When to geld colts?

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silverghost

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Hi,

I have a Welsh Sec A who is almost 8 months. He has been bought mainly as a companion but I will walk him out in hand and show him so if broken in the future he can become a safe, well educated childs pony.

My horse is almost 20 and arthritic so the young pony is keeping him moving more and they have bonded closely in the 2 weeks since he arrived.

The colt has been playing around at mounting my horse who is tolerant to a point. When I hack out the colt shouts and runs around and if shut in tries to come over the stable door unless I shut the top one too, yet to handle and walk out on 1:1 he's a sweetie. His first foal show is end of November.

I have booked him in to be gelded next Thursday after he got out of his field today. Is this too young. Should I try and wait til he's older or would it be better to go ahead now?
 
He can be gelded when his testicles have dropped. You can either have a feel around or ask your vet to. At 8m I would expect them to be there by now, but there are no guarantees. If you want him to be a safe, sensible child's pony, I would definitely say that sooner is better than later, as he may potentially develop stallionish habits and traits as he gets older that might be difficult to break. He'll need to be kept quiet-ish for a few days so that he doesn't pelt around and try to mount your old boy as they don't stitch the wounds and any exertion runs the risk of opening up the scars. He'll settle over the next few weeks/months as his hormones come down and he'll probably turn out to be a lovely little chap :)

The other thing to bear in mind is that some colts lose a little condition after they have been gelded, so he may not be looking his best around the time of your show.... although he should be nicely healed by then.
 
Thank you.

He's certainly well developed in terms of his strength and build. I will have a feel for them this weekend! He is good to groom all over and tie up etc so can't see the point of putting off the inevitable.

Keeping him quiet could be the tricky bit as he's very lively but should be ok in adjoining fields.

I'm not expecting anything at the show as he's already woolly and my friend tells me some people even clip foals to show then which I don't agree with going into winter for 1 show so mine will be the scruffy one at the end of the line, but it'll do him good to go out and have the experience.

It's so hard as my old chap is an old hand at showing (coloureds/cobs) and eventing but I'm new to the Welsh side, all I know is that I need to run faster ... lol!
 
I currently have a 15yo TB and a coloured traditional yearling (who I had gelded shortly after he arrived in May!). We have a Welsh D colt coming to join the herd at the end of November so it's my first time with a Welshie too... and another gelding op to go through!!
 
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