Before we examine the historical accuracy of Red Dead Redemption 2’s gelding tongs, let’s understand how the procedure of gelding is performed on a horse. Horses can be gelded in either standing or recumbent positions. The horse is anesthetized, either locally if the animal is standing or generally if the animal is recumbent, and the animal and tools are sterilized. An incision is made into the scrotal skin surrounding the right testicle. The testicle and the vascular portion of the spermatic cord are exposed, and the spermatic cord is crushed for two to three minutes with an emasculator. The testicle is cut off, and the veterinarian repeats the process with the remaining testis.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is set in a fictionalized American wild west in 1899; we can examine “contemporary” veterinary literature understand how the gelding procedure would have been performed around that time. Comparing three veterinary reference books written between 1901 and 1905 -- two written for stock owners and agriculturalists, and one written for veterinary students and practitioners -- with modern veterinary textbooks, shows that the procedure was performed remarkably similarly to how it is today. The operation at the turn of the 20th Century was performed either standing or recumbently. An incision was made into the scrotum. And the testicle was clamped and removed.
There were a handful of differences between the procedure as performed today and the procedure as performed at the start of the 1900s. All of the early 20th Century authors highlighted the inherent dangers of operating on a standing animal without the benefit of anesthesia. Frank Barton, who wrote The Veterinary Manual (For Horse-Owners), recommended removing both testes at the same time when operating on a standing horse. When operating on a recumbent horse, the procedure was optimized for speed. The scrotum was held taut by the veterinarian while the first incision was made, causing the testicle to pop out automatically.
The three authors’ opinions on just how to staunch bleeding and crush the spermatic cord differed. Cauterization had been a popular method, but by 1900 it was falling out of favor. Barton believed that cauterization inflicted too much pain, and that any difference in bleeding between a firing iron and a gelding knife was negligible. Instead, Barton recommended wooden or steel clamps to staunch bleeding. Louis Merillat, author of Veterinary Surgical Operations, only recommended the simple clamps if the veterinarian’s regular equipment failed. Instead, he suggested using an écraseur to castrate recumbent horses, and an emasculator to castrate standing horses. The former, in his opinion, did not work fast enough on standing horses. Barton, however, believed that the écraseur was too slow in any circumstance, and that it was not effective enough at controlling bleeding. Arthur Hopkins, author of Veterinary elements: A Manual for Agricultural Students and Stockmen, simply recommended the emasculator.
In Red Dead Redemption 2, a character named Kieran, who is a member of the antagonist O’Driscoll Boys gang, is captured by the protagonist Van der Linde gang. Kieran at first does not admit to knowing any information that would be helpful to the Van der Linde gang, but after being threatened with castration confesses to knowing the location of an O’Driscoll safehouse. The gelding tongs in the game are indeed modeled after an emasculator, splitting the difference between a whites emasculator or a franks emasculator, and a sands or serra emasculator. While the portrayal of the tool itself is reasonably accurate physically and temporally, the implication of its intended use is not. The game portrays the emasculator as a tool that is hardly more complex than a tree trimmer. Although certainly threatening during an interrogation, the act of castrating a horse is more complicated than simply cutting the testicles off a stallion and letting red hot gelding tongs cauterize the wound. An emasculator is a crushing tool, not a cauterization tool, and it is just one component needed for a successful gelding surgery.
Sources
Barton, Frank Townend. The Veterinary Manual (For Horse Owners)
Hopkins, Arthur George. Veterinary Elements: A Manual for Agricultural Students and Stockment
Kilcoyne, I. “Equine castration: A Review of Techniques, Complications and Their Management.” Equine Veterinary Education
Merillat, Louis A. Veterinary Surgical Operations. Vol. 3. Veterinary Surgery
Rockett, Jody, and Susanna Bosted. Veterinary Clinical Procedures in Large Animal Practice
Rockstar Studios. Red Dead Redemption 2
