When can you tell permanent conformation on a mini? Geld or not to geld.

[KingsLuckyNight]

I know for bigger horses its at 3 when they've sorta slowed down growing. But I don't know about Mini's. I have a confo picture of my boy....

I have almost 2 years to worry about this. But I wonder if I should get him gelded or not. The lady I bought him from is my boss and she was going to keep him as a stud if she hadn't already had 2 studs. I know he's got some nice lines or so I have been told. But I always get told, even with my bigger horses that they aren't worth breeding and there's to many horses in the world and no need for more.

If I didn't end up gelding him. Only reason I would breed him is if he ended up having a really good show record. My idea on breeding is if the mare and stallion complement each other and have show records and good traits that can be passed on for offspring and you're using the offspring for something for a purpose. Then I'm okay with breeding.

But then I also know some stud colts can be nicer with there man hood cut off and its less to worry about.... I have almost 2 years to think about this. I am half/half right now. If he does end up becoming something and worth passing on those lines and traits and I geld him. I'll beat myself up about it. Unless before he was gelded I saved some of his "stuff".

Even at only being 9 months he seems to love to jump around. He got out one day and almost cleared a 3 foot fence. So I plan to make him a jumper and a halter boy.

Thoughts? I want complete honesty, I wanna make sure I make the right decision.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I geld at eight weeks if I am selling and maybe a year if I am keeping the colt- although if I know I want a gelding then I will geld at eight weeks even if I am keeping him. It has nothing to do with quality- there really are far too many stallions aro8und and a good stallion makes a top gelding IMO. DC had it all, quality, pattern, bloodlines etc, (my avatar, or on my website for those who do not know him) but he makes an ace gelding and he was a nuisance as an entire. I am set up for a stallion or two, I have the mares and I do breed, but if I were not going to breed a horse he would be gelded straight away. What is the point of putting them through all that nonsense when you do not have to? In order to breed a horse has to have quite a lot going for it as far as I am concerned, it has to have lack of height (I breed tinies) pattern and colour, and a track record in the ring. I have nothing against bay, in fact I love it as it is such an easy colour to produce, but in order for a plain bay to stay entire it would have to be something really, really special.

Does gelding at eight weeks mean some horses "good enough" to be stallions lose that ability?

Sure, but I do not have a problem with it!

 

[targetsmom]

I think you can tell a lot about how they will look at maturity from when they are foals (3 days, 3 weeks, 3 years, I think it is?). This is our first live foal and now our "gold standard" for quality:at 4 days old. His temperament, movement, size and bloodlines were just as desirable.

At one point in his short life (after a highly successful show season) we considered gelding him and the consensus on this forum was "don't be hasty!".

So my feeling is if you don't have something that has already shown you this quality, and the people on here aren't saying "no, don't geld" then you should geld him. We are gelding this boy's 2012 half brother Clyde (whose holiday photo is currently VERY popular on Facebook) and have long term plans to geld the stallion that produced this wonderful foal. There are far too many mini stallions around and once he is gelded he can hang out with our other horses.

 

[jandjmc]

My thought is to geld him. Both you and he will be better off. He will get to enjoy a life of companionship with other horses, getting to go places because he doesn't exhibit "stud" behavior. You will enjoy him a lot more because you won't have to worry about these issues.

I agree that only the very top, cream of the crop should be left stallions and used for breeding. From what just the one picture of your horse shows, he appears average. If you compare him to the top stallions that you can see pictures of on-line, you'll see your guy doesn't have many of their confirmational attributes. So that's the "bad" news....now for the good.

You have a loving, lovable animal that you can enjoy and build a relationship with. Focus on his athletic ability and make him into an all around performance horse that you can be proud of. A horse with performance skills will always be able to find a home.

Best of luck- Your guy is a lucky horse to have a owner who wants to do right by him.

 

[KingsLuckyNight]

Alright thanks guys! I have made my decision and he will be gelded. It'll be better for both of us as another poster said. I think he'll be more happier and get to hang out with my mares and be a companion mini for when I can't take one to a barrel race or something. But I will show him =).