Gelding

[Echo Bravo]

Hi, my young colt was booked in this morning to be gelded,only 1 testicle had dropped (size of a marble) the other no sign of,vet said maybe the autumn or next year, as far as I know he's roughly 11 months old,bought him off some traveller friends,who had bought him and his dam at a sale,they wanted the mare only,and I bought him in Sept and was told he was 6 months old, so could be younger. The thing is my OH says surely you can tell by the size of their balls, how young they are? and I had no answer as I don't know. I have 2 mares,but can keep him out of their way, till he's done. But does anyone have an answer about the size of their testies as to their age?

 

[Sparkles]

Some don't drop fully till they're 2 year olds in some cases we've had. We've got an 18 month old welsh colt in currently who still needs one to drop - we're waiting till late Spring and then going to see from there. At the minute, it's just a case of waiting or putting him under general to get them out.

It's not uncommon.

 

[scoobeastie]

My colt was checked by vet last spring and only one had dropped he was finally gelded in the autumn when he was two vets located missing one but said it was very high luckily he didn't need a general but he was castrated at vets just in case

 

[Echo Bravo]

Yes was told if the one hadn't dropped by next year, it's a trip to Newmarket. My friend bought a 3 year old from Stow many years ago and he'd only dropped the one, and he had to go to Newmarket, is this a common thing, as my vet said she's casterated young colts than mine. But I'm not really sure about his age, as he could be a lot younger than was told.

 

[Sparkles]

It really just depends on the colt. Each to his own. Age doesn't necessarily have to play a huge part in exactly 'when' they should drop.