He didn't have any sex drive after two weeks but still talked to the girls the rest of that year and into spring, then that subsided too. I miss his little "pillow talk" nickers and squeals and eventhough he was always a good respectful gentleman, gelding him allowed him to have a full time friend (mare) to hang out with.