dilemma

[maggiehorse]

hi all
I have a 20 month colt by a tb mare out of a tb cross stallion , he stands 14,1 at withers and 14.3 at bum , he was in generally good shape two weeks ago when i was given him except for a hefty worm burden which we have sorted , he was very quiet and lacking in energy but is now coming along nicely and beggining to show normal behaviour
my dillema is this...
i was going to have him gelded this autumn , he has only one ball decended and the op will mean a general and possibly extensive abdominal surgery to find the other . ( knowing my luck its hiding up round his ears somewhere)
i have just been offered his father on loan , who is an entire working stallion that the owners are having gelded this week , he will come to me in mid may if all goes well and i would like him to be able to go out with the colt, hes used to being turned out with in foal mares , geldings etc , but will he fight the ungelded colt ?, who still shows foal behaviour , mouthing etc , or should i go ahead and get the colt gelded as soon as possible. i had planned to wait untill the autumn and allow him to grow a bit as he seems quite small considering his father is 16hh and him mum was 16.2
what do you guys think?

 

[badgerdog]

At the farm where I keep my horses we have uncut colts (some up to 2 years) who are running out with other geldings and we have no problems at all, the older ones take notice of their mouthing and tolerate them as babies. I don't know how a recently gelded stallion will react, but if he's used to being with foals I can't see it being too much of a problem.

 

[EMWSanctuaries]

Yes, we've had older colts with the same problem running with geldings. One was over 3 when he was gelded, eventually all 'slotted into place' LOL. The oldest stallion we've had gelded was 8, he was kept with a barren mare for about 4 months then gradually introduced to the male herd...thre was a bit of " I'm more dominant than you" stuff but within a few mintes all were grazing fine together, not to say that would happen everytime, each horse is different.