Buying a PRE stallion and having him gelded

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Embudo

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I am considering buying a PRE stallion from Spain and having him gelded. Does anyone have any experience of this? I wouldn't have normally considered buying a stallion but he is perfect in every other way. Any advice would be appreciated.
 
Hello, the sellers should be able to arrange gelding over in Spain, or you can wait until he has aclimatised over here and have him castrated in the UK. It will be cheaper in Spain, but you will then have to wait until he has recovered sufficiently to travel. How old is the horse? Older stallions are a bit more complicated to castrate and would probably require a full GA and surgery in theatre. I have had several older stallions gelded with no significant problems, but it is riskier than doing it when they are immature.
 
He's 8. It would be better if I could have him gelded in Spain as I have a livery yard here in the UK and he would certainly be within sniffing distance of mares.
 
Whilst stallions in Spain are generally kept on all-stallion yards, there is no reason why a mannerly stallion cannot be kept in a mixed yard. I have stallions (PRE's) living next to mares, geldings and other stallions perfectly happily and not causing any problems. I know that many livery yards in the UK do not allow entires, but really any horse with manners should be OK to keep on a mixed yard. I say this because it would probably be easier on the horse to travel to the UK and have a month or so to acclimatise before gelding, unless you can give him plenty of time to recover in Spain before the journey. It's a lot of stresses to be throwing at a horse all at once.
 
We have a PRE who was gelded at 7 (never covered mares). He is now leaving out with a mare and you would never know he was gelded late except for the size of his neck. He also has an excellent temperament and can be ridden by beginners.
 
Gelding shouldn't be an issue... But I think Cortez is right that it would be better to have it done here. Though if your yard won't allow stallions, you may not have a choice.
 
You could find that heat is an issue. Our Spanish vet will not geld during the height of the summer as flies are attracted to the wounds, despite daily showering of horse and wound. October is the earliest she will contemplate.
 
A friend bought a friesian stallion from the netherlands and had him gelded. She had him on full livery on a competition yard (where they were used to stallions and had experience of gelding mature ones) during the op and then moved him to the DY yard we were on a couple of months later. There were no problems and he was very well mannered.

My little rescue pony (companion and daughters pony) was gelded post-rescue aged around 12. He is only 11.2 so presumably it was an easier op but it hasn't caused any problems and he is very well-mannered. The only "stallion-like" behaviour he has is doing all his droppings in one pile - very handy for poo-picking. He had run with mares and covered them whilst living feral (two of his babies were born at the centre) but he has been very good about ignoring our neighbours broodmares when they flirt with him if he is being led or ridden. I probably wouldn't turn him out with a mare though, and certainly not in a mixed group.
 
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