# Gelding later?



## Lifeofriley (May 24, 2009)

This is just a random question I've had bouncing around in my brain for a while regarding gelding of horses.

In your experience, is there any correlation between the age of gelding a colt, and their size/height/muscle mass? 

Thanks guys


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

I asked a vet this. His answer - gelding younger will reduce the amount of testosterone produced and that in turn allows the horse to grow taller as this frees up the growth platelettes (I think, sorry was over 10 years ago I asked as he was gelding my 4 month old colt). Gelding later, the horse will be more coarse, have a larger, crestier neck, thicker throatlatch, meatier withers.


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## TexasBlaze (Oct 4, 2010)

I believe stallions mature to be thicker than geldings do. Gelding are supposively taller.


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## COWCHICK77 (Jun 21, 2010)

Most people geld fairly early within their first year depending if they have dropped.

My good horse wasn't gelded until he was 2 1/2 because he was supposed to be a futurity horse. Then I gelded when I bought him, no issues.

The ranch colts sometimes don't get gelded until they are 3,4,or 5 and we have never had problems with them acting "studdy". As long as you get that little bean out they are fine. They might have some jowl on them when they are that old but even that kinda goes away.


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## MHFoundation Quarters (Feb 23, 2011)

We've always cut ours as yearlings. I had my first late one done this year. He was injured so he was gelded at 4. He's well behaved and got the big jaws typical of a stallion that I love. Made for a very sharp looking gelding.


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## Arksly (Mar 13, 2010)

Depends on the horse I think. 

We had a horse who was gelded late. He was a good stallion but not a great one, so the breeder gelded him making him a great gelding. He was very well mannered until spring time (he had been bred before). He wouldn't try to harm anyone but would get very excited and you'd have to pay close attention to him. He was fine with mares any other time of the year. He had nice muscling and was pretty stocky.

Now I knew another horse who was gelded at nine years old (got out of hand and the owner had enough of it). He was never very thick but very lean and tall. He can never be put with mares because he would mount them.

The first horse was a Westphalen and the other a Dutch Warmblood.


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## Horsecrazy4ever (Nov 29, 2011)

Depends on your horse. We had a gelding that didn't drop untill he was 3. 

We got him gelded at 3.5 but he always has had a little bit of a "stud" attitude. He ended up growing 4 inches from the time he was 4 untill 5!(maturing at 15.1H and fat!) Just thought I would share this story. =)


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## Lifeofriley (May 24, 2009)

Interesting.. My sister's gelding was gelded as a 3 year old and he's now 8. He's only about 15hh but he is SOLID, very well behaved except for if another horse is 'challenging' him! In comparison, my guy was gelding as a weanling/yearling and he's tall but not as thick. 

They are both 1/2 QH, though completely different 'types' so I didn't think it was fair to compare them..


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## Faceman (Nov 29, 2007)

The general consensus in the circles I run in, which seems to be what I have seen in my experience, is that gelding early does promote a bit more height, but does not affect musculature. With that being said, the secondary stallion characteristics, specifically the thick cresty neck and the large jaw, that tend to develop in the 3 - 5 age range, would be denpendent upon when the gelding took place - you wouldn't nolrmally expect those characteristics in a gelding that was cut before 3...


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

I went to visit my foal's sire and found out he had been gelded. I talked to the guy and he said that pretty well right-away the horse lost his fleshy jowls. The guy seemed disappointed by it. 

Me personally, I never cared for the fleshy jowl look, so I thought he looked great. :lol:

I think it has been proven that geldings get taller because the testosterone in an entire colt will close the growth plates earlier than a horse that has been deprived of the extra testosterone. But the difference in height is not that significant, only about an inch (I think it was _The Horse_ magazine that published the study). 

I really think other aspects of it such as muscle mass are genetic. I have had several really chunky geldings. But I guess that begs the question, would they have been even chunkier as stallions? I don't know.

I gelded my QH/Fox Trotter colt at 5 months (he was and still is a handful, plus there was no reason to keep him a stallion). For the longest time he looked like a little Thoroughbred. All legs and a lean, sleek neck. Now at almost 17 months I've noticed he is starting to get kind of a thick neck on him. I would have been fine with the Thoroughbred look, but I do think my guy will end up looking more like a Quarter Horse after all.


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## Lifeofriley (May 24, 2009)

Here's my sister's little chunky monkey in all his glory 











A friend of mine gelded her Clydie/Stockhorse/TB at 7 after breeding him for a couple of years and was incredibly disappointed that he lost his neck when Ben (up there) still has his


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