Questions about Gelding 7 yr old Mini Stallions

[mrszlopez]

I have two 7yr old Mini Stallions who KNOW they are studs. The previous owner said theyve never been bred to date & both are very skittish.
They have tried to mount each other & the bigger of the two actually got "excited" over our sheep. Our neighbors have a mare next door and we have a 33yr old Gelding of our own.
Both boys are non stop screaming at our big guy & also just screaming in general.

Im wondering if gelding them would effect them at all since they are a bit older.

Any advice is greatly appreciated & very much needed !!!!

 

[chickbea]

Geld them! If they aren't going to be used for breeding, both they and everyone else around them will be soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much happier.
Related note: Due to the dismal economic situation and the concurrent collapse of the horse market, many owners of older stallions or ones who are in lesser demand are opting to geld their old guys so that they can have a chance at enjoying life. Instead of spending their whole lives cooped up thinking "I smell a mare - where IS SHE?", they can actually enjoy a graze in the field, or a lie-down under the maple tree with some buddies...

 

[Peaches Lee]

Oh yes, definitely they will have an attitude change. The hormones won't be there. They may still every once in awhile act a little studly, but nothing to the degree of a full blown stallion. I knew a 19 yr old Lipizzan that was gelded, changed his attitude immensely. Go for it!

 

[Redcatcher]

I would be inclined to leave them be. I have a 15 year old Appaloosa stallion that behaves no differently than a gelding. He spends his days grazing and standing under the shade of an old maple tree. He had a gelding buddy up until recently when I could no longer justify keeping two horses. He bred mares when the economy was in better shape and he was (and still is) too occupied with living the good life to worry about where and when he was/is going to breed his next mare. I may likely never breed him again but there is no need to geld him. There is also a higher risk for complications in gelding a mature stallion because the blood vessels to the testicles and the abdominal openings are larger. In my own experiences with stallions, their behavior is influenced more by the way they are kept, and by their training/handling, than by their hormones

 

[lockedhearts]

Geld them, it may take awhile but they will change their attitudes. A friend of mine gelded his teenage stallion (and he had bred mares) he was a great gelding! Talk to a reputable vet and wait until the weather is cooler so the stress is not so bad on them.

 

[Sassafras]

I think you would see a big positive change if you gelded. I had a 7 yr old TB that it improved. No complications. We did it in the fall and hosed the area at least 2X day to keep the swelling down.

 

[patandchickens]

If they were behavin' their little selves, as Redcatcher's stallion apparently does, I'd say leave them be.

But given that they appear to have difficulties with self-control and attention span, and are apparently a bit hard to handle, I'd for sure have them gelded. It WILL help them settle down and relax. It'll take a while -- maybe as much as six months or a year, although most of the late-in-life geldings I've known were much quicker to chill out -- but you AND they will be happier.

You might want to wait til fly season is over however, unless there is an emergency need to do it now before they kill someone or impregnate the whole neighborhood, or something like that

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[15lparker]

YES!!!!!!!!!!! Gelding them will tame their attitudes like no other!!!!! It is a lot easier to deal with a gelding than a Stallion, in my view. Plus when you keep them stallions, they are more at risk for diseases and cancers. I know gelding them might be a tad expensive, but in the long run it is worth SOOOOO much more!!!!

 

[TinyTotsSeramas]

It wouldnt do any good to geld, Sure they wouldnt be able to breed anything but they would still act the same. they sould have been gelded in the first 2 years of their life! I had a 3 year old o the farm I worked at who KNEW she was studded but never bred and we gelded him an he still acts the same.

Honestly they are both too old to geld and it make a difference in the attitudes!!

 

[welsummerchicks]

Two issues with gelding older stallions: one, complications, two, disappointed expectations for changing behavior.

Not to be a wet blanket, these are just the facts: gelding older male horses is not always 'effective' in making a behavior change. The changes may be partial or there may be no changes at all.

Gelding older stallions tends to involve complications many more times than with younger horses. The complications are more severe and more frequent.

Part of that may be, that stallions that have been left entire for many years, tend to develop tumors and cancer in this organs, which may complicate the surgery. When one gelds an older animal one also may be dealing with retained testes or 'stallion hernias'. Stallion hernias seem to occur more often among older stallions.

In some cases, a stallion MUST be gelded - such as in many cases of hernia, cancers, etc. That is more to save the animal's life than to cause any behavior change.

And it doesn't always change behavior, much of which, by the time the animal is 'aged' (over 8) or teenage years, is learned and habitual. Keep in mind that in many teenage stallions they are already 'slowing down' in the hormone department - if they are still acting like Mr. Stud a lot of that can be habitual.

Gelding at any age, even quite young ones, doesn't always remove all reproductive behavior from the male horse, and this is just even more so with the older animal who has established habits over years or decades.

That is why any horse that is gelded when it is older is referred to as a 'stag' - because they quite frequently remain stallion-like. Nearly all will retain the 'secondary characteristics' - the large crest on the neck, etc.

Additionally, if the stallion has already been used for live cover, gelding is less likely to erase his fond memories of that process.

The owner should discuss with her vet, the 'pro's' and 'con's' of late age gelding, and why they want to do it and what they expect to achieve....as well as how mad they're going to be with the vet if nothing changes!

Even though people have seen these 'stags' change in behavior it just does not always happen, or happen to the degree the owner would like. I don't even know if it would be 50-50.

I have a 'stag' - a horse that was gelded at 4 - 'stag' is almost not even appropriate at that young age. This horse's behavior did not change at ALL for one year. He had to be handled as a stallion for a YEAR after the gelding.

Plus, he NEVER really lost his stallion behavior entirely. I would say, for oh, 5 years after the surgery, he was still about 80% stallion. No, no error was made and no tissue was missed, and 'both were down'. Today, even at 20, he is still rather 'different' from other geldings and can bring and keep my mare in heat.

In general, I would say that 60% of the time, there is a behavior change of SOME amount, but it isn't always everything the owner anticipated. Given the risks with older animals(complications and insufficient changes afterwards), it's not always a simple decision.