When to geld.
Hello all! Last weekend I brought home my new baby, Cause Ur Thine, a 2yo Thoroughbred colt. His breeder has been in the racehorse industry for who knows how long but was diagnosed with cancer and decided to rehome the colts that couldn't make it to the track this year. Thine was out in a herd of five other colts. He wasn't halter broke when we picked him up so we unloaded him straight into the round pen until he'd let me handle him enough to lead him around.
The plan was to get him halterbroke and then geld him. He's now good enough being caught to be allowed out in a paddock with another horse and to not have to wear his breakaway halter anymore so his operation is scheduled for Wednesday.
So here's my problem. I'm having multiple people tell me to wait until he's 3yo, including a good friend of the breeder who helped us load him up. Some people who don't give a age say "He'll let you know when he needs to be gelded." but Thine is so easy to handle and has had multiple opportunities to kick me (or at least kick out in my general direction) but he's chosen not to. By all means he's nearly feral but he's got just as good if not better manners than my other geldings and he's been halterbroke for a whole 5 days. Even my husband comments at how well behaved he is when he's fed.
The most recent person to protest me gelding him now was a barn manager who told me if I wait another year he'll develop more studly features and that the stallions she's ridden at a Olympic Dressage barn up in Canada were better than any mare or gelding she'd ever handled.
Thine is going to be my next Eventer and I want to give him the best opportunities in his physical development. I do intend to geld him. I'm just wondering if it would benefit him to wait since it doesn't hurt me that he's still intact at the moment.
Here's a picture of the sweet boy:
The plan was to get him halterbroke and then geld him. He's now good enough being caught to be allowed out in a paddock with another horse and to not have to wear his breakaway halter anymore so his operation is scheduled for Wednesday.
So here's my problem. I'm having multiple people tell me to wait until he's 3yo, including a good friend of the breeder who helped us load him up. Some people who don't give a age say "He'll let you know when he needs to be gelded." but Thine is so easy to handle and has had multiple opportunities to kick me (or at least kick out in my general direction) but he's chosen not to. By all means he's nearly feral but he's got just as good if not better manners than my other geldings and he's been halterbroke for a whole 5 days. Even my husband comments at how well behaved he is when he's fed.
The most recent person to protest me gelding him now was a barn manager who told me if I wait another year he'll develop more studly features and that the stallions she's ridden at a Olympic Dressage barn up in Canada were better than any mare or gelding she'd ever handled.
Thine is going to be my next Eventer and I want to give him the best opportunities in his physical development. I do intend to geld him. I'm just wondering if it would benefit him to wait since it doesn't hurt me that he's still intact at the moment.
Here's a picture of the sweet boy: