Hi Martyn,
I am eager to find similar information as I have only indirect "feelings" on the topic.
1: The age of castration makes a measurable difference in cattle metacarpal proportions. The later the intervention (into sexual maturity), the smaller the effect.
2: Secondary sexual dimorphism in horse is less pronounced in bone measurements than in cattle. Even if I expect the same physiological impact, it may be less visible.
3: Riding stallions was not impossible but more challenging than geldings. Castration may have been relatively common practice in many cultures. The younger the colt, the greater the effect on both behaviour and bones.
As long as we try to find reference skeletons of documented geldings vs stallions (indispensable for morphometric testing), we should also try to compile concrete hisorical notes in the veterinary literature on what castration timetables have been recommended? There must be a rich body of such data as armies may have depended on the practice.
Best wishes, Laszlo
________________________________________
From: Analysis of animal remains from archaeological sites <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Martyn Allen <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 05 June 2016 13:12
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [ZOOARCH] Effects of gelding on skeletal development
Dear colleagues,
Does anybody know of any useful studies of the effects of gelding on the skeletal development of horses? Looking back through previous Zooarch posts it seems that the issue has been raised before, but there does not appear to have been any answer in relation to horses specifically. Some online sources suggest that the age at which colts are castrated can have an effect, particularly on animals less than a year old, but I am not sure of the reliability of these sources. I can't find any robust scientific data which would indicate one way or the other.
Any help would be most appreciated.
All the best,
Martyn
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