stud colts

Question
i recently purchased stud colt. trainer already wants to geld. i told him i would like to see what he does at track. trainer states
hard to get good jockey on them because they have bumpy rides and
often testicles get black and blue after races.etc etc. i feel there has to be something great trainers do to solve this problem
and get stud to raise testicles prior to race?

Answer
John,

There is absolutely no reason to keep training this horse as a colt. As far as bumpy rides and bruised testicles, that is not something an experienced trainer would say.  I have never heard such a thing. As far training a colt to  bring his testicles up, that's ridiculous. The problem with training colts is they don't always have the focus needed to get the work done. If they are especially bad actors, they can become a huge liability and you, as the owner, could get sued if someone gets hurt. Another reason to have the horse gelded is to keep the horse from becoming "thick" in the neck and heavy up front. Colts tend to become bulky and this can compromise performance. Colts, in extreme cases, by nature want to run in the rear to middle of pack and may hesitate to go to the lead. Animal instinct has colts run the pack and are protected from preditors by the safe pack position. This is usually trained out of the domesticated sport horse, but can, in rare occasions cause a problem. It's better to geld the horse now so if he needs to change careers, he will be more desirable as a show horse that can ne socialized with fillys and mares.

Christopher Crocker

www.crockerracingstable.com