Saturday, August 4, 2012

Is a Stallion ever " Too Old" to Geld ?

LW has a 7 year old stallion with very Stallion behavior. Although Pride is a complete sweatheart to everyone He has alot of nerve. He tears down all the fences even gates and recently uprooted a wood post to get into the lots with the mares. He also has extreme agression with the one and only other Gelding at the rescue.

I stopped for a quick visit the other day and she was in a panic cause he was at it again and had the gelding down. We are trying hard to raise the funds to get him gelded hoping that this behavior will stop but in doing some reading I just dont think with him being 7 years old that this behavior will stop.

For horses gelded late, or after puberty, there is no way to 'turn back time or mating related behavior. And if he has learned he can get his way with people and other horses by being aggressive, gelding will not cause him to unlearn this, only retraining will.

For a colt it can take a month or even take 6 months for him to act in control. When his testosterone levels drop, so will his stallion-like behavior. His metabolism will slow down and he will require less food and more exercise to maintain condition.

After gelding, some horses will retain all of the mating behaviors. These are known as 'proud cut'. While it used to be thought that this was due to a failed surgery, todays surgical skill level suggests that other factors are at work. It may be that the adrenal gland (near the kidney) is producing excess testosterone. It may be that gelding happened well after the mating behaviors became established.

Other bad horse-human manners are the result of bad training. So we are in dilema on what to do if these behaviors will change or if they wont.. Since he already thinks he is the kind of the farm.

Would love anyones opinions on this matter. This is a great Resource that has been brought to our attention and we are hoping they will help us out.. Please share this with fellow Horse owners and Rescues.. Hoping it will help someone out in need !

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