photos of horse being gelded

Photos of Gelding a Colt

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	Before gelding a horse, it is preferred that both testicles be descended into the scrotum. His are both down, but one is pulled up right now, musta heard what is about to happen...
	Ready to start, he has been first lightly tranquilized, then given full anaesthesia. After he lies down, his head is covered with a thin towel to protect his eyes from debris during the surgury and to limit visual stimuli when he is coming out from anaesthesia. The longer a horse lies still as the anaesthesia wears off, the better his balance will be when he stands up for the first time, reducing the chances of injury to himself or the handler.
	Betadine scrub is used to clean the skin around the incision area to lessen the chances of infection, post-op.
	Cut one to begin removal of the testicle from the scrotal sac. The vet used a scalpel blade only, not with the handle attachment. She says it gives her a finer feel and better control as she does the surgury. Each testicle gets its own incision. This colt's testicles are somewhat on the smaller side. They could easily have been twice this size. I fed them to the wolf. He said "mmmMMMmmm... yummy!"
	Crunch one, the spermatic cord is pulled out quite a ways before being simultaneously crushed and severed with a tool I can't think of the name of right now, maybe an emascuator? Great care is taken to get a length of the spermatic cord out to make sure the epididymis is also removed. If the epididymis is retained, the horse can end up "proud cut", or continue to have the dangerous behavior of a stallion, even though he is sterile and unable to impregnate a mare.
	Clotting is helped along by leaving the instrument in place a few minutes before removing it. It really helps to cut down on blood loss following surgury. It is amazing how little blood was lost during the surgery. I estimate that he lost about fifteen cc's of blood, total during and immediately following the surgury.
	Cut two is made about 3/4" away from and prallel to cut one, and the same procedure is followed on the second testicle.
	Stripping excess connective tissue and fat from on and around the spermatic cord helps to clean up the site and promote healing and decrease infection. Incisions made with a sharp blade tend to bleed more, so this is usually accomplished by hand stripping the unwanted tissue.
	Crunch two takes care of the second spermatic cord, exactly as with the first one.
	Again the emascualtor is again left on to promote clotting on the second incision.
	Ta-da! He is now a gelding, and the ropes are removed, and he lay still for about another ten minutes, occasionally twitching his legs, sighing, making soft snorting sounds in his nose. He had a light sweat on his neck only. When the anaesthesia wore off, he suddenly rolled onto his chest and got right up, unsteady on his feet, but managed to stand right where he got up. That is how we like to see it done. No thrashing, no crashing into things, no banging his teeth into the ground or somersalts. Just up, a few wobbly steps, then walk a big circle and back into his stall... textbook. Couldn't have asked for a better outcome. Excellent job, Dr. Volz!