My new mini stud colt will be gelded and have wolf teeth out tomorrow. I’ve never dealt with this, as I own two geldings that came to me that way. I, of course, will be in close contact with my vet on this, but aside from being told he will need to be walked daily, and will be on antibiotics, not much more info at this point. Just wondering if anyone has suggestions, information, etc. as far as what to expect or watch out for. I’m sure my vet will give me instructions, I just tend to be a worry-wart with my boys.
When my Colts were gelded exercise and cold hosing to keep the drainage cleaned off. Cold hosing also helps with swelling. Pretty much just keep an eye on it. Keep drainage cleaned off, so flies aren’t attracted if you still have flies.
Good luck &jingles for your colt! He’ll be fine I’m sure lots of colts get gelded with no issues. Just follow vets instructions and you’ll be good.
Keep an eye on the swelling, and movement is always best. They tend to swell a lot in the first 3-5 days, this is normal, as long as it continues to drain. I had to lunge my colt for 10-15min three times a day for ten days. His incision tried to close too quickly and got VERY swollen and painful, I had to stick my fingers in there 2x day to open it back up. Hosing and movement were the key.
Consistant, controlled exercise at least twice a day, GENTLY cold hosing the incision area to keep it both open and for cleaning off the drainage from hair and skin. No force to the water flow, you want it just running over the flesh to cool and wet the serum and blood on legs from drainage so you can remove it. The drainage needs then to be wiped away or it will cause hair to come out and attract bugs which can cause infection.
Forced, gentle movement of timed walking aids in keeping incision open and draining. We free lunge our boys in a corral or small paddock at a walk in both directions for the 15 minute time span, use a watch to insure we do it long enough each outing. We hose them down after. Twice a day is the minimum amount of forced exercise time, but three times daily is better for the animal if you can manage to get him done that much. Horses who don’t get moved don’t always drain well, which causes other problems. They are pretty pitiful looking, but need the exercise to get better. Mine always move better after exercise than they started out. I keep this exercise up about 2 weeks, though he will continue getting cold hosed a few days after the last of any drainage is seen.
Bigger animals close slower because a larger incision is made, takes longer to close completely. On one big horse, yearling, I found some blood spots 6 weeks after his last drainage, but Vet call reassured me it was normal on such a large animal in healing time. He was on pasture turnout, so I cleaned off spots, just checked daily for more drainage, which I never found again.
Don’t let feeling sorry for him prevent making him doing the exercising he needs, getting in as much time as he needs by the watch. Don’t “guess he has been going long enough” and short change his time. I have seen too many colts need return Vet visits, with terrible swelling, infections, because owner thought “Colt was moving enough by himself in the field.” Owner also did not do the gentle cold hosing to clean drainage off, reduce swelling, or at the other extreme, hosed with too much force which prevented healing of tissue.
Gelding aftercare is not hard to do correctly, you just need to allow yourself the needed amount of time during each day to get everything done correctly. Good luck with your boy. He will have a better life, be a better horse after the surgery.
Much as I never wanted to see a gelding, I ended up having to help at one barn. Ok the vet will tell you to hose the area I forget how many times a day, so do it. Give the antibiotics and follow directions and all will be OK. I helped out, even though the owner turned her big 7 yr old out right away, vet said leave him in for days, and even though she did not hose him, I did so while I was at the barn. Hose often to keep the incision open and draining and you won’t have all the swelling.
Why are they giving antibiotics? Usually just getting him moving several times a day ( nice gentle walking) and gentle cold hosing is all any routine gelding requires.
I’m guessing the antibiotics are to help prevent infection. This little guy came to me a week ago, hadn’t been worked with much, so he’s super green. Not nasty, but very unsure. We’ve started with the basics, grooming, touching all over, fly spray, touching legs. He’s super trusting, and is really very easy to work with. I had to worm him last week, and that went very well.
I will, of course, follow my vets advice. He will get exercised, etc. as much as needed. I’m just hoping meds, hosing, etc can be done without freaking him out, as he is totally new to most of the things he’ll need to have done, and I’ve been able to build a good trust relationship with him and don’t want to ruin it with bad experiences.
He’s halter broke, and we do go for walks almost everyday. He poops out quickly, probably can’t make it the 15 minutes at a time. My thoughts were more walks a day for a shorter period of time? Just so long as he keeps moving?
Not sure you would get the same benefits with shorter sessions of walking. Some things just need that time length to have all the “parts” get aligned for seeing the good results. Exercise programs want a specified amount of “warm-up” time done before you move on to more strenuous movements in both human and equine workouts. It gets the blood flowing, muscles loosened up, the athlete is then moving more smoothly, has less chance of bodily injury as they do harder things.
Not seeing as many folks doing a proper warm-up with horses these days as when I was younger. We had specific timed movements to be done with horse before starting a lesson or riding session then, to prevent injury to horse. I still start rides or drives with a warm-up time before moving to the work portion. My horses don’t seem to suffer soft tissue injuries I see and hear about from others who pooh-pooh the idea of warm-up time before performing. My horses last sound for lots of years and we do use them hard.
Does the stallion have a particular problem that gets him worn out with 15 minutes of just walking? It doesn’t have to be fast or “pep step” like in walking races, just a good forward movement for at least 15 minutes in one session. I do not think several short sessions adding uo to the same tIme amount, wIll gIve horse the same benefits as one 15 minute session does.
No Vets I worked with have ever said less time moving was very beneficial to the newly gelded. Something is better than nothing, but having a plan is better. It was always at least 15 minutes walking as the minimum amount. Much more time per session could possibly be “too much!” Because it would get blood flowing too hard with the longer exercise time. Then the idea of “more is better” owner making horse do trotting or canter work so soon after surgery. Vets have to be VERY careful with people interpretation of follow-up directions about exercise after gelding a horse…
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Does the stallion have a particular problem that gets him worn out with 15 minutes of just walking? It doesn’t have to be fast or “pep step” like in walking races, just a good forward movement for at least 15 minutes in one session. I do not think several short sessions adding uo to the same tIme amount, wIll gIve horse the same benefits as one 15 minute session does.
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He is a mini so likely has never had to do any “work” especially since he sounds green and unhandled. Many minis are kept in mini enclosures/back yards with no much room to move around and self exercise. My guess is he just has no fitness base since he isn’t a riding/driving animal. 15 minutes of walking for an unfit horse, dog, human that isn’t used to that can be tiring. As I am not the OP that is just my guess.
OP I helped a friend with her horse after gelding. Antibiotics and lots of walking. I would have loved to have hosed him but he was a rude yearling/almost 2 year old and he wasn’t worth getting killed over. He tried to come over me rather than get hosed. It was late November/early December so at least it was cold here and no flies. He didn’t have much of drainage.
Well, gelding went well. SonnysMom, yes, his lack of conditioning, along with the fact he is young was my concern for the exercise. He gets tired quickly. Vet said 10 minutes per day for him, at a trot or very fast walk, starting 24 hours post surgery. Has to be done in one session, can’t be broken up into smaller time frames. Vet gave him pain meds after the procedure, and a shot of antibiotics to start him off. Antibiotics sent home with us. He had some drainage yesterday afternoon, I cleaned his legs with warm water and a rag, wiped him with some fly spray on the back legs. Flies here are still a big problem. So far so good. His appetite was good yesterday, drinking, etc etc.
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