Thursday, October 25, 2012

The New Qrac




I just brought Qrac home from the equine clinic. I took him there on Monday, and he was gelded the following morning. You can imagine my state of mind on Tuesday, waiting for the vet to call me to tell me how it went! He’d told me he’d call between eleven-thirty and twelve, but it was almost one when he finally called, and I was going nuts! But the operation went well, Qrac woke up slowly and calmly, and the vet told me he’d be in touch the following day to let me know whether I could pick up my horse on Thursday. When we spoke yesterday afternoon, he told me that everything was fine, and gave me the go-ahead to pick Qrac up this morning.

I didn’t sleep so well, my mind in over-drive, conjuring up images of an exhausted, sad-looking horse.

Instead, I arrived to find him all normal and chirpy, as though he hadn’t even noticed his manhood had been tampered with. There is hardly any swelling, the incisions are small and clean. Qrac seemed happy to see me, and clambered into the trailer without any fuss.  The protocol for the next week is to give him the French equivalent of Bute (I think it’s Bute) twice a day for two more days, and to watch for swelling or fever or digestive issues, and to walk him for an hour, either in hand or under the saddle. If all goes well, we can gradually resume work in a week. So, fingers crossed everything goes smoothly.

Right now I’m pretty exhausted as the past few days have been pretty intense for me emotionally and I’m relieved to have it all behind me. As I said in my previous post, deciding to geld Qrac wasn’t something I took lightly, and I even wavered slightly in the days before the surgical procedure was scheduled after receiving a heartfelt message from someone in the north of France who used Qrac to cover one of his mares, and who wrote to say he was sad about my decision as Baila du Bratt, his one-year-old filly out of Qrac and Salsa du Bratt, had recently won the silver medal at the German International Lusitano fair, and was therefore qualified for the European Championships. He sent me a link to some footage of Baila, who is dark and long-legged and gorgeous and looks just like her father, yet with more suspension than him in trot. He’d have liked to have Qrac cover his mares again, and although my decision saddened him, I know he understood my reasoning. I was very touched by his message, and thrilled to know that Qrac had produced such a lovely, promising baby girl. I don’t know exactly how many babies Qrac fathered before I bought him, but what I do know is that they will now be super exclusive!

I’m going to sign off now and go make myself a cup of tea, as I’m so knackered I can hardly think straight, let alone write coherently. I hope this post makes sense, and apologise if it’s a just bunch of gobbledygook!  




11 comments:

  1. I am new to your blog so I do not know what your reasons were for gelding him, but I applaud anyone who takes breeding with a sincere sense of responsiblity. You obviously do.
    There are soooo many unwanted horses out there right now, especially in the US and I get so frustrated with people who breed for all the wrong reasons.
    He is a beautiful boy though, and I am glad that he is healing nicely. Perhaps he is happy not to have all that "junk" in his way! LOL

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  2. Hi Cindy, I gelded him because when I bought him a year and a half ago he could be quite a handful in the presence of other horses. Fire breathing, prancing, getting all full of himself. I didn't buy him as a reproductive stallion, I bought him as a dressage horse, and at my age (I'm almost 51) felt I didn't need the stress of stallion antics. I did a chemical castration to start with, to see how it affected him, and he chilled out immensely, but showed no signs of being saddened at the drop in testosterone. I repeated this vaccination earlier this year with the intention of gelding him later in the season, once the flies were gone. It was worrying to have to go through this, as he was out for an hour and a half, but I knew he was in very capable hands. Also, it was an inguinal castration, leaving no open wounds, so less risky for a horse his age (he is 8). Still, you never know, and when the vet makes you sign a release form stating all the things that can go wrong, trust me, it's enough to make you put your horse straight back in the van and haul him home again! But all went well, and hopefully will continue to go well. I'll keep you posted! Thanks for reading and commenting.

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  3. So glad all is going well for you and your handsome boy, Cesca, and I hope his recovery is completely uneventful. From my point of view, I have no doubt you made the right choice.

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  4. Thanks Laura. I made the right choice for the type of life my horse will lead with me. And I think his social life will be far more pleasant too:) Thanks for your support. xx

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  5. Any surgery for any of our loved ones (human & animal) is worrying, especially when it's a "non-essential" surgery that we've decided they should have. I'm glad to hear Qrac came through with flying colours and I hope his de-nutting has the desired effect!

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  6. Oh, Martine, you're so right! Thanks for reading.

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  7. It's always a difficult thing to do surgery, but it sounds like your decision was a good one, for him and for you both.

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  8. "Get well soon" thoughts to Qrac, and a pat on the back to you, Francesca, for doing the right thing, both for you AND your horse! Qrac will have an easier life now, and in addition to the behavior modification you won't have to stress over finding accomodations for a stallion. Glad everything went well - take a nice nap today! :-)

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  9. It's time to have that tea and start thinking of all those ribbons and trophies you and Qrac will be winning next spring not that all his thoughts will only be on pleasing you. (ha ha)

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  10. RiderWriter, thank you! Qrac slept well in his nice cosy home stable, and was fine when I showed up to take him for a stroll this morning. I walked him in hand for an hour, there is hardly any swelling at all. I hope things continue this way.

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  11. Alison: you made me giggle! As my daughter said: "he's had his babies, now it's time for him to make mama happy"!!

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