STUD FARM DIARIES
Usually in January I talk about some aspect of foaling or breeding, but this month, I have started on a little different schedule. Due to the prolonged fly season in this part of the world (Southern California), I usually schedule castrations for late November to early December. Not only to avoid the flies, but also to try to get done before the winter rains come. I’m thinking of hiring myself out as a rainmaker, because the last three times I have scheduled the vet to castrate colts, it has immediately rained on that date. So now it is January, and the date I scheduled early in the month — it rained. Now it is late January. Vet is scheduled tomorrow. Clouds are building.
Just when you think you’ve seen it all, something always comes along to surprise you. That was the case when I scheduled my first castrations since moving to California. I have been witness to hundreds of colts losing their testicles but gaining a much better quality of life — from very careful surgical procedures to “cowboy castrations” on a bunch of three-year-old Quarter Horse stallions that had been untouched from birth and had to be herded into stocks like cattle.
