To Geld or Not to Geld?????

[kigermustang1]

I would love to hear what others opinions and feelings are on the subject of gelding. I have what I feel is a pretty stringent criteria for keeping a stallion whole and have been accused on several occasions of being "geld happy."

What criteria do you place on a colt when trying to decide to geld or not?
1. How long do you wait to make that decision?
2. What purpose/s might you consider for keeping a stallion whole?
3. Is color an issue? (eg: Paint/Pinto/Appy breeders)
4. Does height play a role in your decision?
5. How thoroughly do you study the bloodlines?
6. What factors must you see in your colt within the first year?
7. What conformational issues do you consider?
8. What type of mind do you look for?
9. Do you consider the type and quality of mares that he may be
bred to?
10. What do yu feel the most important issue is when considering a breeding stallion

It would be great to hear what others are doing in their breeding programs and what goals they have for the offspring.

[fantasykiger]

;D for me it is easy as I am "geld happy" I geld everything sooner the better, the longest I waited was 8 mths.
I had no desire to stand a stud and hired out for any services required for my mares, back in the breeding days. Nor did I want a life of solitude for any of my colts that I sold.

[DianneC]

What criteria do you place on a colt when trying to decide to geld or not? Purpose in keeping a stallion, what is your market?, mind, conformation, are there other stallions as good and with similar blood lines, is this the top 5% of the breed?
1. How long do you wait to make that decision? If the answer is no purpose, no plan, no mind, no conformation, or no uniqueness then geld. If the answer to all those is yes, then keep asking as the years pass
2. What purpose/s might you consider for keeping a stallion whole? I kept stallions that I used to breed my own mares, didn't have facilities to stand outside mares
3. Is color an issue? (eg: Paint/Pinto/Appy breeders) Not really, it only takes one dun gene to make a dun and this is not a color breed
4. Does height play a role in your decision? Depends on your market
5. How thoroughly do you study the bloodlines? There isn't a lot of history in the breed. I had old genes, dam was born in 1982 in the Kiger herd and conformation was what the breed needed
6. What factors must you see in your colt within the first year? All of the above and the parents have to have all of the above too
7. What conformational issues do you consider? NO faults, Needs to have a great hip, straight legs, short back, substance, ability to move beautifully, nice neck, good head - top 5% of the breed
8. What type of mind do you look for? HAS to be the BEST, easy to handle, responsive, intelligent, willing
9. Do you consider the type and quality of mares that he may be
bred to? Absolutely, they have to be the best as well and if they are outside mares the owners have to know why they want a foal
10. What do yu feel the most important issue is when considering a breeding stallion Do you have the right place to keep him so he will be happy

[Michelle Clarke]

Most Kiger breeders keep stallions for their own herds, which is good on one hand because the gene pool is opened up and not everyone breeds just to the most popular stallions. In most breeds, 80% of the breeding go to 5% of the stallions...no one with a Kiger stallion is going to get rich off of standing one to the outside public.

In the Kiger breed, it all gets back to where the breed is going and that determines your market and then what breeding stock should be used. I have eight standards that each breeding horse must have, no questions asked. Trainability and ability to pass on the positive genetics are at the top of the list.

Yes, size does matter! I can't sell 14 hand horses well in the market I target. Sadly, color does matter. It matters to alot of buyers, so it has to matter to me. Color is still the number one reason people choose a horse, no matter what someone tells you. Color is at the very least, one of the reasons someone is initially attracted to one horse over the other, just human nature. Just the fact that grey is looked down upon in the breed shows that it matters there too. The registries that have kept the grey on board are ones that have lots of foals from the "claybank" core of horses, that have greyed out - so what is the choice but to keep it acceptable.

[kimk]

Conformation, disposition and prepotency. If you have a wonderfully conformed stallion with a superb disposition, but he doesn't pass it along, then what is the point? The proof is in the puddin' so to speak.
I don't think size matters so much in that I myself have a 14.1 hand stallion whose offspring have all outgrown him. He has a fantastic dispositon and wonderful conformation and movement, which he has so far passed to his offspring pretty uniformly. His coming 5 year old son ( a gelding ) is already 15hands and the dam was only 14hands. BTW.... this stallion is the ONLY one of all the colts produced within my program who remained intact. All others have been gelded. Not that others haven't had the quality... I am a huge advocate for gelding.
IMO this breed needs more quality geldings, and a good stallion will make a great gelding!
Just my 2 cents.