A Lesson in Testosterone

Buddy, the horse, is going to get fixed. He has a little awkwardness in that area and has not yet been gelded. He's a quiet horse, on the verge of lazy, so we just haven't worried about this...until Tuesday. He saw a filly he liked in a neighboring pasture, ran through hot wire and jumped the barbed wire fence to get to her.

As we were making supper that night, with the kids in the living room, Dave told me that Buddy has an appointment with the vet to get snipped on Wednesday, which includes Buddy getting put to sleep.

A few minutes later, we sat down to dinner and Layla asked, "Why does Buddy have to be put to sleep to get his haircut?"

(This took me a few seconds to piece her thought process together)

"Oh! (getting it now), Buddy isn't going to get a haircut (snipped). He's going to the vet to have surgery and they need to put him to sleep so he doesn't feel it."

"What kind of surgery?" Layla asked.

"Welllll...you see, Layla," I continued, "boys produce a hormone called testosterone...a lot of it. It's something in their body that can make them a little crazy at times and can make them do some interesting things."

"Like jumping fences?" Layla interjected.

"Yes, exactly," I said. "So Buddy's going to have surgery to help his body stop making so much testosterone."

A minute passes.

"So, will Daddy and Cooper jump fences?"

"It's quite possible, Layla."