Good Stallions Make Great Geldings

Jake will be a great gelding. He had his castration surgery last week and all went well. He's nearly six months old but there was no point in waiting. The vet says that gelding early tends to make them a bit taller and not quite so chunky, but that's just fine with us. While Jake certainly had the potential to be stallion material, I think he will lead a better life as a well-socialized gelding. I have customers who routinely geld at a young age since it makes handling and groupings easier if you have no intention of using the colt as a stallion anyway. I believe that the socialization that may be missed by isolating a young colt (or any young horse, for that matter) can affect the quality of the rest of their lives. As humans, we can provide company but we just aren't up to the task of providing essential social skills - herd manners - to a horse. I don't know if they can compensate for missing Kindergarten lessons.
The surgery itself went well. It was about 5 degrees Celcius - warm enough to be fairly comfortable. The anaesthetic disrupts their ability to thermoregulate and that was a consideration. There are no flies at this time of year, which is important because the surgery site is left open to heal from the inside out. He's on preventative antibiotics (TMS)
for a week and we can expect his sheath to be a bit swollen for a week or two.
Jake also got his first series of vaccinations - rabies, tetanus, eastern and western encephalomyelitis (EEE & WEE) and West Nile virus. He'll get a booster in 6-8 weeks on those.
The vet came back to check him after a few days and Jake allowed him to palpate the surgery site without even a halter to hold him. He commented that he wished there were more horses with Jake's gentle nature. We know we are lucky to have him.