Gelding a senior stallion

[CritterHaven]

I have decided to geld our stallion of 7yrs. He is absolutely adorable but, not papered. He is completely out of control and has almost hurt himself several times. I just hope that this is the right choice. We would love to be able to enjoy him and put him in a cart as he has a beautiful trot. Right now, all he is anymore is dangerous because he is completely unpredictable. Any ideas or experiences?

:

 

[MagicTheMini]

I have a gelding who is now 21 (an arab) and he was gelded at 12. He has a wonderful temperment, but he always has. Even as a stallion he was very calm and easy to handle. I have a friend who has a now gelding who was very angry/vicious as a stallion and is now a very calm friendly gelding. This horse attatcked 4 people (why they waited so long to geld him is far beyond me, though he was VERY mishandled as a youngster) before he was gelded at 6. If I owned your horse I would schedule the appointment ASAP. You can only assume his behavior will get better. While there is risks with gelding an older horse, they are rather minimal and your boy will be much happier (and easier to keep). Good luck! L

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

Its difficult to say... there is a good chance that he would calm, but its not 100%. Maybe 95%... I wouldn't consider your horse "too" senior. When you look at the alternative of having him out of control and hurting himself, I think it would be far prefered to go ahead with the surgery and try to have him gelded. There is a chance that his behavior isn't testosterone driven. Worst case, it'll eliminate any testosterone behavior hopefully making it easier to train him. Good luck!

 

[Little Wee Horse Farm]

Gelding an older boy would have the same effect as it would on a younger one if the nutsy behavior is hormone-induced. Once the hormones go, he should calm down. It might take a while because some of the behavior might be "learned" and he might have to be re-taught on some things, but IMHO, it should help bring him around. The hormones don't make the behavior disappear immediately tho. It takes a while for all of them to get out of the system -- perhaps a few weeks. I think you are making the right choice. He'll be a nice driving horse for you -- better as a gelding than a stud.

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

*hiccups* oops!

 

[disneyhorse]

It will calm him down to some extent, but will not completely make him a laid-back mellow horse. If a stallion is so out-of-control that gelding to make him "calm down" is a consideration, than I would guess the gelding really should be done.

: A not-so-great stallion makes a better gelding in almost all cases.

I do know of a stallion that was WAY too much of a handful as a stallion and was gelded to make a cart horse. The gelding still had a LOT of get-up-and-go but it wouldn't have been possible to use/drive/show him without gelding him first.

Andrea

 

[Chamomile]

We have gelded 3 senior stallions, over the age of 11. In our case all three settled down a lot after the gelding. If your stallions behavior is hormone related and not just bad manners, I would say he will settle down. At his age I wouldn't expect to see a big attitude change for about 3 or 4 weeks. So be prepared for his normal behavior to be around for a little while

: But I think it's a great plan!!

 

[Flyin G Farm]

We gelded our 15 year old stallion a few years ago for the same reasons...he was he#% on wheels! It did take him a while to settle down...but he did somewhat...although he still can be a bit of a turd...he is nowhere near as ornery as he was!

Tracy

 

[shalamara minis]

We gelded a horse that was 21 yres old, he wasn't hard to handle but he was very much a stud. My grand daughter now drags him around where ever she wants.

 

[looney2n]

Last year, I had a 5 year old stallion who was a sweet heart until one of my mares in the next pasture came into heat. Then he became a monster and I swear he would try to climb over, under and through the fence to get to the mare. :new_shocked: He got to a point that I was so fearful of him hurting himself or the mares if he did get through, that I literally had to move the mare off of the farm until I could get him gelded. They are together in the pasture now. He is so calmed down now that all the mare has to do pin her ears just a little and he whimps away with his tail between his legs. She wears the pants in their family now! :aktion033:

 

[billiethekid40]

Gelding him likely won't be an overnight fix, as many behaviors he is exibiting may be "learned" behaviors more so than hormone driven ones. BUT getting the hormones out of the way will help him to focus and thus he will be more apt to be trained away from those behaviors.

 

[Jill]

Gelding him will mute his sexual desire but it won't change his personality. I've gelded senior stallions and it calms them down in that they don't try and jump on mares (usually.......) but it did not change their personalities and didn't make them easier to handle in terms of being obedient (they already were well trained for inhand and driving performance). Some people think gelding a horse who's gotten out of control will fix the problem and it won't, but it will make it easier to make progress when you get involved with teaching the horse how to be respectful, etc.

One note, and I don't know how many other geldings are like this, but one of my horses that was gelded as a 5yo stallion was fully gelded. I trust the vet very much and watched the whole thing so it's not like he left one behind

: This was a stallion who had previously bred just one mare and just for one cycle. HOWEVER, his paddock is right near the area where I am breeding a stallion I now have to mares and "Derby" (former stallion, gelded 2 years ago) is really "into" the view to the point of making all the stallion sounds at the fence, and having "it" very out and ready. Then I have a riding GELDING who will also do all the things required to breed a mare but again is a gelding.