behavior change after gelding a stud

Question
I have just gelded my 6 yo Arabian. He's not aggressive just acts like he's never been touched. Everytime I go to touch him or do anything with him he boogers and is very gitchy. I'm hoping that gelding him will help the behavior. I don't want him to keep jumping out of his skin everytime I touch him. My question is will gelding him calm the gittery behavior so we can both enjoy our training time together?

Answer
Hi Shana!

How much turn out time is your guy getting?  As a stallion, I'm guessing he was having to be confined much of his time.  Get him outside and in a pasture.  Give him time to be a horse!  This will really help both of you!

Next, make sure you are giving him a real job.  Something that he has to use both his mind and energy on no matter what his other job is!  All of our horses chase cows, jump and are real trail horses.  Really, three day eventing is nothing more than a trail ride, well a fast trail ride, but a trail ride with jumps non the less!  Get him out and working!  Burn off that extra energy and then start learning the classical ground school that I use and that you have sadly missed!  Get into the round pen and let this horse move.  If you primarily ride English, get a good western saddle, and ride in the round pen with your reins half hitched over the horn.  Trust him, don't pull on him.  I'm pretty sure you can ride as fast as he can run, so work on teaching him to listen to your body.  Take him up and down in gates until he can smoothly go from the walk all the way to the canter and back to the halt without you EVER having to touch the reins.  Learn the classical ground school that you have missed in your horsemanship education.  You can see most of it in the "Ground Work" DVD by Buck Brannaman.  It is essential horsemanship 101.

When this horse is turned out, has a real job, is allowed to move and moves often with a real purpose, you will have a different horse.  He needs real work at least 6 days a week!  Keep me posted on your progress and have fun.  Your horse is helping you to become a better horsewoman, thank him!

Smiles!

Denise