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Re: [RC] Strange gelding or cryptorchid?? - Julie Fuller

Liz,

Could be either. You can get his hormone levels tested, and that will tell you one way or the other. I just read up on this stuff recently to see if there was any new info out there, as I used to own a gelding that was seriously NOT a gelding in behavior.

He always mounted mares in season, and did "the whole job" just like a stallion. He even sweet talked them first... for up to an hour! (He especially like black and black bay ponies, Go figure)

He acted just like a stallion, and I treated him that way. I got along wonderfully with him, he was a very well trained and respectful horse. I only had one bad incident during the five years I had him: I had him out in the pasture with several mares and one other gelding. A mare came into heat, and he attacked the gelding, viciously and with intent to kill. Luckily, my friends gelding got away by going through a fence, and wasn't hurt, though my "gelding" got cut up pretty good trying to go through the same fence.

While I had him, I asked every vet I met about stallion behavior in geldings. Basically, it boils down to this: There are geldings who are proud cut, though very very seldom. (and the vet that cut this horse at 18 months old, said he hadn't been proud cut. And seeing as how this vet is THE vet in this area in regards to equine reproduction, I believe him) There are geldings who are not (as in cryptorchid) and there are geldings whose adrenal gland (which produces 5% of the total testosterone (the testes producing 95%) can be affected by a malfunction of the pituitary gland and produce more testosterone than that 5% (though I have not found much info on this... just a reference to something called "sexy gelding syndrome")

If anyone has any more information about this subject, I'd love to hear it. That "gelding" of mine was a piece of work, and I adored him. His behaviors made life very interesting. Like the time a vet gave him a tranq so she could float his teeth and clean his sheath, and he dropped and got hard. She looked SO surprised! She wrote "stallion-like behavior" on the reciept.

Oh, and a question... Is it true that most stallions have a higher tolerance to tranqs than a mare or gelding?

Julie


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