Gelding nightmare

[Blue feather]

This morning my Vet and I tried for a 4th time to geld my yearling. On the first 3 attempts he couldn't give him the tranquilizer. The yearling was very needle shy and would bolt. On the 1st attempt he dragged me 50 yards. After working with him for nearly 6 weeks we tried again this morning. The Vet was able to tranquilize him. He then gave him the medication to knock him out. As we pushed the sedated yearling from the stall to the paddock, the Vet was pushing on the yearlings butt. As the Vet removed his hand from the colts butt, the colt let go with both back feet and nailed the Vet right in the chest. The Vet flew back several feet and screamed in pain. With 3 steps after the kick, the colt went down and out. I had the Vet down and screaming on one side of the paddock and the colt out cold on the other. Thank God the Vet suffered no injury other than some soreness and a hoof print on his chest. Needless to say, the colt still has not been gelded and this Vet won't be back. So close.

[madelyn]

Don't stress, blue feather, it is the WRONG time of year to geld. Best to wait until the end of October or so, but COMLETELY after the heat and the fly season is over.

Next time, if you have a needle shy horse, squirt a little Ace into the mouth and wait for that to hit.

[Jean]

HAve you ever had a horse have a reaction to giving Ace? We had a colt get way more reactive after 2 cc's in his mouth. Perhaps we did not give enough. The vet had a terrible time with him also?

[Derby Lyn]

Sometimes 2cc of ace is not enough for horses in the mouth-they all react different. If you give him the ace (especially if it is not enough) and they get all worked up and excited, its not going to work at all.

So sorry to hear about your surgery attempt. I am glad the vet is ok.

[serenarider]

Reading your story I was thinking to myself.. Now is something that would happend to me I agree with madelyn wrong time of the year to HOT. Did you try him in the stall to tranq? I would shoulder twitch the crap out of him and shove his ass in the corner.

I have also had a colt not be happy on ace. Was not a good thing made him more nutty. Good luck

[madelyn]

BTW I suggest before October you might locate a vet with a bit more equine experience.

[aardvark]

BTW I suggest before October you might locate a vet with a bit more equine experience.

I have used three vets in the past 10 years and could never picture a scenario where this would have happened to any of them.

How does this horse get its vaccinations?

[soundfast]

Why geld him at such a young age? Maybe he was not meant to be gelded. Maybe he could turn out to be a good horse that somebody might want to breed someday. If he is a Thoroughbred and is likely to race and does not turn out good enough he could be gelded at the track. Those vets have a lot more experience at handling horses.

[Kelly Kip]

Better to geld him now while he's young. I am a super advocate of gelding horses young. I gelded both of the colts I had BEFORE they were a year old. They both grew to big strapping boys, and were SO much easier to handle for it.

[madelyn]

Re the age at which to geld, to each his own.

I do not geld racetrack-bound colts until the Fall of their two year old year. My reason for waiting is because there is scientific evidence that they benefit from having their full ration of balanced hormones to develop bone density and to control height. There is scientific evidence that gelded very young, male horses will outgrow their genetic height and develop less bone and muscle.

We are VERY used to colts here, and I am far less concerned about the human convenience than I am about the colts' growth and development. I would rather have a 15.3 hand three year old with bones of steel.

[Sylvie Hebert]

ace should be given when the horse is very calm long before he figures anything is going on.also wait for a while in calm before handling,we have found that calmer and easier after about 45 min...

[Tucumcari]

Rompun has a way of loosening up he hind end. As well as the stumbling forward the kicking is also a "side effect." In all honesty your vet mighta thought about getting behind a very sedated horse. Dormosedan(sp) is often used.
Sorry you had a bad experience. Giving ace orally like others have said isn't a bad idea.

Edited: Xyalazine.. sorry I just woke up. Working a little hard in the hot sun has my head in a fuzz

[Laurierace]

Here is my attempted gelding horror story copied from the message board on my site. For the record, it too involved rompum.

So I get up bright and early and haul Ray Ray to the track today. The vet came around 10:00 to geld him. They gave him the tranq and got ready to scrub up the area. The second the vet touched the wet cotton to his scrotum Ray Ray cow kicked him in the leg. It send the vet flying at least five feet and sounded like a shotgun blast.
The ambulance arrived a while later and took him to the hospital. So far the xrays are negative, we are awaiting the results of the MRI.
So now what? They are going to be short one vet for some period of time until he recovers.
Long story somewhat shorter, I took him home intact. I was getting him gelded because the timing was good. There was no other reason to do it, he isn't studdish, they aren't pinching him, etc. So I decided to wait until I had a compelling reason other than convenience. That time could come tomorrow, or it may never come, I guess we'll see.
The barn owner said this is going to make a great story when he wins the Derby!

[griff]

What kind of handling and training had these colts had before the attempted geldings?

griff

[valjoe]

What kind of handling and training had these colts had before the attempted geldings?

griff

Scratching their balls after picking their feet ???