A gelding is a horse that has been castrated. Racehorses are gelded to improve their chances of winning on the track. Some colts are rowdy or have physical issues that do training and running difficult before they are gelded.
There are reasons why horse trainers desire to geld a horse, and there are reasons why a horse owner does not want to geld his animal. Let’s look into the theories behind horse gelding. And I’ll tell you what happened to my colt at the end of the article.
Why do racehorse trainers recommend gelding a horse?
The owner should first ask why the trainer recommends gelding the horse, and can they promise that gelding the animal would fix the problem? I needed answers to these issues, so I decided to take some steps to find out.
The main reason trainers urge owners to geld their horse is to change their mentality. A stallion colt is rebellious and difficult to train, as a young guy with hormones coursing through his veins.
When the stud colt is supposed to exercise and learn, his mind is always elsewhere. On the track, it’s mostly the fillies or the girls. He will begin kicking in the air, biting other horses, and rearing up, all of which are mating signs in the horse world.
A gelding is easier to train since he can concentrate on his workout without being distracted by hormones, which leads to more success in the races. It’s tough to get a horse that doesn’t want to train into running shape.
Temperament
Stud colts are frequently separated from other horses. A stud colt’s bad behavior creates hazardous conditions for the other horses and handlers. Ungelded colts must usually be kept apart from other horses.
Stud colts can also acquire heavy muscling and a large neck, which adds weight to the front end and slows them down. On the other hand, horses gelded early may be more proportional and grow taller than if left as a stallion.
In addition, a gelding is more likely to be sound than a stallion, and it’s possible that their relative size is to blame. (See below for a list of notable racehorse geldings.)
Some horses must be castrated for medical reasons.
Aside from behavioral concerns, a horse may need to be gelded for medical reasons. A “Cryptorchid” condition occurs when a horse’s testis fails to drop into his scrotum, and this disease might cause difficulties walking and running.
If a horse is injured, he may need to recover for an extended period in his stall. Stud colts may not respond well to the downtime and hurt themselves severely. In this instance, gelding a horse permits him to heal calmly from his injuries.
The Gelding Procedure: Horses are often gelded when they are young, as early as three months. Younger horses tend to recuperate faster than older horses.
However, if a colt is castrated too soon, it can cause issues because its testicles have not completely descended. Similarly, if you wait until the horse is too old, he is more likely to retain stud-like behavior after gelding.
Gelding a horse is a simple procedure.
Gelding a horse is a simple technique normally performed in the area where the horse is kept. However, because of the potential risks of castration, the treatment should always be performed by a veterinarian.
Make sure your horse is in good health before gelding him. Examine your records to check that his vaccines are current. It’s also a good idea to have a full vet check before the treatment.
You want to make sure the horse is in good overall health and doesn’t have any health issues that would prohibit him from undergoing surgery effectively.
In general, the process is as follows: The horse is given a sedative and is placed on his side. The area around the surgery site will be thoroughly cleaned once he is quiet and lying down.
An incision then exposes the testicles. The testes are removed when the blood veins above the testicles are pinched off. Stitches are sometimes used, and however, they are not always necessary.
If the horse has “Cryptorchid,” the surgery may be significantly more challenging and should be conducted by a skilled surgeon in a veterinarian facility.
After a gelding procedure, horses usually recover rather fast.
The recovery period ranges from 10 to 20 days. They will, without a doubt, be sore and swollen.
Castration, gelding, racer, horse
In rare cases, bleeding will occur due to the horse exacerbating the surgery site by knocking off the scab. Keep a watchful eye on your horse in the days following surgery and call the veterinarian if there are any difficulties.
It is preferable to keep the horse in a stall overnight and turn him out alone in a paddock the next day, and he should turn out in a pasture with other horses after that. Remember to check the incision daily for any signs of heat or edema extending into the leg area.
Within 48 hours of surgery, testosterone levels begin to fall.
He should return to training with a new mindset after his brief recovery break. The decrease in testosterone levels happens swiftly, usually within 48 hours of surgery. However, depending on the age of the castration, it could take up to six months for all stallion-type signs to disappear.
Horses have been known to continue acting after surgery; when this occurs, the horse is called to be “proud cut.” People assumed that a piece of the testes remained inside the horse, causing it to continue producing testosterone and exhibiting stud behavior.
However, with today’s technological breakthroughs, it is doubtful that horses exhibiting stallion-like traits are the consequence of failing to remove all of the testes.
Some vets now believe that the horse’s body has overactive glands that are the source of testosterone, resulting in the “proud-cut” behavior. It’s also possible that the horse lacks sufficient training and is misbehaving.
