When do u geld your colts?

ElleSkywalkingintheair

ElleSkywalkingintheair

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My colt is now 4 months old, I was planning on gelding him at around 6 months so he has his mum to help him get over it, then wean him after, but when I asked a vet from my practice (they are an equine vets, but this vet is a new one) he basically shot me down as if I'd suggested something dreadful!

I have never had a colt before, so thought I would ask you chaps what you tend to do and why?

Every opinion welcome, as I said am new to colts!

Ps, I only have mares so leaving him uncut till 1 or so would be tricky. I know of one other colt he could live with over the winter BUT, the other colt is for sale so might not be around for long or even at all, also if he lived with this colt he would be in a stable (large one but not huge) & fed hay/hayledge all winter, whereas with me (gelded) he would be out on lovely grass with shelter, his yearling sister & her mum & my Shetland for company.

Vet did say he would geld him in feb time (when he will be 9 months) & that in mean time he is fine going out with anything other than the Shetland as he is smaller than them so 'won't bother then' .......:eek: :rolleyes:
 
My new colt's coming next friday to me, i've got him booked in for his first tet/flu the week after and then providing he's dropped, he'll be done 4-6 week's later when he has his 2nd lot of flu/tet - (I was worried that it would drag him down having all of it done at once but the vet has assured me he'll be fine - but for extra measure he's having an emergency tet jab - for extra safety etc).

If he's not dropped and ready, i'll leave it then probably until next spring.. it's just a pain having to fence him off away from the shettie mare!

He'll be 6 months on the 3rd of November :)
 
How comes people are choosing to geld so early nowadays?

Ahh just saw about how OP has all mares otherwise so tricky but up until 1 should still be able to keep separate easily?
 
Sam_1985, I could keep him in paddock & stable alone, with the others in sight but over the fence, I am just weighing up if that or living in stable for winter with another colt, would be better/worse than having him out with his yearling sister & other mares in big feild with plenty of grass & shelter :)

Is a tough one!
 
Hmm, thats a fair point. I was dumb and then noticed you said you couldnt separate that easy. just seems a lot of people now do it at 6 months. I was desperate to keep my boy entire until he was 2 but it never happened :( not because he wanted to get in with mares (he was at a riding school at the time on livery and never bothered with trying to get to the mares) or he was causing horsey problems but because he was such a **** towards me! He was done at a year and 2 months but was only a problem behaviourwise from a year old but as a big strapping warmblood baby i couldnt risk it as no one else would handle him!
 
My vet has advised me to gelding my colt while he,s still on mum as they recover better. Not in a hurry to wean as mum suffered a rupture so won,t be worked again. Going to leave him with her as long as poss, I.e she loses condition( won,t happen as she,s a good doer) or he becomes too cocky. Only 4 months so prob leave till new year.
 
Can you let me know what your vets says about doing it that way too?

I'm only cutting him now as I can't keep him entire - due to shetland mare being around (23 years old is no time to be having a warmblood x Shetland foal!)
 
Im having a yearling done today but all of the others from the same crop were done either just before or just after weaning.
This one was a backward foal and then had a reaction to the second flu/tet when we did the others so we left him.
Hes been fine but has lived with a big bossy gelding all summer who plays hard so it has kept him on an even keel but he's just started to have a little nip here and there and as he will be for sale as a riding horse it's time to be done.
If they are destined to be geldings i cant see the point in delaying having it done past 6months ish and all of the ones we have done on the mare havnt really known it was done and have recovered straight away.
 
Dispite my little man's awful start, he is now fat as butter with a crest most stallions would envy, so I think physically he is ok to be done :) If he were still feeble I would wait.

He nips a bit (and gets told off!) & think he is quite aware of his boy-bits already & as he is hopefully going to be a family all-rounder, little colt attitude is best nipped in bud I think!

Spotty, will do :)
 
ElleSkywalker said:
Dispite my little man's awful start, he is now fat as butter with a crest most stallions would envy, so I think physically he is ok to be done :) If he were still feeble I would wait.

He nips a bit (and gets told off!) & think he is quite aware of his boy-bits already & as he is hopefully going to be a family all-rounder, little colt attitude is best nipped in bud I think!

Spotty, will do :)
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This is why i would rather have waiting a bit. The boy was a bit weedy :D
 
and the fact he did not drop until quite late! He is quite a girly boy in some ways and, though I know this has nothing to do with it, his breeders tend to get more fillies than colts by a long way and so I tend to joke he is probably meant to be a girl!
 
aww thank you :) He has his days. The vet was due out on Tuesday and Prince came in looking all nice and well rounded and gorgeous but the vet cancelled and came Weds and the boy came in scraggy, looking like he needed feeding and a right mess! animals :rolleyes:
 
I've had my colt done this year before weaning just for convenience really as I have all the horses in one herd and most are mares - so at 5 months old, I've only had 4 done this young in the past, they do get over it very quickly at this age when still on mum though. He went back out the same day in a small paddock with his mum, then back out with the main herd the next day - at this age you don't need to keep them seperate from mares/fillies for 6 weeks which you'd need to do on an older youngster.
It does though depend on circumstances when I normally geld and how many colts/stallions I have about - if I have a bachelor herd they can stay entire until they are a few years old or more if they behave and look to have breeding potential, but more often than not I geld the first winter. I do think the risks are slightly less the smaller the nuts and therefore the smaller the op site and the quicker the op rather than leaving them until they are fully grown when it becomes major surgery, which I've also had done on 5,6 and 10yr old stallions thankfully without problems but it is definitely a major op.

So it's down to personal preference and what facilities you have available - keeping a youngster on it's own is not acceptable for any length of time really and I'd say at this age could lead to injuries trying to get back to the herd through fences, so whipping their nuts off now before weaning to be back in a herd the next day is by far the better option IMO.
 
ElleSkywalker said:
My colt is now 4 months old, I was planning on gelding him at around 6 months so he has his mum to help him get over it, then wean him after, but when I asked a vet from my practice (they are an equine vets, but this vet is a new one) he basically shot me down as if I'd suggested something dreadful!

I have never had a colt before, so thought I would ask you chaps what you tend to do and why?

Every opinion welcome, as I said am new to colts!

Ps, I only have mares so leaving him uncut till 1 or so would be tricky. I know of one other colt he could live with over the winter BUT, the other colt is for sale so might not be around for long or even at all, also if he lived with this colt he would be in a stable (large one but not huge) & fed hay/hayledge all winter, whereas with me (gelded) he would be out on lovely grass with shelter, his yearling sister & her mum & my Shetland for company.

Vet did say he would geld him in feb time (when he will be 9 months) & that in mean time he is fine going out with anything other than the Shetland as he is smaller than them so 'won't bother then' .......:eek: :rolleyes:
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We managed to get a donkey gelded over here at nine months. Was temped to leave him entire but he was such a little s**t trying to mount everything. I only keep Stallions, two are virgins and no problems, will stay virgins as well. One has already sampled the goods and knows what he is missing. Having issues with him at the moment.
 
I gelded my foal at just under 6 months....mam was still with him and he bounced back really well. Having mam there was a definite comfort. I had no intention of keeping him entire so off they come before he ever knew what testosterone was! lol

There is a popular belief that gelding early can add to the expected adult height. I'd say thats the case with my 2 yr old...he's a big lad!
 
We dont cut any colt foals until the following spring. We wean them between 5 and 6 months all the foals run together for the winter then we cut the ones we need to cut early springtime. As a general rule none of our colts are 'colty' obviously that can affect when they need to be castrated! Personally I do not like castrating them whilst they are still on their mums I just like them a bit older and stronger, weaned and independent.
 
hi ellle, how is the wee man? get pics up lol,

i have had to wean due to mare being dragged down so badly by greedy monkey! he is not getting gelded till spring, i like the boys to be boys over the winter :D just my preference xx
 
We haven't gelded our colt yet and he's nearly 18 months. He's going to a specialist sale on Monday and the main reason we didn't geld him is to help him strengthen physically. Also, it'll then be the choice of the new owner whether to geld him before he potentially races next year. Generally geldings struggle against colts at 2 and 3 and we always knew we were going to sell him so we didn't want to make that choice for someone else.

Also, as a sort of compounding reason, my boss had a yearling colt he bought at the sale last year gelded in the spring of this year, and 2 hours after the job had been done he had a major internal bleed and had to be put down. This may be a rare thing (my boss certainly hadn't had any problems gelding horses in the past), but we didn't want to put Jimmy at risk.

Tbh he needs his bonkers off, he's a typical colt! Whereas OH has three colts of the same age and the one that is in being worked on at the moment is a complete dream in every way, and I've suggested they leave him as a colt instead of unnecessarily gelding him.
 
ElleSkywalker said:
Nothing weedy about my little man now! My farrier described him as looking like a bullock, & the vet (old vet, I miss u Kate :() cheerfully announced on meeting him 'ooo he's inherited mummys fat gene!'

He is a sturdy little chap :D
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Given his start this paints a very welcome picture :D

I have no direct experience with colts but would say that my new boy, ie previous son of Jenny, was not only her son but also her husband! It all happened years ago with the previous owner of course, and the resulting foal is actually a poppet, but that's what happens when colts are not gelded soon enough.... even Mum is not off limits :eek:
 
Here is a pic of the tubster, not the best pic, he appears to be winking ;)

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Alfiesmum, how is your little man other than being greedy? Spart is not dragging his mum down too much but think she will be getting sick of him soon, hoping they can stay together for another couple of months :)

Stimpy :eek: I used to loan a gelding that 'husbanded' his own mum too, so I am bit on the wary side too!

To all that replied, thanks for your opinions and stories, I will be having a chat with the main stud vet at my practice about it, am still leaning towards doing it before weaning so he can stay here and go out with his sister & other mares :)
 
he is doing brilliant thanks :) he was vetted yesterday and he passed with flying colours (pity i was out of breath doing the trot up) thought the vet was going to wet themselves laughing at me lol. he is now in at night and mum is out at night, yearling gelding stays with wee man and its all going well for now (8 days in) mare is doing brilliant and gaining lots of weight daily. i asked the vet about gelding and they said to leave till spring as we still have flies and they said it was fine to put mare and foal back in same paddock once weaned :) so happy days x
so glad your wee guy is doing so well xx
 
I gelded my colt at a year old i wish i waited longer but he was becoming a right brat and i didnt want it to effect his build with him being a welsh but this is him 5 months on with his big cresty neck. I also would say they have a growth spirt after gelding he shot up straight away.

 
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