I have a friend who owns horses. She posed a question for me (as a person who is normally possessing Google-Fu) about breeding racing mares. I’ll see if I can paraphrase this question for the Teeming Millions:
When a mare is racing it is ‘sewn up’. Can this be reversed for breeding?
Anyone have ANY idea what she’s talking about?
Try Googling “caslick”.
Why. Who comes up with ideas like this.?
There is a condition in horses called “Pneumo-vagina”, which occur in old, multiparous mares.
In this condition, the lips of the vulva allow air and feces to gather into the vagina and cause infections. The procedure is done so that you would not get repeated infections. It is open up prior to mating with a stallion.
That is just a brief summery from my LARGE ANIMAL SURGERY notes.
Horses go through all kinds a hell in order to pay off at the finish line. A Caslicks, as noted above, involves closing part of the vulva shut to stop air/debris from being sucked in during running. This is typically done with a local anesthetic and very heavy suture material.
Horses with a long soft palate will sometimes undergo staphlectomy, a cool laser-trimming of the soft palate, to improve racing performance. Most horses require a tracheostomy for a week or so post-op.
Horses that are not “big winners” often undergo elective enucleation (removing an eye) if they have a scratched cornea, because they can return to training and racing quicker.
Castration can’t be very pleasant either.
That’s a right trick on a mare!