Standing Ovation by Ovation Riding: Operation Gelding

Each Friday, Horse Nation teams up with Ovation Riding to spotlight an individual or organization doing good work in the horse industry. Today, we recognize the Unwanted Horse Coalition’s Operation Gelding program.

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The Unwanted Horse Coalition’s mission is “to reduce the number of unwanted horses and to improve their welfare through education and industry collaboration.” While this mission is realized through a variety of different programs and educational services, the Operation Gelding program has had noted success and recently announced that the program would be expanding.

Operation Gelding kicked off in August 2010, providing organizations and associations with funding and materials to host their own castration clinics. Each clinic is serviced by a licensed veterinarian. The UHC provides forms and information including everything from the funding application for groups to recommended aftercare for a gelded horse.

The theory behind Operation Gelding is that creating more geldings will help reduce overbreeding, irresponsible breeding or accidental breeding. In addition, geldings are generally more tractable, trainable and saleable or adoptable, meaning that it will be easier for the horse to find a responsible forever home.

Since its inception in August 2010, Operation Gelding has aided in the castration of over 1,000 horses. Just this week, the Unwanted Horse Coalition announced that the program would be expanding: funding will increase to $100 per horse gelded and organizations may sponsor up to two clinics per year. Demand continues to grow for castration clinics, which is a positive sign that horse owners are moving in the right direction towards responsible ownership.

To learn more about Operation Gelding, including how to find a clinic near you, how to apply for funding or how to organize a clinic of your own, we encourage readers to check out the program’s page online. We also encourage you to follow the Unwanted Horse Coalition via Facebook to see more good work done by this organization.

Many thanks thanks to Ovation Riding for their support of both Horse Nation and individuals and organizations that are doing good work in the horse world. If you know someone who deserves a Standing Ovation, we would love to recognize them in a future post. Email the name of the person or organization along with a message about the good work they do to [email protected]. Photos/videos are always welcome, and include a link to their website if applicable.