Horse Talk

abigalerose said:

Got to love on Jack this morning while he was laying down. June use to lay down like this all the time when I first brought her home but she would always get up before I could get close. Jack let me pet him and hang out for a while

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Are you taking him out for walkes etc. from the other horses so he doesn't get herd bound

I've taken him out for a couple walks and he does good, but he freaks out when I get June out and ride her. Starting this week though I'll be working with him everyday and he's gonna spend lots of time alone because I don't want to be dealing with a buddy sour stud colt

abigalerose said:

I've taken him out for a couple walks and he does good, but he freaks out when I get June out and ride her. Starting this week though I'll be working with him everyday and he's gonna spend lots of time alone because I don't want to be dealing with a buddy sour stud colt

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Good thing! Because buddy sour anything is annoying

abigalerose said:

I've taken him out for a couple walks and he does good, but he freaks out when I get June out and ride her. Starting this week though I'll be working with him everyday and he's gonna spend lots of time alone because I don't want to be dealing with a buddy sour stud colt

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If he is "out with the herd" you really need to get him gelded ASAP, unless you plan on having every mare on your place bred.... The hormones can kick in a lot sooner than you think, and where there is a will, there is a way, even if he is smaller than the mares.

Yes it is. My first horse I had sat in the pasture for a looong time, and when my grandpa finally sold him he was so buddy sour that he probably would have been dangerous in the wrong hands

res said:

If he is "out with the herd" you really need to get him gelded ASAP, unless you plan on having every mare on your place bred.... The hormones can kick in a lot sooner than you think, and where there is a will, there is a way, even if he is smaller than the mares.

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Can't get him gelded until he drops, as far as I know

abigalerose said:

Can't get him gelded until he drops, as far as I know

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Talk to a vet. If you don't geld soon enough they also keep their stallion attitude. My previous gelding was not gelded for a while and he had stallion instincts

Here's an article

When To Castrate?

Horses can be castrated at any age. I have castrated foals at one day of age and stallions into their 20s. Although both of these extreme situations were emergencies where the horses had developed scrotal hernias (the small intestine had herniated or protruded into the scrotal sac), all recovered well. Most veterinarians will agree that castrating horses at a young age (less than one year old) is ideal. Male horses at that age have smaller testicles that are easier to remove and have less of a chance of severe bleeding post-operatively. Many people castrate horses when they become a management problem--around two to three years of age. This could be due to a desire for the horses to develop a more masculine appearance (thicker neck, heavier build).

If a horse is gelded earlier in life, then it will grow taller--closing of the growth plates in the legs is delayed with early castration. The ideal time to castrate a horse is variable and will depend on several factors, including the management of your farm, the climate, training schedules, and so on.

For example, you might want to wait to castrate your yearling colt until he is two years old. However, if the barn where you board your horse only has one paddock, turning your intact colt out with other horses invariably results in a fight when the colt begins mounting and herding the other horses. To save the peace (and injuries to your colt), it might be best to castrate him earlier.

Another example could be that you want to castrate your 2-year-old colt in January so that he is acting like a gelding by the first show in March. However, you live in central New York, where heavy snow and extremely cold temperatures are the norm in January. It might be best to wait for warmer weather so that regular exercise following castration won't be impeded. Or, for a little more money, you can have him castrated at a clinic where the incisions are closed and there is no need to worry about the castration sites becoming swollen or infected. What's the difference between field and clinic castration? Read on.

He's 7 months. You can geld them as soon as they're born, but if you don't everything goes back up, and its best to wait until they drop again to do it, which should be in the next few months. Doing it now, while they're not dropped, although possible, it's risky. Waiting until he drops, will be much safer, and it will probably be around a year of age, it is very unlikely that he will keep a stud "attitude" if he's gelded as a yearling or a little sooner. I'll be keeping an eye on him so I can take him in as soon as he drops, that way he doesn't breed June.
As for your gelding, he may have been gelded at 2 years, or after he bred a mare, which would be a cause for the attitude, but I firmly believe you can train the "stud attitude" out of them.
Also as a rule of thumb, however many years old your horse is is how many months it should take them to start acting like a gelding. I doubt that's a proven fact or anything but it does work out like that for a lot of people.
Me and my cousin went on a trail ride yesterday, me on June and her on her stud horse, and they were both so quiet you'd think we were riding two geldings. She got him as an unhandled 6 year in February, and she works hard with him everyday and that's how he is now.

abigalerose said:

He's 7 months. You can geld them as soon as they're born, but if you don't everything goes back up

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There is a structure in the male anatomy called the inguinal ring through which the testes pass on their way to the scrotum. This ring shrinks within a couple of weeks after birth; any testicle that isn't on the outside at that point never will be. If the colt isn't dropped by 2 weeks of age, he's a crypto, and you are talking very expensive surgery to geld him.