Why Choose a Gelding Instead of a Mare or Stallion?

An old saying is "A good stallion makes a great gelding." This is so true. A gelding is your best friend. All the energy a stallion channels into his sex drive the gelding diverts into work and play. This is part of the reason that most top performance horses, beyond the age of four, are geldings. Many of those good stallions are retired to the farm to get started on the next generation.

A down side of the diversion of the sex drive is that the singularity of male thinking is put to other uses by the gelding. If there is an escape artist in a barn you are safe making a small bet it is a gelding. A gelding will constantly be looking for new and better ways to entertain himself. If he has another gelding near his own age the two will spend hours playing horse games such as "Battle Head", where the two see which one can bite the other the most times. Catch-me-if-you-can is always a favorite, but if they can find the appropriate object tug-of-war is popular as well.

If the energy of your gelding is channeled properly though you have your winner. The gelding will nearly always be available to ride, drive, race, show, go on trail rides, or whatever horse activity you want to indulge in. The exceptions are if he is lame or ill. He will certainly not be out because of caring for a foal or because there are mares waiting to be covered (or bred in other words).

A side tidbit is if a horse is gelded before he is four he will tend to grow a bit larger than if he is left as a stallion. Testosterone production inhibits size.

A downside to owning a gelding though is that geldings have to have their sheaths cleaned on a regular basis. This can really freak out a non-horsey type. There is nothing quite like thinking you are all alone and this is a good time to take care of old Monty's little hygiene problem. Aside here; Monty is my personal baby. He is an aged blood bay Tennessee Walking gelding and the delight of my life.

You assemble your equipment and get busy only to hear something; and there you are with your arm and the water hose up to your elbow inside him. You look up to see some one staring at you in horror. It is especially chagrining if the someone is a guy. You'll have to think your own way out of this one. I usually just stutter an explanation that doesn't quite reassure the guy. For some reason women tend to find the whole business funny.