Should a Beginner Rider Buy a Stallion, Gelding or Mare?

appear to a greater or lesser degree.
Not all mares are difficult to handle during this time. A lot will depend on their training and basic temperament. If a once wellbehaved mare becomes unusually moody she may be suffering from cystic ovaries or other health issues which require the attention of a veterinarian. Moodiness aside many mares make great beginner horses. Although their heat cycles can be inconvenient its rarely dangerous especially if there is no stallion around.
Geldings
For a beginner rider there is a slight bias in favor of geldings. The reason for this is that geldings tend to have fewer mood swings than mares because they have no heat cycles. Depending on the horses training temperament and how late in life the horse was gelded a gelding may or may not be the best choice. Geldings gelded late in life may still retain some of the behavioral characteristics of a stallion although they are physically unable to reproduce. These horses are not a good choice for a beginner. A horse that was gelded early in its life will likely be the steadiest.
When choosing a gelding there is one thing a buyer has to watch for and thats a ridgling. If a horse is stallionlike in its behavior but appears to be a gelding it may be something called a rig or ridgling. Before modern veterinarian medicine ensured gelding was done properly a horse left with some testicular and epididymis tissue may have exhibited stallionlike behavior. This is where the term proud
 cut comes from.