Castration considerations

Castration is a necessary evil for the majority of young colts or stallions. Karen Coumbe MRCVS explains how best to plan the procedure

- Karen Coumbe

GENERALLY, geldings are much easier than stallions to handle, particularly around mares. Unless the plan is to breed from a proven stallion with a good performance record, it is best to consider castration. There are enough unwanted horses already and having a colt can result in surprise foals surplus to requirements.

Equine castration, or gelding, is one of the most frequent routine operations any equine vet performs. It is usually straightforward, although a recent review from Liverpool Vet School reported intraoperative and postoperative complication rates in 10–60% of cases, with 14.5% of castrations having one or more complications.

Such complications can occur at any time, from minutes or hours after castration to days, months or years later.

The degree of severity of these complications ranges widely. Some cause no distress to the horse but are a concern for the owner (such as swelling or continued undesirable behaviour), or they may be mild complications that resolve with minimal intervention, such as oedema (fluid buildup) or localised infection.

Severe and life-threatening complications (bleeding, prolapsed gut or abdominal infection or inflammation) can also occur. Despite castration being a routine surgical procedure, mortality rates of up to 1% are reported.

There are many factors to consider; it is best to discuss the various options with your vet in advance. These include timing, the best method for that individual horse and the appropriate aftercare. The two big questions are:

• Whether to do a standing castration using sedation and local anaesthetics, or castration under general anaesthesia.
• Whether to have the operation done in the home yard or at an equine hospital.

The answer is, it depends.

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