# Pros and Cons of keeping a stud colt



## horseluvr2524 (Sep 17, 2013)

Its as the title says: Pros and Cons of keeping a colt a stud past their first year. One pro from me is allowing them to develop a 'studdy' look before gelding, I just love the look of a nice stallion (who doesn't?). A con would be some colts are just completely unmanageable as studs.

Looking to hear different opinions, especially concerning how early gelding effects their growth. Fire away! 

Someday, someday I will have a PRE!!!


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## Rain Shadow (May 1, 2014)

Are you talking about keepign a colt to use as a stud?

Or waiting until they are older to geld?


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## horseluvr2524 (Sep 17, 2013)

Waiting until they are older to geld, like waiting until they are anywhere between 2-5 years old. If I had the facilities to do so and was capable of it, I would probably wait until they were 4 or 5 so they could grow correctly.

I read in an article somewhere that gelding early sometimes makes a horse taller in place of being stocky and stud like.


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

I gelded Riley at a little over a year and he has a great neck (in my opinion - but most say it's too thick). They say studs grow and inch to two inches less than a gelding but I don't know if that is true...


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

I sure don't like the studdy look. But beyond that, I wouldn't want to risk accidental breedings, or ignorant guests getting in a jam.


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## Incitatus32 (Jan 5, 2013)

My boy will be close to 2 if not 2 when I geld him. Really I just didn't have the time/money to do it last summer. I already think he looks a bit studdy but hey as long as he keeps being easy to handle and keeps a good temperament he'll just be gelded when he's gelded. (Though it's a whole lotta work keeping any stud or stud colt) it's not a huge problem for me right now as there's already a stud on the property so we're all set up for it and have a BO who has years of experience with studs. A horse with a bad temperament I'll geld in a heartbeat, really the horse has to be special for me to do what I'm doing with my colt.


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## SlideStop (Dec 28, 2011)

Con... Not sure how to put this one, but I'm going to say "bad habits" for lack of a better term, like agressive behavior, becoming infatuated with mares, etc. When you take away the jewels it doesn't take away the behavior. You may be left with more then you can handle, only in a gelding form. We have a horse who is now nearing 20 that was gelded around 7. He is the first gelding to notice a mare and we have to be careful of who he goes in with as he will mount mares at the drop of a hat in the right conditions.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## squirrelfood (Mar 29, 2014)

There really is no good reason to NOT geld early.


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## rookie (May 14, 2012)

Con: gelding older stallions can be regarded as more difficult by a veterinarian and some may refuse to do it on the farm. Largely because the tissues are tougher, the veins bigger and the risk of bleeding larger. 

Gelding late for the sake of a thick neck is a bit silly to me. I have a labrador who has a big, fat lab head. His breeder really, really wanted me to wait until he was 18 months to have him castrated, so he could have a big head. I had him neutered at 6 months. The first thing my brother said when he saw my dog (who was a year and half at the time) was "Oh my God look at his head, its like a cinderblock". I love my dogs big, fat head; however, thats genetics more then testosterone.


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## RMHbaby (Jul 15, 2012)

I read an article a few years ago about the growth of geldings vs stallions. I'm trying to find the study right now, but there were a few things that have stood out to me.

It is true that those who were gelded tended to be taller than those who weren't (or wasn't until they were full grown). From what I remember, the reason for this was a spurt of testosterone that promoted the closure of the growth plates and therefore they stop growing at a younger age. Without the testosterone, growth plates don't close until later and the horse grows taller. 

For me to consider keeping a colt intact for longer in order to get a difference appearance, he would have to naturally be very easy to handle and get along well with other horses. It is more difficult to keep an intact male around and I currently board my horses.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

would your lab be a British Labrador breed? they have broader skulls, shorter stockier builds. handsome dogs.


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

If you have no intentions to have a colt become a breeding stallion then for the colt's sake geld early. It's much less traumatic for a youngster than it is for a fully mature stallion to get gelded. When we had our breeding stallion gelded at age 12 the poor guy was miserable for a couple of weeks vs. the couple of days that a colt is usually sore after gelding.


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## verona1016 (Jul 3, 2011)

For me the cons of keeping a stud colt intact would far outweigh any potential pros. Behavior issues, unintended pregnancy, liability issues, etc. Not worth it unless you're considering keeping the colt intact for breeding IMO.

If you want a thick neck, go for bloodlines that stamp that on their foals. My horse was gelded young and still has a massively thick neck


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## Wallaby (Jul 13, 2008)

One thing I would be concerned about [along with what's already been mentioned] is this hypothetical colt getting adequate socialization with other horses.

I mean, I don't really feel like the average, "cooped up in a stall 23 hours a day," horse gets adequate equine socialization on a daily basis...but the young months/years are especially important for that sort of thing.

I've been around more geldings that are, due to their late gelded-ness and lack of equine socialization [since their caretakers were the "it's a stallion, nothing can be pastured with it"-type people], absolute nightmares for humans and horses to be around. 
On the human-nightmare front, it had more to do with a lack of skilled handling [and probably a lack of herd-dynamics know-how, on the horse's part]...but both geldings were still awful for other horses to be around. They certainly couldn't be turned out together because they both went nuts.

In examples from other animals, I have a cat that hasn't been around other cats since he was 4 weeks old [he was dumped in a forest, I took him home, and I didn't have another cat] and a goat that I got from his home herd when he was 6 months old.
The cat acts more like a dog than anything because that's what he had around as an example - dogs and humans, so he chose the dog.

The goat grew up, until he was 6 months old, within a herd of goats. Then he came home to live with my horse and one other goat. And he acts just like the horse. The horse that "raised" him passed away and he was absolutely lost without a horse around. 
The other goat was still there, but he needed a horse. I got a new horse and he immediately took to that horse. The goat copies the horse's every move - every spook, every running spree, it's utterly ridiculous. The other goat is still there, but the young goat takes zero of his cues from her and 100% of his cues from the horse.
He spent a fourth of his social-educational time within his proper social structure, but he's STILL confused about what he is. :lol:

Anyway, bottom line, I firmly believe longterm socialization of youngsters -by the correct species- is absolutely vital to a mentally "sound" adult. 
Not that I would love any of my animals more if they were less species-confused, but I worry that I made them be not exactly "right."


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## rookie (May 14, 2012)

Tiny yea my dog is an english lab. Wallaby as the owner of a cat/dog who was raised in a cat heavy environment and did not meet a dog until he was a year old, its sometimes genetics. There is a healthy combination of handling, genetics and socialization that goes into making an adult animal.


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## horseluvr2524 (Sep 17, 2013)

All good answers everyone! Obviously this is all a hypothetical question for learning purposes. I'm not one of those people that posts a 'hypothetical' question when I'm actually serious about it, this really is just hypothetical for learning. I've seen some gorgeous geldings too, so its not only studs that are pretty of course :lol: 



Wallaby said:


> One thing I would be concerned about [along with what's already been mentioned] is this hypothetical colt getting adequate socialization with other horses.
> 
> I mean, I don't really feel like the average, "cooped up in a stall 23 hours a day," horse gets adequate equine socialization on a daily basis...but the young months/years are especially important for that sort of thing.
> 
> ...


Part of the reason why I posted this thread is because for those of us that haven't worked around studs before, stallion keeping is some super secret shrouded in mystery. I started researching on my own, because people treat stallions like they aren't even a horse, like a whole different animal. And while they do have to be handled differently, they are still a horse.

A consistent point in several articles I read was the same as regular horse training: don't let the bad habits start. Reinforce good habits from a young age. What Wallaby posted about socialization is a very good point, and many that have stud colts also have several other stud colts so they can all be turned out together. Here are the articles:

Happy and Healthy Stallions: Part 1 – America’s Horse Daily

Training a Stallion – America’s Horse Daily

Another big point in the articles was that the colt must have a good disposition in order to be considered as a stud. If he is unruly, then he has to be gelded. Makes sense to me.


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## IndianaJones (Aug 13, 2014)

Temperament plays a big factor IMO....I raised a Leaguer/Blondys Dude colt that could be handled by a child....but have a Jet Deck Paint gelding that was gelded at 5 months that makes me want to put a hot poker in my eye. LOL


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## Change (Jul 19, 2014)

I kept one of my QH boys (a cow-bred chocolate buckskin) intact until he was 3, trying to decide if he was of breeding quality. He was handled daily from birth and was easier to handle than a few of my geldings. He was turned out to run and play with the geldings and, because he was young and I had one gelding that didn't take guff from anyone, he was well behaved out there, too. He was kept in the 8 stall barn with a gelding next to him, but 5 mares also in the barn. I treated him like all the other horses, except for letting him out with the mares.

At the same time, I had a 16 month old Arab colt with superb breeding but the worst studly behavior. I had to keep him in a porta-stall 50' from everyone because he was such a turd.

I decided to geld them both on the same day. Russar (the Arab) because he was impossible to deal with; Tag (the QH) because, although he was a lovely boy with good breeding, good conformation, and a terrific temperament, wasn't perfect. As the vet said, "He'd have been a good stallion; he'll be a Great gelding."

So - to answer the question: Keeping a stallion depends a lot on temperament and handling.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

squirrelfood said:


> There really is no good reason to NOT geld early.


Disagree with this. 

Gelding early stops testosterone which in turn tells the bones when to stop growing. 

I have kept colts until they were three, have also gelded early.

I ran two colts together, one was two when I bought him, Connemara, the other was three and belonged to someone else. The older colt was clueless as to what he was whereas the pony was well aware! 

If you have the facilities to keep them intact then personally I would geld later rather than early.


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