A Testament to T's Testicles
WHAT?
Yep! It is done!
T's Dad says:
There once was a stud named T.
The vet said I'll change THAT for a fee.
So a quick cut.
South of the gut.
And T was no longer a he.
On Tuesday, three vets from Meddleton Equine, a veterinary assistant, T's Dad (working on the barn roof) and me were all here for the work on Tabooli (tooth work and castration), Buckshot (tooth work and chiropractic) and Show Boy (chiropractic).
Normally, Tabooli is a cinch to catch while Buckshot tends to flinch and move off as I approach (working on that).
Tuesday, though, they both were wild-men, running about, tails arched up over their backs. They rushed to one corner (it is a 1/3 acre pen) then turned to snort at me. As I'd get near, they'd charge off, tossing their heads and looking at me over their shoulders!
Maybe they were just being silly, maybe they were excited by the metal going up on the hay barn (which is not that close to their pen), or maybe Buckshot was telling Tabooli about the castrations he'd witnessed at home, Whispering Spirit Ranch. (If you click the link, Buckshot's real name is "A Para Dox", and if you click the "Winners" tab, you can see me–whoo hoo–"kick ass horse trainer"…which might need to be the topic of a pyschology related blog…but ANYWAY…)
Tabooli tired of the game first. I tied him up. Buckshot snuck in to be near his buddy and I sweet talked him. Show Boy was, of course, perfectly happy to be haltered and led to the tie-rack.
Then they waited.
Tabooli, waiting.
Well, as long as we have to wait, might as well work on Buckshot's scardy-cat thing--looking pretty confident here!
Show Boy and The Supervisor (Risa). Penny is also supervising, but she is just not in the photo.
T had his teeth worked on first (more on that next week in "A Testament to Teeth"). And then, the castration.
Warning: The pictures show the real deal, so if you don't want to see them, stop now!
Since Tabooli is four, the vet elected to lay him down rather than do the "procedure" standing.
Drugged!
Supervising!
Down and getting cleaned. The ropes are to keep the vet (Dr. Jessica Marsh) safe and give her room to work
Making The Incision
Extracting the first testicle.
Risa says "HOLY COW! What on Earth are they doing? Don't look, Penny!"
Extracting #2! Note the metal instrument, called a "cremaster". It is clamped on to the severed artery and tubes, which were also wrapped with suture material to prevent bleeding. It stays put for about 3 minutes.
Both testicles, along with the epididymis (which you can't see) are shown.
Tabooli was still out of it for about ten more minutes.
The epididymis is a series of coiled tubes that lie next to the testes. They collect and allow further development of the sperm, which is produced in the seminiferous tubules in the testes. The seminiferous tubules can be 400-500 feet long! The normal ejaculate of a horse contains 6 BILLION sperm. And it only takes one…
I am bringing up the epididymis because it if is left in, this is called "proud cut". Often when a gelding displays stallion-like behavior, people will ask if he is "proud-cut". Turns out, according to Colorado State Univeristy, the epididymes does not produce testosterone, so leaving them in should not result in a horse retaining stallion-like behavior due to hormones. The testosterone comes mainly from the testes.
Complete sperm development takes 21 days, but sterility after gelding should be complete in as little as three days since once the sperm enter the epididymis, they typically don't live more than 72 hours. Stallion-like behavior, according to Dr. Meddleton, should be pretty much gone in 60 days, but opinions do vary.
Horses gelded after sexual maturity, like T, may retain some stallion-like behavior that was learned rather than hormone driven. Since he was always pretty low key, I fully expect he will end up a pretty typical, ho hum, gelding.
Post castration care: Lunge 2x per day for 15-30 minutes and hose his nether parts. Both of these should reduce swelling and chance of infection.
We had fun with that on Thursday because it was snowing! Lucky it was so warm on Tuesday!
Ok Ok Ok. Yow! Do I HAVE to do this?
Ok--crappy pic because it was just me and the snow, but see how quiet he is? The hose is laying on his leg and making a big puddle!
He should be ok for riding in a week, although full recovery will be a few more weeks.
Next week I will finish up the vet visit–I have some fun pictures of Buckshot on drugs getting his teeth done!
