to geld or not to geld?

loz9

loz9

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hi, iv been browsin as a guest on here for a while but this is my first post!
as the title says i cant decide to geld my colt or not? issues such as livery arent a problem as we keep our horses at home & hes not at all coltish, but hes still young yet! so i guess im asking would you choose to breed your mare with him? his sire is an american paint & his dam is a tbxconnie. his dam has been competed successfully at low levels (sj & dressage) but the stallion is young & therefore unproven. both hav amazing temperaments & good conformation, which they hav passed on to him. He should make approx 16hh & is a dun & white. & im hoping to event him in the future, hes got an amazing jump on him.
So, what are your opinions? thanks
(hoping the pics will wrk)
[image]http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=9324646&id=534120467#/photo.php?pid=3442598&id=506569399[/image] [image]http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=9324646&id=534120467#/photo.php?pid=3442596&id=506569399[/image] [image]http://www.facebook.com/editphoto.php?aid=112336#/photo.php?pid=2629588&id=506569399[/image]
 
well, if he is no trouble and you are in the position to keep a colt/stallion then there is no reason to geld him. After all, you can take his balls away at any time, but you can't put them back! LOL
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he's marked beautifully, as said above if you don't need to geld him yet, why not leave him until next year and do the BEF futurity as a yearling and see what he scores there. Plus if he does well it will be a selling point for getting mares.

One of my colts I'm not jumping to geld, not because I'm interested in using him as a stallion but because he really is very easy to do and not coltish (yet!) so I would like to give him another year to mature, my other colt is more assertive and I will be having him cut this winter.
 
if he is a sweet chap leave his bits as long as possible! (being as you are at home!) to let him bulk up and get a good top line. but as a stallion he is un proven and unless his mother and father and top ranking bred then i wouldnt use him for stud but geld at 2 before he finds his bits!!
 
UNless his temperaments and conformation are near perfect, I would have him gelded. Hes not a set breed, hes not going to be graded with a breed society. Hes not Proven.

Sorry. But no I wouldnt breed from him. Even though he is bloody gorgeous!

Looks very cute!

Lou x
 
thanks! i was half hopin my mare would giv me something ugly so i did hav to make this decision! lol!
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i was def thinking about taking him to the BEF futurity & seeing how he did and going from there. id planned to get him out showing this yr but he cut his jaw open & required stitches so looked a bit of a mess. This has since healed & not scared (no idea how as it was really deep/long!) he will be CHAPS & BSPA registered & shown in these classes next yr. i thought BEF was irrelevant of a specific breed & that they just had to be british born & relate to a specific discipline? Also he will wont be able to prove himself until he is much older, so is lack of being a specific breed a reason to geld? should type not be considered more? & not all horses hav proven parentage & become successful themselves, & some of those that are successful themselves dont necessarily hav proven parents. sorry im just gettin some of my thought out!
i guess as hes such random breedin im struggling to decide if anyone would want to breed with him? & irrelevant of his breeding would they breed from him? ie does he hav the potential to be 'used' stallion if he is successful in the future
but then like you say i cud let him mature & then cut him next yr or later if all is still goin well.
 
forgot to mention that the stallions parentage contains several world champions in western disciplines & showing in both his dam & sires sides & his 'siblings'. As his dam was imported from USA all of the results relate to american showing, with many progeny of this bloodline going on to become champions, primarily in the showring.
 
He does look a really nice sort so if you feel happy about keeping him an entire I would go down the route you've said, get him assessed by experts and leave him until he's two.
We run our colts within a herd of older horses so they tend to stay uncolty until they get around two, we've just had one done two weeks ago and he wasn't difficult at all to handle.
There is a huge movement in the UK now to only use graded/approved stallions, so you will find unless he performs really well you may not get any mares to him, so financially I would rule out earning much money stud fee wise.
Get him assessed by experts and then decide is my advice, I love his colour and face, but without seeing his movement etc wouldn't like to say whether he is good enough to keep entire.
 
thanks! he is currently kept in a mixed aged herd & is def bottom of the group! hes very unusual in his colourin as he is slowly roanin out in his markings, he was expected to be a bay tobiano as genetically his parents only had about a very slim chance of makin a dun tobiano, so we were very surprised when he popped out with the colouring & relatively even markings(dun to white ratio)
i had never planned to keep him entire (plans before he was born), but on his appearance/temperament i couldnt decide what to do, so i had never planned to make real money stud wise. i sometime feel that in todays society colts are gelded to make our lives easier & not given the chance to prove themselves first & if they are successful its obviously too late! but at the same time i dont agree with breeding from poor stock. i chose to breed from my mare, yes unproven, but with gd conformation & temperament & not in foal because she was no longer useful. & the stallion again gd temp&conf, himself unproven, but gd parentage. if either of them had had a defect i wud not hav bred with them. i hav bred this little man for myself & he is in a home for life!
wud post sum vids, but hes either chargin round flat out or jumpin on mum!
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thanku so much for peoples input its helpin me clarify a few things!
 
He's lovely and might one day make a nice stallion.

I'd be in no rush to have him gelded IF and ONLY IF I could give him a suitable lifestyle as an entire, whilst I make my decision. If he has to be shut away on his own with no friends (like many poor stallions/colts
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) all you're going to produce is a messed-up horse who cannot later be put out with other horses, should you decide to geld him.

Just because he can be breed from doesn't mean he HAS to be. And i've found that well-socialised ex-stallions that are then gelded later are no more difficult that early gelded geldings. So, unless you don't have facilities to keep a stallion, there should be no rush to have his bit off.

Facilities do matter though. You'll need to think about fencing and keeping him away from mares during the spring/summer once he's older. He'll also need gelding pals to live with. The reason the vast majority of colts are gelding is because it IS easier (SO much easier!) to keep them than an entire.
 
in no way wud he become a stallion shut up in a stable 24/7! i prefer my horses in small herds & large fields! luckily i can be pretty flexible with facilities as we hav our own land that consists of a 3acre field & an 11acres field separated by post&rail (which can easily be made higher) & a stream/pond so he can easily be kept away from the mares & we hav 2geldings which he could be turned out with.

his sire is kept in a nice low key facility (possibly slightly unusual, but i like it) in which he is given a girlfriend for the summer which the owner wants to be pregnant. in addition he covers visiting mares in hand. he also winters out with all of the owners mares & foals to provide him with his own herd. he has to be 1 of the most laid back stallions i hav ever met (partly why i chose him) & im hoping my boy has inherited this & this has been allowed to develop thru my calm handling. he appears to hav respect for me (i know hes stil young) & im hoping this will continue!

so...it has been decided he wil be remaining entire for now. going to a BEF futurity nxt yr & gettin out showing & we shal see what happens in the future!

thanku for your help!
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Sounds like he'll be a luck entire.
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I know quite a few stallions who spend 23hrs a day in a stable, when not ridden, or live in a field miles from other horses
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No wonder stallions have reputations for being 'difficult'
 
I agree if you have your own place & there is no rush to cut him then let him develope & see what you get. Yes he is a mixed breed, but so are WB's & there a number of stallions standing that dont have full recorded parentage, Jumbo ex of Betty of unknown dam by Seven Bells, Dexters Puzzle ex of Magpie unrecorded breeding, Country Top Gun ex of Honeypot Lorna unrecorded breeding the list goes on.

Colts do need to know their boundaries though & should not be taken for granted, no matter how quiet they seem (mind no horse/pony should really). As others have said he looks a nice lad & you could end up kicking yourself if you rush into it. Get him out learning how to behave in public (BEF etc) & see what happens & good luck.
 
in my personal oppinion does it not depend on whether you actually want to breed from him in the future and whether he will be useful enough to breed from? You have to think about future stabling, traveling, turnout, handling arrangements. he may be alright now temperment wise but its quite a responsibilty to have a stallion on the yard. You may risk him behaving like a stallion in the field etc if you geld him later on.
 
"in my personal oppinion does it not depend on whether you actually want to breed from him in the future and whether he will be useful enough to breed from?" - Does an entire have to be bred from? If you have the facitlities/insurance/ understanding of an entires & he has the temperment. Are we assuming that this poster would not cut him if he was not good enough to breed from?

"You have to think about future stabling, traveling, turnout, handling arrangements. he may be alright now temperment wise but its quite a responsibilty to have a stallion on the yard." - You can say that about breeding, now can you be sure that what you have bred will have a good home for life. If the posters circumstances changed then they would have to decide do they sell him entire or geld him.

"You may risk him behaving like a stallion in the field etc if you geld him later on" - Yes there is that risk & we have an ex entire that was not cut until he was about 10, but apart from the nippiness he is less stallion like in temperment/behaviour then the rig also at the yard. What some of us are saying is play it by ear as you cant give him back his manhood but it is easy enough to take it away if problems do arise. As for the risks of gelding later on in life, I believe they are less then breeding them in the first place. Though I agree there are enough stallions about, & it would be hoped that if this one was not good enough his owners would cut him. On the other hand if he has a laid back attitude to life/has a decent quality of life as an entire & they can afford to compete him as an ungraded stallion then it should be their call as to his future as an entire or gelding.
 
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