[Linny]

None other than Alfred Vanderbilt once said that if he had gelded EVERY colt he ever owned he'd have only made one mistake, Native Dancer.

Unless a horse is truly a prospect to be a top class stallion AND is sound and well built there is no reason NOT to geld. The breed would be better, not worse if fewer people had the opportunity to say "He was slow and sore but he's by Storm Cat...so why not?"

If the owner of an uncut horse decides to try and outplace him for a post race career, he'll have to be cut any how as most riding barns don't allow stallions and don't have the proper facilities for them. I've seen nice horses passed over because the potential adoptee didn't want a stallion or the initial cost of the procedure.

The horse in my avatar won 2 races at minor tracks and no one in their right mind should have considered him to have breeding potential. Yet he was kept entire til age 6, even with modest breeding himself. At 15, he's still studdish and territorial like a stallion. Certain behavioral traits are set and gelding late often doesn't change that.

I tend to theink that males have a fear of castration that prevents them from finding it acceptable in any animal. If an animal is not breeding quality it will likley be healthier neutered. To a horse "being male" is a behavior based. He doesn't contemplate his maleness, he has no emotional connection to his "parts." If you take something from him that he never knew was there, he'll never miss it, or them as the case may be. A gelding is not standing around lamenting the lack of sex life.

I read so many threads about breeders breeding poor quality horses yet many decry the process of neutering. To not geld a horse and yet not breed him is cruel. Horses are herd animals yet stallions are kept separated because when pastured together they fight, often to the death. They are generally kept isolated so as not to disturb other horses. They are often hard to handle and special arrangements may have to be made to transport them to horse shows and again once they are there. Stallions need firm discipline and handling and most riding or show stables simply cannot manage them. They are restricted in their opportunites, cost more money, require more land and serve no more purpose (often less purpose) than a gelding. All this so that they don't have to accept the ego blow of neutering. That's bad math.