Sunday, August 12, 2012

Gelding


Gelding is a hot topic in the horse world. Many people prefer to ride geldings, and horses that haven’t been demonstrated to be worth breeding are often gelded even by professional breeders. However, there is another group of people, those who don’t geld the colt or stallion they buy or breed, but aren’t sure what to do with him. Often, many reasons are given for not gelding, including cost, and sometimes a human sentiment that it is cruel to do so. With all of these questions being out there, what does the evidence show?

Regardless, gelding removes the hormones (testosterone) from the stallion, typically allowing the male horse to be calmer and better behaved, often more suitable as an every-day working animal.  Ideally, gelding also helps insure that only the absolute best horses are bred, decreasing the risk of an ‘oops’ pregnancy in the horse world, and therefore decreasing the chance of a potentially dangerous (to the mare) pregnancy and very expensive baby afterward. Unlike mares or stallions, geldings are typically free of the hormone-driven urges that can make handling difficult. This is particularly true when gelding is done in the younger horse. Gelding also allows more horses to live closely and safely than maintaining intact stallions, particularly with mares in close proximity.

A horse may be gelded at any age, but if it is know a horse will not be used for breeding, gelding at less than a year of age is typically recommended. New research has shown that any muscle a horse gains by delaying gelding is eventually lost, and there is no net growth change with gelding at a year. With safer practices now available, it is becoming increasingly more feasible to geld older horses safely, allowing them a less restrictive later life than they may have otherwise experienced.

There are some risks to gelding, like any surgery, including swelling, infection and bleeding, but these complications are rare in a properly sedated horse under the care of an experienced veterinarian.

The bigger risk is the inexperienced horseperson (and it takes a LOT of experience with stallions to be experienced) with a stallion. By nature, stallions are more aggressive than other horses. They tend to try to dominate both other horses and human handlers. In particular children should not be involved in handling stallions, as their behavior is unpredictable. Stallions can potentially be kept with other stallions, as long as mares are not around. However, if one has a mixed herd of horses, but doesn’t plan to breed, keeping a stallion is a bad idea and often leads to unintended foals.

So in summary? For most people geldings are a MUCH better choice than stallions! Aside from behavior risks, accidental pregnancies, riding preference, etc., it is also typically easier to find a home for a gelding than a stallion, as specialty facilities are often required for them. Equally important, only the very best horses should be bred. This means that even though your stallion (or mare for that matter) is super sweet and wonderful, if they haven’t won competitions, proven their soundness and viability in the horse world and show how they handle training and work, they probably shouldn’t breed, because only the best-behaved, best-conformation horses should go on to make more horses. It’s already hard enough to find a home for the ‘oops’ ones. 

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