The vet phoned this morning to ask if they could change the day for Efstur’s planned castration to today as they had a visiting student who could help.

So, thinking of preserving my back, we quickly changed our plans and agreed.

The girls caught the three boys who always “travel together”.

Obviously Efstur is a lovely boy but he is not destined to be a stallion.  He will make a much better gelding.

The pre-med went in.  Efstur went wobbly.

And then down, with a sheet over his head to protect his eyes.

Daisy was multi-tasking – kneeling on Efstur’s neck while holding the rope on his leg too.  From the sidelines, Hjalti was offered encouragement.

Castration is obviously a spectator sport.

The operation was quick and after the important bit done, the vet left us to it.

Eventually Efstur woke up and was a sensible gelding.

Instead of thrashing about, he sat for ages gathering his thoughts.

Dreki and Hjalti looked on in a supportive way.

Hjalti even nodded off with his nose on the gate!

Eventually, with a huge sigh, Efstur stood up.

We put down shavings, a little haylage and a bucket of water and we left Efstur to recover.  Hjalti and Dreki were in the bigger stable with food and water too.

A few hours later, the three boys are all in the small paddock where there’s loads of uneaten grass.

I think it all went very smoothly.  So a different day to what we expected but I am glad it is done.