For those that do know me know why I'm "starting over" in the horse industry. For those who don't; I suffered a horrible accident in which I fell in my garage of my house, sprained both ankles, broke a long bone in my right foot, and shredded all the tendons and ligaments in my right foot which eventually led to me have a reconstructive surgery, then a second surgery to take out the screws, and eventually walking and trying to get back to normal. And that is just the short version of the story.
So that Is why I had no clients, had to take a full year off to heal, and even then I wanted to start slowly and only offer training to four or less horses that needed touching up or finishing or hopefully had someone already on them...
Again for anyone who knows me knows things never go the way I plan; the very first "horse in the gate" in my training program ended up being a completely green 5 year old STALLION mix breed warm blood sport pony who coiled up to buck just at the pressure of a cinch. He has inspired me to start a blog about training, and help people who want to understand certain traits of certain horses better. I thought I would start with the benefits of gelding horses early. Or at the least, gelding them before you send them to a trainer. (For those that don't know a Stallion is a male horse who has not been gelded/castrated).
Stallions should not only follow the conformation and phenotype of their own breed, only the best of the best in conformation, mental trainability, stamina, and good temperament should be kept as stallions for future breeding. If gelded, young colts who become geldings early keep a more refined look similar to mares, but due to hormones such as testosterone stallions physically become thinker "cresty" necked, as well as more muscular looking.
This may be why some owners allow their colts to grow into stallions and have them gelded later, in order to build a more muscular look, especially in stock horses, however, the problem is that by allowing the hormones to make changes physically it is also making changes to the animals temperament, and trainability.
Did you know that colts will rear up in play more in the first two years of life than a mare will her whole lifetime? Stallions are more prone to bucking, rearing, being skittish or defensive of their flanks or tail end (such as being worried about getting water in sensitive areas during a bath). BUT not only are they naturally more prone to these behaviors, when a mare comes in heat or any other reason a young stallion might receive a surge of testosterone in their system they can also become aggressive, bitey, and test the handler to see who is really in charge, and for some stallions they can become downright unpredictable.
Unless you really have a great prospect in horse racing, horse shows, or Olympic events in which the positive wins will increase a stallions value, and you will have people beating down the door to breed to him, it is really best to geld as soon as the colt is old enough. Geldings are quiet, docile, not only tolerate training but will thrive in the right training, and even tolerate abuse. (Stallions only tolerate what they feel is fair, and if a trainer pushes a stallion too far then the stallion may attack the trainer or handler).
Once trained Gelding make much better riding horses, they can be just as confident in the show ring and on the trail as any stallion, they are accepted by mares in large groups such as on show grounds and trail riding, and are more predictable making them much better for first time riders, owners, and children. Mares on the other hand, are good riding horses, but also go through heat cycles that can make them crabby, irritable, and unpredictable (sound familiar ladies?) So really a gelding by far, is the best riding horse. (Yes of course there are exceptions to this rule and a few amazing stallions and mares, but on the whole, speaking in general, Geldings are the way to go.
Until next time,
Shauna
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