The article is dated today, but Charlotte Jorst says the injury happened a year ago.
It’s unfortunate that he’s lost as performance horse, and a breeding stallion.
https://www.eurodressage.com/2022/10/28/grand-galaxy-win-severely-injured-future-sport-unsure
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There’s a lot of people saying what a tragedy it was that he was lost as a breeding stallion but it looks like even before the career ending injury, he had a lot of time between competitions making me think he was rehabbing from things even before then. Perhaps I just don’t know the stallion well enough but if he had chronic unsoundness I think it was right to geld him.
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From what I understand, the soundness issue was related to his gelding but I’m not 100 percent certain.
Regardless, I think it’s a bit unfair to say that he suffered from long term unsoundness as that has not been proven. He’s had good results in competition and has made a mark as a breeding sire with 11 approved sons.
It does suck that gelding seems to be a trend for horses imported to the states. Stallion ownership is so difficult as it is and it’s hard to get people in the US to keep stallions. I hope the best for him as a gelding regardless.
I have no idea if he was sound or not but after a successful Young Horse career, he did not compete again from 2016-2018. In 2018 he was sold to Charlotte Jorst and she did not compete him until 2020. She competed him in Nov. 2020 and March 2021 and that was their last show. A year later Charlotte announced she had gelded him.
Absolutely it has not been announced that he suffered from long term soundness issues but his spotty competition schedule might (or might not) suggest that something was amiss.
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Read all of the articles. Your post(s) are wrong. His owner made the right choice for a competition horse presented who struggled with being a stallion. Kind choice.
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There are at least a few top breeding farms available in the US that (perhaps) could have managed him. Iron Spring Farm, Hilltop, DG Bar…or may be they tried with no luck.
US breeders also lost Vitalis when CJ sent him back to Europe.
Anyone know if GG is available by frozen ?
So he hasn’t been competing as much. No reason to assume the worst. The fact that most stallions stay sound with high level competition and active breeding careers is quite remarkable. Rumors catch easily amongst stallions and I don’t think it’s fair to speculate because he had breaks in competition.
I’m very familiar with all the stallions stood in the US, we have a good pool but limited bloodlines and certainly far fewer stallions than Europe. The willingness for owners to have stallions I think is far greater in Europe in comparison. Competition and campaigning a stallion is also much harder in the states in comparison to Europe.
GGW has been very hard to come by for a while. You might find it in a private sale but most breeders are holding on to their doses.
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Just to be clear, I did not mean to imply that anyone did not have the horse’s best interests at heart. I’m sure his people did their very best by him.
All I did was read the Eurodressage article and think there is more to this story.
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I read somewhere that he was gelded to make managing him easier, while he was rehabilitating from his injury. It seems speculations are all over the place.
That being said (and I am not saying that is the case here, as I have no idea of the timeline), I have heard that soft tissue injuries after gelding are not uncommon, as the body is adjusting to testosterone letdown. My friend’s horse had a couple of injuries, and her vet explained that the body needs to be reconditioned to doing the same moves with less testosterone, and the horse obviously doesn’t know any better. I’ve heard this a few times before, but I am not truly sure how accurate it is. Perhaps others know.
I don’t find the gaps to be all that unusual. He was breeding heavily after the Young Horse classes, and it is my understanding that many top barns don’t manage horses like I do, going up the levels. They finish the young horse classes then wait a couple of years until they are confirmed at FEI, maybe even GP.
I am just guessing here, but it’s my belief they do that because the young horse classes focus on gaits, and those in between years the horses aren’t strong enough yet to fully perform the collected movements “in public.” Not worth the risk of people judging what is a perfectly normal progression of growth as a horse that isn’t capable of the collection at GP. Just my two cents.
GGW has quite a number of nice licensed sons, so he isn’t lost to breeders entirely.
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