Cost of castrating a 14yo?

best to ask your vet for a price. they will more than likely do under GA as this will be a big op, and very very painful for the horse for several weeks. someone i know had a 9 yr ols lusitano cut, i have never seen such an unhappy horse ... he could hardly move for several weeks and a lot of swelling. being cut at such a late age doesnt ring the benefits as cutting when young. they still remain stalliony, and still tend to need to be kept alone after gelding. why do you want to cut him so late in his life?
 
ofcourseyoucan said:
best to ask your vet for a price. they will more than likely do under GA as this will be a big op, and very very painful for the horse for several weeks. someone i know had a 9 yr ols lusitano cut, i have never seen such an unhappy horse ... he could hardly move for several weeks and a lot of swelling. being cut at such a late age doesnt ring the benefits as cutting when young. they still remain stalliony, and still tend to need to be kept alone after gelding. why do you want to cut him so late in his life?
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I had my arab done when he was 16 and found exactly the opposite of this.

It was done at home and I had 2 vets there, One to monitor the horse and the second to castrate him. Having 2 vets was really me being cautious.
The horse was sedated then knocked out and operated on.

He was not that sore nor swollen afterwards. I gave him bute as a painkiller for a while but nothing else. There was some swelling and I called the vet out to take a look but he was not concerned and no treatment was needed, He wasn't that happy for the first few hours after the op but the bute helped and after that don't remember him being particuarly unhappy.

He certainly didn't remain stalliony. It probably took around 6 months to see the full benefits but was well worth it.

My vets seemed quite happy to do it and were not overconcerned. I don't remember any dire warnings from them of things that could go wrong due to his age.
 
I do know of people who have had them done over the age of 10 (mostly dressage horses who were not focussing on their work) and in both cases it made little difference.
It can of course be done but will be a painful and probably unecessary op.
If something has remained an entire until 14 why on earth would you wish to geld it at this late stage?
We have all our colts done before two years old and standing up, they cope very well, but a 14 year old? Think castrating your Grandad.....older horses and people take longer to recover from traumas like that.
 
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