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[RC] To geld or not to geld - k s swigartMarlene Moss said: So the 2 things I am asking for opinions on are 1) what is typical (understanding they all vary) for a colt to discover girls and 2) what are the chances of anyone wanting to breed their mare to a half arab/half mustang stallion. This does assume 2 things - that his demeanor is always tractable and that I find no significant conformation flaws. So far, most of the answers have addressed WHEN to geld a horse and not so much on WHETHER to geld the horse, and the questions only barely touch on why you would decide to do so or not. However, to answer the two questions asked: You need to separate the colt from the mare band as soon as the mares are coming in to season--especially since you don't have an another adult male in there to keep him from being precocious...if you had a full grown fully adult male horse in there, HE wouldn't let that pipsqueak breed his mares :). However, mares aren't so choosy, so if they want it, they will get it from him. Generally speaking, the gun isn't really well loaded at 8 months, but there is still a chance. If the way that you separate the colt is by gelding him....well, that works too, but if you don't geld him, you need to get him out of there as soon as the mares show any interest in being bred. With respect to the second question, there is will be virtually NO interest from outside mare owners in your cross-bred stallion. Actually, unless you actively promote him, there would be virtually no interest in your stallion even if he weren't a cross-bred. Promoting a breeding stallion to outside mare owners is a major undertaking, and it has to be something that you want to spend a lot of time, effort, and money on (and don't expect to get any of that money back, the reason for spending the resources is because you just love your stallion so much that you want to share him, through his progeny, with other people who could love his foals just as much :)). The question you really need to ask yourself is, "Do you want to keep a stallion?" Especially since The most important plan is that he is to become my husband's next endurance horse in a few years. So the person you most need to be asking this of is your husband. Does he want to ride a stallion (and not just the romantic notion of it, but the reality of it--there are lots of people who like the romantic notion of riding a stallion). The reality of it is stallions require different stabling, more attentive handling, constant reminding that they are to be civilized in company :), and a great deal of socializing that cannot be handled by just putting them out to play with the other horses (especially if all your other horses are mares--although putting him out with your mares if they are already pregnant can be a good way to socialize him). Personally, I LOVE having a stallion (and yes mine is a cross bred; although he is an Anglo-Arab, which is a cross that is proven to produce nice progeny; but I am still aware that he is a hybrid and therefore won't breed "true"); however, I keep him a stallion because I like riding, handling, having a relationship with a stallion...and he is the only entire son of my previous stallion who is now dead. So, if you think you and your husband will like keeping and riding a stallion, whether other people are interested in breeding to him or not, by all means, keep him a stallion. Or if you are absolutely devoted to the Mustang/Arab cross and want to go on a crusade to prove that it is an untapped aspect of the horse gene pool and that this horse has something to contribute that will set the horse world on fire AND you are willing to dedicate all your time and resources to this endeavour, by all means keep him a stallion (although having a mother with what you consider to be genetic faults isn't the way to accomplish this if you want to breed him on), and dedicate all your time and resources to this :). However, if what you want is a nice endurance horse for your husband that doesn't pose the management problems of needing to be separated from all your other horses, then gelding him is probably your best choice. I will leave it to others to tell you when they think is the best way to go about doing this:). kat Orange County, Calif. ============================================================ They're athletes! This is a partnership between horse and rider - we don't have any jockeys out there, just pals and partners. We'd allow a rider with a broken foot, a sore back and a nasty cold to compete - but we would never let a horse in a similiar condition hit the trail. ~ Dr. Barney Flemming DVM ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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