does anyone actually own a rig?

My Sec A was sold to me as a rig never seen any sign of it- he's on loan now and turned out with a mare and fine.

Was at a yard with a very riggy pony and he used to patrol the fence to the mares field- unfortunately this was the fence with the gate in and he would fly at you teeth bared and attacked (there is no other word for it) my Sec A had him in the floor giving him a pounding took 3 of us screaming swinging lead ropes to get him off it- never seen anything like it in domestic horses.
 
I don't personally own a rig, but my aunt does

He is absolutely fine until the mares are in season ... then he needs separating from them. He doesn't get aggressive or violent but he does take to patrolling the fence line and would mount any mare that was in with him!

Other than that, he is as sweet as could be and has never in 12 yrs turned on anyone or any horse.

As with anything, I guess it depends on the personality of the horse!

HTH
Ems
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EmsHooper said:
It's a horse that was castrated late and still displays stallion characteristics despite being gelded.

HTH
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Actually a true rig is a horse that is carrying either one or two testicles concealed in its abdomen, making it visually appear to be a gelding, while behaving like a stallion.

A false rig is an aggressive gelding that displays male dominance-type behaviour, despite having both testicles removed.

Only a vet will be able to tell you which one he is.

If a true rig he shouldn't be turned out with mares!!
 
Some late gelded horses display riggish behaviour but a true rig still has some testicular tissue in there somewhere.
 
Its been suggested my horse might be a rig! I don't agree, he lives out with my mare 24/7 and doesn't mount her! My friends mare was out with him for 6 months and then she came into season and started backing into him! He was confused to start with but mounted her eventually! She kept backing up at him and on occassions he'd mount her! He didn't do anything whilst he was there, was still confused about it! He then got injured so we had them in different fields and she stopped being in season. At the weekend she came into the main field into a small section and he followed through the gate way! Hed not seen her for a month and tired to mount her! She kicked out and cut his front leg and they ran off together!

We caught him no problem and peace has been restored, he's not pacing about or trying to get over the electric fencing!

So just really wondered what signs people would look for!

He's 2 and was gelded before I got him at 20 months! But don't know when he was gelded but obviously wasn't late!
 
I had my gelding blood tested as he would leap on any mare that stood still, he was just a gelding though - phew!
 
Yeh I know loads of geldings that do it! My mare was a right hoe when she was young and was mounted by any gelding in sight! So surely if my baby was that way inclined he'd do it to her too! I think him and the other mare are just besties and that was what she wanted before so he doesn't know any better with her!!
 
Even a tiny amount of testes left inside can cause riggy behaviour, hence why when the horse has the op, the vet has to be very thorough. My youngster was one of these but I prefer to refer to a rig as a cryptorchid which is the correct name of this condition.
In my youngsters case, one ball had not developed correctly and remained up near his kidney. Had he not had this op, this shrivelled up ball could have become cancerous later in life. In the horse's best interest, every best effort should be made to remove all tissue in the op to enable him to lead a normal life.
Having said that, any late cut gelding may still retain his stallion behaviour anyway, depending on his personality.
My young colt was exceptional as he was able to live out with another gelding, near a mixed herd and never displayed any behaviour towards the mares, he was what we'd call a very late developer (didn't start displaying any coltish behaviour until after 2 years of age). I gave him every chance to drop the other, before he had the op.
He was sold on 5 months after op, and from what I hear (this is 6 months after he left home), he does like mares, but is a true gent, and adores humans.
 
I had one ages ago. He was on loan to us, we had him gelded (owner wanted it done) but he showed very riggish behaviour ever since. He would go crazy for my only mare at the time, she always seemed to be in season which didnt help. He would jump fences to get in with her and once got in with my gelding who he attacked in a big way until we could split them up. In the end we had to rent a field across the road as he had to be that far away. There's absolutely no way I'd have put him in with a gelding or a mare. He was seriously aggressive towards any gelding. The owners took him back to sell him and Ive heard he's been passed around lots of pony club homes since (he was 13.2hh) which is a real shame. He was a nice pony to ride and handle etc. so it was sad he's been passed around. We didnt get a say though!
 
We had a rig for 27 years- he was difficult to handle at times, but never really showed much interest in the mares. He was always much more muscled-up than the other geldings though!

Don't forget that horses use 'mounting' as a way of showing dominance in a herd. My Welsh D gelding used to mount my other gelding as a sign of dominance over him (he had councelling and has come to terms with his Bi-sexuality).
 
Tinsel Trouble said:
Don't forget that horses use 'mounting' as a way of showing dominance in a herd. My Welsh D gelding used to mount my other gelding as a sign of dominance over him (he had councelling and has come to terms with his Bi-sexuality).
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BRILLIANT, I totally agree that its a dominance thing! this mare was always the bottom of the herd, and my mare is the head of the head, which would explain why he doesn't try it on with her! plus up until a month ago he was the only boy on the yard, and he's settled in really well with the new boy! they play together, but they are young boys, they will, but nothing harsh, just nipping and trotting around!
 
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