Gelding scarring

[Moshposh]

Hi everyone. Looking for advice or personal stories regarding gelding scarring.
back story:

I have a three year old thoroughbred I pulled off the track last November. When I picked him up, the trainer told me that when he was gelded over the summer he got an infection but it had cleared up. No big deal. Shortly after I bought them home the site was swollen, hot, and painful. I put them on antibiotics , and it cleared up. The second time it happened. I had a vet come out and he treated it, but mentioned that it could be scarring from the procedure.

I gave him six months of let down time to rest and mature. When I restarted him, I noticed a very slight hind limb lameness, and chocked it up to being a strength problem. As his training progressed, the hind limb lameness did. Some days were very very mild and others were very noticeable. I contacted a sports med vet to examine him. There was nothing significant about his flexion test, but we decided to x-ray his hocks and stifles anyways, in case it could be an OCD. The X-rays were clear minus some mild arthritis and we injected his hocks to see if that would make him more comfortable. it worked for a little bit but the lameness returned. I’ve had bad experiences with kissing fine, so I had the vet back out to take x-rays of his back and those came back excellent. I asked this vet about the possibility of gelding scarring. She agreed that can be a possibility for hindlimb lameness. I’m waiting to hear back from her on the next steps I can take.

Some other issues I’ve noticed are reluctance to take a bit… It’s almost as if he can’t open his mouth all the way. It could be TMJ and unrelated, but is noteworthy. Also, he has some discomfort in his floating ribs. My saddle fits him and he regularly gets bodywork. Has anyone experienced something like this with their gelding?

[NancyM]

I have a friend who had a horse with these problems. I rode him once, as an evaluation. He had no power behind. No one had been able to diagnose the issue, and the previous rider/trainer (between his race career and when I rode him) hadn’t noticed it at all. But the owner knew, and I noticed it too. Not lame, but not right. The horse had nearly died when gelded, from infection. His racing career had been a disaster. I saw him walk off the track in his last racing attempt, and his hind end didn’t look good that day. But when a buyer was found for him after my ride, he passed the “extensive” vet check with flying colours. The vet actually remarked that “the horse had an extremely powerful hind end”. This was NOT the vet who did the gelding surgery and aftercare- he didn’t know about it. The exact diagnosis of exactly what or where the problem was seemed to be evasive… but that gelding and infection was seemingly the source of the problem, because the owner/breeder had turned down a hefty offer to sell him as a race prospect prior to the gelding becoming necessary. The new owner used him as a pleasure riding horse, not athletic demands… and was apparently extremely happy with the horse for many years later, so it worked out OK for the horse, and for the buyer. But yes, there was an issue there, somewhere. It’s a hard spot to examine and identify exactly the nature of the problem. This was maybe 20 years ago, so I don’t know if diagnosis tricks have improved since then. Good luck.

[Rubysgirl]

I also have a friend who’s horse was diagnosed with gelding scar. Horse would bolt under saddle like he was being shocked from behind. He would drop his back and throw his head up while running in a direction. This was one week after purchase and full vet check with neck and back x-rays. After a month of light riding and groundwork, horse was taken to another vet hospital. Another set of x-rays, scope for ulcers, body scan, and thousands of dollars later, gelding scar was diagnosed. He was insured since the purchase price was over 50k. He ended up having surgery where the adhesions in the area were released. Vet said that the horse had them on both sides. Friend never gave up on this guy and now he packs her around. Apparently mares can also get scaring form traumatic foaling.
The sad part was that the previous owner and trainer must have known about his issues. He was sold as a packer. And he was a former 2 star eventer. He’s now being loved for who he is.

[Moshposh]

This is good to know! Thank you for responding. This guy also has a very difficult time going uphills… So it sounds similar.

[Moshposh]

Wow, that’s crazy! I’m glad they were able to do something about that and it’s good to know that it can be fixed. I’ve done everything else diagnostically wise for this horse, including a gastroscopy which showed a clean stomach. This is my last idea. Thank you for responding! Give me some hope.

[NaturallyHappy]

Margret Henkels talks about this as a very real thing in her book “Is Your Horse 100%?”. I hope this helps somehow. I love the book and give it as a gift to people interested in body work.

[PaddockWood]

WOW. What a story. My new horse has had some odd reactions to being touched on his underside and bucks regularly when cantering. First found a bad tooth, then a FEC at 2100 so kept thinking that would solve the touchiness and worse.

I’ve had bodywork done on him and he improves with every session. Just yesterday she “went there” and said he was very thick. She also uses a Class IV laser and last session do you know after finishing his back he stretched UP through his neck and back. So cool.

[Paint_Party]

A few years ago I bought a Paint, a former stallion who’d been gelded about 6 weeks previously. I had an agreement with the seller that I could return him within 48 hours if he did not pass a vet exam. He passed fine with one major exception. My vet noticed that he had a small tract with drainage from where he’d been gelded. She sedated him, opened up the area a little and… voila! Pulled out a couple of gauze sponges stuck up there!

Needless to say, he had to be on antibiotics for a while until it healed properly.

[beau159]

@Moshposh

Hi everyone. Looking for advice or personal stories regarding gelding scarring.
back story:

I have a three year old thoroughbred I pulled off the track last November. When I picked him up, the trainer told me that when he was gelded over the summer he got an infection but it had cleared up. No big deal. Shortly after I bought them home the site was swollen, hot, and painful. I put them on antibiotics , and it cleared up. The second time it happened. I had a vet come out and he treated it, but mentioned that it could be scarring from the procedure.

I gave him six months of let down time to rest and mature. When I restarted him, I noticed a very slight hind limb lameness, and chocked it up to being a strength problem. As his training progressed, the hind limb lameness did. Some days were very very mild and others were very noticeable. I contacted a sports med vet to examine him. There was nothing significant about his flexion test, but we decided to x-ray his hocks and stifles anyways, in case it could be an OCD. The X-rays were clear minus some mild arthritis and we injected his hocks to see if that would make him more comfortable. it worked for a little bit but the lameness returned. I’ve had bad experiences with kissing fine, so I had the vet back out to take x-rays of his back and those came back excellent. I asked this vet about the possibility of gelding scarring. She agreed that can be a possibility for hindlimb lameness. I’m waiting to hear back from her on the next steps I can take.

Some other issues I’ve noticed are reluctance to take a bit… It’s almost as if he can’t open his mouth all the way. It could be TMJ and unrelated, but is noteworthy. Also, he has some discomfort in his floating ribs. My saddle fits him and he regularly gets bodywork. Has anyone experienced something like this with their gelding?

Hmmmm, I don’t know much about issues with Gelding Scarring but if you get to the point where you are stumped and pulling straws, then X-ray his neck too. Neck issues can manifest with hind end issues. When you say the hock injections helped only for a short time, that’s the same thing that happened with my gelding with severe neck issues.