This message is from: "truman matz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hi Gayle, That was an excellent post, and loaded with tons of wisdom and consideration regarding gelding and keeping the breed within the high standards set overseas.
I do, however, have a few observations to make that should possibly also be considered when making the decision to geld or not to geld,... or "the when to geld", as the case may be. On two different occasions, I have personally seen two different stallions, both absolutely gorgeous and correct, who were gelded ONLY because a more prominent stallion owner suggested that these stallions were perhaps not good enough to be kept whole. In other words, they were competition to the "prominent" owner's stallion, as their quality was VERY good. Relax Fjord owners, neither of those instances were Fjord related,... one was an Arabian mega-bucks stallion, and the other a Curly stallion. Another item to consider is that I'm also personally aware of at least one owner who wishes with all of her heart that she had waited to geld one colt, as he turned out to be an excellent quality animal, but alas too late, he was already gelded. Unfortunately, I don't think there's a procedure for reversing castration at this time. Yes, Gayle, ABSOLUTELY quality of the breed should always, always be foremost in mind when selecting a colt to be used for breeding. Mare owners, in particular, should be highly educated in choosing a stallion to breed to their mares, and not just look for the cheapest breeding they can find. A few more hundred dollars at breeding is not much compared to the life time of a poor quality foal. Those few hundred dollars can be easily made up at the sale of said animal. I think you're doing a fantastic job with your breeding program and that anyone would be proud to own one of your Fjords. But I'd be real hesitant to geld every colt at 23 days, as stated in another post. (Although I'd love to have one exactly like that one!!!!) Keep up the good work, Gayle. You've made the Fjord breed "proud" with your Dusty. He's a gem!! Judy ************************************************************************* > >After we made the transition from QH's to Fjords I began to observe that >waaayyy too many Fjord colts were not being gelded at all. The other thing I >saw happen was that someone would buy a weanling colt as a gelding >'prospect', thus a cheaper price. By the time the colt was 2 or 3 it was >still not gelded, and by then the new owner was thinking, "Hey, I got myself >a stallion here." Most of the time that new owner had no idea whether this >colt was good enough to be left whole, they just started thinking about >dollar signs, breeding mares, and selling babies. The other thing that they >did not take into consideration was our small gene pool within the Fjord >breed. I began to see a flood of like-breeding concentrated in some areas. >I attributed much of this to the fact that many Fjord owners are first time >owners and just did not understand the 'big picture'. FYI, that is why I was >so supportive of the Evaluation program from it's inception. Since we have >no government regulations in this country regarding horses as in Europe, I >figured that our approach needed to be through EDUCATION of our owners. Long >way to get there, but seemed our only option. > >When we first purchased Dusty, I was concerned about all of the above >happening. The other thing that concerned me was that when we were into >QH's, I saw quite a >few stallions standing for breeding that were half or full brothers to famous >stallions with a show record. The owners of the 'brother' usually offered a >lesser stud fee. Those owners were basically riding on the 'shirt tail' of >the famous brother without having to do all of the work and showing. > >Pondering all of this, I began to think that the solution was to make sure >that every colt sired by Dusty, was gelded BEFORE he left my possession. The >next quandary for me was that most of our foals sold before they were born or >at the very least, by the time they were weaned! At that point in time NO >ONE EVER GELDED WEANLINGS. I called my vet to ask the question - can >weanlings be gelded and would there be any adverse side effects? His >response was that in Europe they will often geld at days old and that they >only thing he had observed that would be sacrificed by early gelding, was >jowl and neck development?! Perhaps this is where the reference to >'femininity' comes from? Since Fjords usually posses plenty of both jowl and >neck development, I decided to do it. Bear in mind that, at that point in >time, gelding weanlings was totally unheard of in this country, so I kept a >pretty low profile on the subject and did not make that public knowledge. > >I believe that any stallion left whole should be an outstanding individual - >not just a ball-bearing horse. > >Gayle Ware >Field of Dreams >Eugene, OR >www.fjordhorse.com
