Advice needed on a rig????

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storm1989

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My foal is now three definatly a rig and i dont have enough money for the op i dont mind keeping him a rig as i am cofident enough i have worked with many stallions but it just other people as finding stabling is very hard.
If i get the testical that has dropped remove will there be any change to his behaviour?
Will a vet agree to this?

Just got things going round and round in my head and need to get it sorted any advice would be greatly apprieciated thankyou
 
Speak to a vet. In fact speak to three vets and get quotes for the job to be done properly. In the long run you will gain the money back by having more freedom of where to stable him.
 
If you get 1 testicle removed and not the other then no there won't be a change to his behaviour as he will still have the hormones from the 1 remaining testicle still activated.
Also, by it remaining internal there is an increased risk later on in life of it become cancerous, infected and causing other problems.
So although you might not have the money now i would sort of make a saving up bank account to save up enough to have the op, unless you wanted to use him as a teaser... (as rigs make good teasers as they have all the urge but are generally infertile as the increased internal body temp compared to outside kills all the sperm off!)

The op requires a GA and proper full operation to remove it, it might be easy if it is just beneath the skin, or more invasive as testicles originate from up by the kidney when they are in the womb so if it has not progressed at all then obviously it is a bit of a way into the horse to find and remove it.

I agree with jemima about talking to some vets, removing the dropped testicle wont hurt any, but it wont make a difference overall I wudn't have thought....
 
finding stabling for a rig will be extremely difficult. Also they are far far far more unpredictable than a stallion and so can be far more dangerous. The testicles should hang outside the body to maintain the temperature having it inside will mean it is over heated and as such can cause behavioural problems. As a yard owner I would not allow a rig on the yard I have had experience of one and he was a serious danger to other people and other horses. He would happily mingle with the other geldings for a while then suddenly attack them - and he was not kept near any mares. The value of your horse as a rig is nothing - and as a stallion with an undescended testicle - probably not much more. removing one testicle will make not a jot of difference to his behaviour as teh hormones will still be present. Also you will have to come clean to your insurance company and that could have implications on the premium.

Speak to several vets and get an idea of the operation price, a friend had the operation and removed the testicle which was right up by his kidneys - it cost £1500 at teh time and he made a complete recovery from the op within weeks and his unpredictable behaviour changed.
 
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/horsecare/1370/57411.html

This link is quite interesting. My horse was considered by many to be a rig (he was gelded late as a 7 year old) and displayed stereotypical stallion behaviour (arched neck, raised tail, trumpeting every now and then). However I never saw him mount another gelding. I had him blood tested and it came back negative for him being a rig so they thought he might be a false rig and the vet said to try depo provera which is a human drug used on women. In horses its meant to suppress sexual aggresion and stop geldings mounting other horses by suppressing sexual appetite. I had to sign a disclaimer from the vets as it was unlicensed for use in horses but the yard owner told me my horse would have to remain in his stable as horses at the yard were getting injured and he presumed it was my boy although no one ever had proof. He had a course of three injections. 12 months later he dropped dead of a heart attack. i will never be sure in my own mind that it wasn't the depo provera that caused it. If the vet suggests you should try this drug with your horse I would think long and hard about it in light of what happened with my boy.
 
All you can do is manage it or save up and have him operated on depending on opp, my vet advised me that its worth it, its expensive and in my horses case would be a complicated opp and would be high risk.

Mine had a hormone injection last year, although when I found out about it, he wasnt injected and the jab didnt kick in till late summer, so I can't really comment on if the jab calmed him down or not to be honest, as he's usually not to bad over winter, however he can't be kept with mares (as in the same field) so I don't know what he'd be like now..through winter so to speak. He was done with Tardak, again off licence drug as a tial.

What I would recomend to manage him a little better and this does work, takes the edge of them a bit, Equimins Serenity Calming supplement, basically it works..period!
 
Friend bought a three year old rig a few years ago. We were advised to have him gelded as soon as possible. This was done and the retained testicle was already starting to show cancerous change so if I was you I wouldn't leave it too long.

Good luck with him.
 
ive hade a false rig from the age of 3 hade had blood tested at the time he came back with a small trace of hormone in his blood meaning some tissue left hence false rig.he looks like a stallion and mounted every mare he could at any opotunity even over fences and i mean full copulation,last year my mare got in the field with him hes not hade field contact with a mare for about 10 years and he was like a stallion again not being rude but it was fully present and he was willing even at the age of 19 ,rigs of any type can be dangerous and are very posesive of the mares
 
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