Have any of you gelded a pony in the summer

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Collytown

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Have had to make the decision today to geld a 3 year old 35" shetland (was hoping to breed from him, but that life).

Anyway had quick chat with vet nurse today (vet that gelds wasnt there) and they normally do it Oct/Nov.

I realise cause of flies and higher chance of infection that Autumn would be the best time but not sure I can wait till then as said pony completely lost it today and went through elec fencing and trying to climb over wall to get at my 17HH gelding and cause I was trying to stop him turned on me and then turned on his 30" mate, thankfully so real harm done apart from a few bruises to me, so has anybody gelded their pony/horse during the summer and if so what did you to to ensure that he didnt get an infection.
 
He sounds like a little bugger!

If he is causing that much trouble i think it will be worth doing now before he injures himself or someone else. Just use extra fly repellant around the site and plenty of turnout and exercise to kept the swelling down. Perhaps turn him out at night if the flies are really bad during the day, but as long as you have no complications the litties tend to heal fast.

You wont see a personality change overnight- and its worth knowing that they still remain fertile for about 6 weeks after being cut.

Good luck
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Thank you, I know that he will still be fertile for about 6 weeks and that it will still take time for him to change. Like you said just really worried that if I leave him somebody or him is going to get really hurt.

I do have one field that doesnt seem to get a lot of flies cause there are lime trees all down it (brilliant for my other sweet itch pony).

Guess will have to wait and see what vet says on Monday.
 
I had a mini gelded towards the end of June and our temperature then was up in the high 20's, we live with a healthy population of flies and mosquitos 24 hours a day, the sods don't sleep here unless it rains.

Pony stayed in his house until he'd come round from his sedation properly and then he went out and out he stayed, it was his choice whether he chose to stay in his shed in the paddock or not. I put fly ointment on his legs up to his hocks (Vet said that the brand I use works on vapour) and that kept the flies at bay. No problems at all.
 
I put Crovect (sheep maggot preventative) around the back end of any ponies I geld in fly season. Doesn't seem to do them any harm and never had one with maggots either. Not licensed though, but you could ask your vet about it (any vet practice that does farm work will be able to get hold of it).
 
We have already gelded several ponies this summer, and have two more being done next Tuesday. However, we have a fantastic set up, with stables inside a barn, where virtually no flies go - without this set up, I just wouldn't consider it for a moment! My vet only consents to castrate at this time of year because of our set up - again, without it, he wouldn't consider it for a moment.

Fwiw - ponies/horses are NOT fertile for six weeks after castration - it's just not possible if you think about it. For fertility to be possible, there have to be sperm. Sperm are produced in the testicles. If you remove the testicles, there will be no new sperm. All you are left with then are the sperm which are left behind in the tubes running from the testicles to the penis. Once sperm are outside of the testicles, they have a lifespan of around five days tops really. So within a week of castration, ponies are infertile. It is just hormones & learned behaviour that you are left with. Hormones die down over time, with all the ponies we have castrated, we have seen it take anything from instant to months for hormonally influenced behaviour to be gone. Learned behaviour can take anything from day/weeks/months/never to go - depends entirely on the individual.
 
my Vet has never not gelded at my request whatever time of the year..i've had them done almost every month of the year..it's all about after care...not what time of year its done.
 
I think they need to reword that bit - it sounds like they're suggesting that they could be fertile for two months - which is clearly impossible. I think they're referring to the hormonal behaviour - it's just very clumsily worded.
 
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