Equine Castration: How Far We've Come
Jenny Kelly, DVM

During my surgical residency I acquired a few ‘historical’ veterinary text books from book sales at the library. These books are from the early 1900s and it is amazing to read through them and realize the knowledge base of veterinarians from 100 years ago. In some aspects it seems they knew as much as we do today. In other areas we are decades apart, as we should be.

One area where there is a vast difference between then and now is in the area of pain management/analgesia. There are entire books written on the topic of ‘Pain Management and Anesthesia’. Times have changed! At most of the large veterinary conferences there are lectures on pain management including different methods to treat or relieve pain, newer medications, and prophylactic pain management. An article from 2006 (Compendium: Equine Edition) entitled: “Pain: The Fourth Vital Sign?” discussed pain in equine patients. An important aspect highlighted in the article was: “Alleviation of pain can improve the speed and quality of recovery after surgery or a traumatic event.”

This current emphasis on pain management has modified some aspects of veterinary medicine. When managing cases, veterinarians may use more than one type of pain medication on patients whether it is a chronic case or a horse recovering from surgery. Of course, as with all professions, veterinary medicine is no exception, there are different opinions, as well as different options, when it comes to managing pain in horses. Equine castrations are one area where the profession has seen dramatic changes in the past century.

I was recently given a gift – a drawing depicting a horse prepared for castration: the horse is cast, blind-folded, and hobbled. This drawing is an historical depiction – a collectable, and it highlights how far we’ve come in the past 100 years. As the drawing I received eloquently illustrated, in the early 1900’s, physical restraint was all that was used when castrating horses. There was no sedation, no local anesthetic, no general anesthesia and certainly no pain relieving medications used. In theory, our evolution from pure physical restraint while castrating horses, to general anesthesia combined with appropriate pain relieving medications is due to the elevation of the horse from our working companion, to a pet and family member. Today, not all horses are exclusively members of our family, as there are still some horses that are considered part of a business. However, continuing to discuss the position of the horse in our society keeps me from the true point of this article; the topic of equine castration or “gelding”.

Today horse owners have many options when deciding on castrating their horse. These options include castrating the horse on the farm while standing with sedation and local anesthesia, castrating the horse on the farm under short-acting general intravenous anesthesia, or referral to a surgical facility for castration under general inhalant anesthesia in a sterile surgical suite. Some owners will choose to bring their horse to a surgical facility – older stallions, potential cryptorchids (retained testicle), and for cases where the owner requests a more entailed procedure termed ‘scrotal ablation’. Cryptorchids and scrotal ablations require more extensive surgical procedures as well as strict sterile technique. Scrotal ablation involves removing the redundant scrotal skin and tissue during a castration and suturing the incision closed. The suture material used to close the site is usually absorbable therefore there are no sutures to remove and minimal post-operative care versus castrations where the incisions are left open to heal secondarily.

Overall, castrations performed currently are more humane than they were 100 years ago. Medications are usually given before the surgery to decrease pain and inflammation. The procedures are performed using sedation and local anesthesia, short-acting injectable anesthesia, or under general inhaled anesthesia. As discussed, there is commonly a combination of ‘pain management’ methods used by veterinarians to prevent pain during the procedure as well as decrease the amount of pain post-operatively. This again emphasizes the statement: “Alleviation of pain can improve the speed and quality of recovery after surgery or a traumatic event.” … The ultimate goal of veterinarians and owners alike. To learn more about castration with scrotal ablation in a hospital setting, please contact Dr. Kelly at jkelly@surgi-carecenter.com or visit the Surgi-Care Center for Horses website at www.surgi-carecenter.com.

This article was originally published in Horse & Pony magazine and is reprinted with their permission.

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