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  Discussion on Proud cut
Author Message
Member:
cavalon

Posted on Friday, Jan 1, 2010 - 12:40 pm:

Good evening,
We have a horse that is proud cut. We thought for years he was a stallion, but never had any offspring. He's doing extremely well in our group for years, but we would like to use him for riding. Since he's only 1.24 meter, he is for the small children.I trained im, he's very nice, but with to much stallion behaviour for the little children.The vet made a scan, found what he calls the 'head of the testicle'(you can feel it, it's half as big as a testicle) and offered to castrate him again.He said that the chance his behaviour will change is about 50 percent.Spirit is about 15 years old.He's a Garano(Portugese mountain pony), very healthy and with a lot of temperament. What should we do? Thank you, best regards Blanche.
Member:
stek

Posted on Friday, Jan 1, 2010 - 3:12 pm:

Hi Blanche, is your horse a cryptorchid in that the testicle is undescended? I'm not sure if there are any additional physical complications to the surgery that should be considered but I believe it is more complicated than a regular castration.

I think your vet's assessment that there is a 50% chance in behavior change is probably right. At 15 years old this guy is probably pretty set in his ways. But as they say 'you never know...'

If he is sterile (so not a concern that he will breed unwanted foals) additional training might get you as close to being better behaved for the kids as the castration. Even you do castrate him I expect additional training would be necessary to get him to not act studdy around mares, especially if he is being handled by beginners. Old habits are hard to break.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Jan 2, 2010 - 11:08 am:

Hello cavalonatural,
It use to be thought if the epididymis (sometimes called the head) was left behind you could intentionally retain some stallion characteristics but we have become quite sure there are no hormones released from the epididymis and this does not occur. These horses behave as geldings. Considering about 5% of the true geldings behave as though they are stallions it leaves me wondering exactly what is going on with your horse and if surgery would help. To test this idea you should consider having the horse tested as described in the article for active testicular tissue. Then again if the test costs more than the surgery and with the possibility some of the testicle proper was left behind, maybe castration and keeping your fingers crossed for good luck is the wisest choice. Note that age does not have an much effect on behavioral changes expected from castration as we use to think, see the article for more on this.
DrO
Member:
cavalon

Posted on Monday, Jan 4, 2010 - 6:21 am:

hello,
Ok we will ask our vet first if he can test on active testicle tissue. Then we will see what we do next. Thanx for the advices Shannon and DrO.
Blanche.
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