to geld or not to geld
 

that is the question . my colt is out being broken and i have been advised he should be gelded . should this be done now ? i really don't want to reduce his personality and spirit .

thanks for your input .

Kelso and Forego and John Henry and The Tin Man and our late lamented Border Collie Hobbes had plenty of 'personality and spirit.' These qualities do not reside in the testicles. It is likely that your boy is a) showing too much interest in the ladies, and becoming difficult to control or even dangerous as a result, or b) is getting too heavy in the shoulder/neck area too young, which would put him at risk for front leg injuries. Unless your colt is a grade AA pedigreed stud prospect you paid a mint for, gelding is a logical choice in many cases. Hash it over thoroughly with your trainer.

Are there physical issues or strictly behavorial?

ask the_fat_man

Alfred Vanderbilt was asked once about gelding and said (I paraphrase) "If I had gelded every colt I ever had, I'd have only made one mistake." he spoke of Native Dancer.

For all but the very best runners, you are probably better off gelding them. Some of the best runners materialize after the procedure but if they never get to show their best, they'll not likely be well supported in the stud. Also, look at how many top class racehorses fail at stud anyhow.

This should be done now as i find it better while they are still working as it allows the blood to flow abit better & lessens the affects of flys etc the only times i would not consider gelding is when as stated above the horse is worth a few bob or i wanted him to be fulled out a bit more but would still do it before it raced or last but not least if he showed no colt incling towards the mares but if they have advised it allready id say the chances are he knows all about the mares so id say yes geld him & GET HIS MIND BACK ON RACING;)

Were did you decide to send your horse to get broke?

i doubt it will reduce his personality or spirit-john henry is a perfect example of that.
if the pro's say geld him, geld him. no time like the present.

I'm sorry I just think we have too little information. "Because it's there" is a reason to climb Mt. Everest or go to the moon (there's so much noble meaning attached in those situations) but when it comes to removing his whatsits, just cuz he has 'em isn't reason to take'em. I'm gonna take a wild guess that they say he's hard to handle and figure he's not some blueblood so they can try to take him down a notch as it were. If it's making him uncomfortable that might have something to do with it--is he a ridgling?

What's his breeding, we might be able to offer some suggestions from that. How's he built? I mean if you've got god's gift to sport horses on your hands you might rethink it--would he make a good quarter horse sire? I just hesitate to snip snip just because one man's "difficult" is another man's "spirited." I mean Tiznow and War Emblem were not easy customers, and WE was out and out mean. The front end weight thing I get, is it his growth though or the training methods? There might be dieting or exercise changes to consider first. I figure put yourself in his position. Wouldn't you want someone going 'hey now wait a minute, is it necessary?' Probably is and probably won't make him a world beater cuz most horses aren't anyway but give it more thought. I don't know the people giving the evaluation, maybe ask the vet for a different perspective. It won't necessary effect spirit so if he's difficult now, it's no guarantee that won't stay. John Henry didn't get better. Don't assume, if you don't want to breed him, that you'll solve your problems by gelding and don't assume you'll get the next Forego afterward either. You might be doing everyone a favor by removing a lousy stallion prospect from the gene pool but it depends on the horse.

If you're going to geld a colt, the cooler weather is so much better. I'd rather have a really nice gelding than a mediocre stallion. I have a colt that I bred that became a world champion. He was not a breeding horse and is a way better gelding.

Here's MY advice: make EUNUCHS out of yourself and those suggesting that you cut the colt before it even has a chance to show you whether it can focus on running or not. This isn't certain but I'm thinking that this won't reduce YOUR 'personality and spirit", as you can just load up on hormone shots and get some cosmetic nuts.

While you're at it, take Ward, Reynolds, Hough, and all the other cut happy MOFO's masquerading as trainers with you. Let's make the EUNUCH fashionable again.

Of course, if the nut cutting stopped, then all those hanging around to bet new geldings would actually need to get a clue otherwise.

P.S.

Plenty of HORNY horses out there that do just fine when it comes to running.

On a more serious note, I'd be interested to know whether horsemen in other areas (Europe, S. America, Asia, and Australia) are as quick to cut as their American counterparts.

Ask the trainer why he suggests cutting the colt , odds are the guy who is around the horse everyday and has been training for a long time would not just say cut him for no good reason.

When our office mail man asked why horses are gelded I asked him, "If your balls were cut off would your route be shorter or longer in time" He didn't answer but when he brought up MILF's I knew the answer.

i'd cut off the tongue of the chatty bastard and really save some time.

Oh you don't know the half of it. But I can't type fast enough. Satan's Twin can give a better description. But the guy is responsible for one key and when I asked his super how he keeps track of it he said he ties it to his vodka bottle.

In Australia/New Zealand, it is not unusual to see geldings winning the major races that the mares don't. Especially in NZ, many prospects are bred on farms that keep only a handful of mares as a sideline and they don't have room to pasture their yearlings separately, so the colts must be gelded.

For a long time Aussie breeders were convinced that any import was a better stallion prospect than the local product, so locally bred colts were routinely gelded. Three of the last five AJC Derby winners have been geldings.

The Euros, on the other hand, disdain geldings and won't let them run in their Group 1 races, which is why Teleprompter had to come over here to get a G1 win. And why Donativum is considering trying for the Kentucky Derby rather than his own.

I think you should take Honu's advice.

Good luck to you.

Not going against you as i know very little of euro racing but Takeover Target & Saintly were both geldings & won group 1s in europe

Really? This whole thread went by with mostly serious posts and not a single Golden Missile reference? Low point in Nerdy Trail history.