Sky
Scharendijke
Nederland
Jarig op 19-9
I have a dream
By Kenneth Vendelboe
I have for many years believed that stallions were often only made geldings for the simple reason that, "That's what you do." For all these years I dreamt of finding a different way than the commonly accepted way to keep stallions (together with mares), where a castration was not necessary. This dream is the basis of this article.
Finding out how to keep a stallion without putting him in isolation for most of his life was not easy. When I wasn't running my forehead against the Wall of Prejudice and was told that stallions were dangerous, that stallions were fixated on sex, that stallions were uncontrollable, and that stallions really ought to be born pre-castrated, I was mostly just told that stallions couldn't be kept with other horses, that stallions could only think of fighting, and that stallions should just be outlawed. But I refused to believe all these prejudiced opinions. There was a little voice in the back of my head that kept saying it wasn't true. That it didn't have to be true.
In the meantime the dream developed. I lost my heart to the majestic exterior and gentle nature of the Friesian, and in the dream I just know that a 'real' horse herd consisted of this proud Friesian stallion and his mares. The problem was just that, as we all know, a herd with both mares and stallion usually results in a number of foals after about a year, and herein was my biggest problem - I am quite simply too sentimental. I would never be able to sell these foals off, which I got proof for when I bought a pregnant standardbred mare, Diana. Her daughter, Linda, is still running around the pasture, although she's long past the age where she ought to have been sold. She just turned three years old.
In the beginning of the new millenium - yes, we are that far back - I learned of someone in Australia who, to a certain degree, had accomplished what I was dreaming of. However, it turned out that his stallion lived with a naturally sterile mare, and those aren't so easy to come by. But it gave me courage to go on, and I started looking closer at various birth control injections for mares. Unfortunately that was a dead end, at the time the most effective drug was only about 65% effective, and when they were to stay together permanently, the 35% would kick in pretty fast. So that idea was dumped again, and I returned to the drawing board.
Then someone suggested a 'proud cut', as it's called, where the gelding gets to keep a certain amount of the testosterone production, keeps the stallion neck and muscles etc. - and keeps a certain interest in mares. I had my doubt on this solution, and after a bit of research I found out where the doubt came from. It turned out that he'd have trouble with ejaculation, and without that ... well, the mares wouldn't get a moment's peace because he'd keep trying and trying. In the end that sounded almost like animal abuse to me.
By that time I was close to believing my dream would remain a dream - that it simply wasn't possible to keep a stallion in any other way than by isolation from other horses, and that castration - to avoid the isolation - was the only solution.
Then in 2006 came the big breakthrough, the solution where I couldn't find a major drawback. During a conversation with a friend from the Netherlands the topic quickly turned to Friesians - they're from the Netherlands, after all. I think I jokingly asked him if he couldn't get me a cheap, naturally sterile Friesian stallion, and his reply was that it might not be impossible. He knew of a pony stallion who was allowed to freely live with his mares, who covered them a couple of times a day when they were in season, which was about once every three weeks since he couldn't get them pregnant.
This lucky pony stallion had gone through a vasectomy, which is a relatively simple surgical procedure where the vas deferens (the connection between testicles and penis) gets severed, but the testicles get to stay where they are. With this solution the stallion believes he's a stallion, the mares believe he's a stallion, and the only sign that he isn't is the absence of foals. A generally good solution for all parties involved. This idea was discussed for many months, with horse people in many countries, among these at least one expert in equine reproduction - a very sympathetic American. The result was an overwhelming encouragement to try.
For all of this time I had done nothing to make the dream of owning a Friesian stallion actually happen, but with the information I now possessed I started seriously searching through sales ads. In the middle of the summer of 2006 I finally found what I was looking for; a colt for sale in Germany. He was handsome, he was charming, and the price was affordable, so before I knew what was happening the herd had suddenly doubled from two to four, since the needed translator had a filly named Thira af Asgaard for sale. Also a Friesian, and quite adorable. So on Saturday, October 14th, 2006, I was suddenly a stallion owner - even if the 'stallion' at that time was very, very young, just six months old, and acted like anything but a stallion.
I chose to rename this newly arrived colt from his pedigree name of 'Mel Cou' to the more appropriate and easier to pronounce 'Valentin' - with the last syllable pronounced 'teen', not actually 'tin'. I strived to find a somewhat masculine name that wasn't too macho or raw, in an attempt to avoid a self-fulfilling prophecy like Rambo, Killer, Diablo etc. The name Valentin, as most probably know from Valentine's Day, is a name of love, and fit (and still fits) him quite well, both in appearance and nature.
As a big surprise to everyone it became apparent soon after their arrival that the herd's new problem child wasn't Valentin, but Thira, who refused to bend to the absolute rule of the much older mare Diana. Valentin, on the other hand, politely followed orders whenever Diana commanded him around, and after a couple of weeks I caught him nursing from her - she hadn't had milk in her udder for the past two years. She didn't seem to mind, and I haven't seen it happen since. Most probably he needed a bit of extra comfort, as he was very quiet and a bit nervous. For a few months, this was the FULL extent of Valentin's interest in the opposite sex.