Does anyone know the typical signs of a Rig

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sarahg83

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We have a new pony at the yard, and his interest with mares is a little worrying. The pony has been put in a field out the way on his own, but yesterday morning he had broken out of the field. He was sat outside a mares stable, so the owner of the mare put him out with her mare and her gelding in a separate field. The gelding he was put in with is normally "top dog" so to speak and yet the pony was shoeing him away and would not let him anywhere near the mare, normally this gelding would not allow this but this time he did, and considering this pony is only 4 i was rather surprised.

The pony started galloping around the field reering up, just generally really showing of. He started nipping the mares legs to move them where he needed them i am guessing, its something i have only ever seen from a stallion when their flirting in the field. Then he started mounting the mare, luckily he is only 13hh and she is 16hh so it would be a bit of stretch. What me and my friend did notice is he had clear liquid coming from the end of his man hood when he was mounting. It not something i have noticed from a gelding before so it is a worry.

I have said he cant go out with my mare until a later date and after a vet has checked he is not a rig. I think the new owners think i may be being a little silly but i cant take the risk of him mounting my mare all the time because of accidents and also because i don't want a foal or the vet bills to terminate.

The one thing that has struck me as a little odd in this whole situation is the pony has not even been paid for yet, the old owners rang the new owners and said they were going on holiday and could they take the pony early. The new owners did not have the money or the deposit but they didn't mind they just had to have the pony sent away asap because of their holiday They then delivered it for the new owners without a deposit or any payment. Yet yesterday when they should have still been on holiday the new owner managed to get hold of the old owner to ask when the pony had been cut. It all seems very odd to me, almost like they just needed the pony gone for some reason and the only reason i think of is he might be a rig.
 
The other thing i forgot to put is how vocal he is, its not something i have seen from a gelding, he squeals quite alot in the same sort of way a mare would he does this when he is flirting, the other thing he keeps doing is putting his head under the mare like a foal would to feed and then stomping the ground with his feet and curling his lip like they do when they have smelled something intresting.
 
Does he get a proper erection? Bring him up to an in season mare and see if he gets a proper erection. If he does then there is a good chance he may be a rig, and further testing should be carried out.
All other signs are useless. I have a gelding that acts like a stallion in all aspects except for an erection. He couldn't actually mount anything as he's only 8.3h! But all other stallion behaviours were there. He settled down after a month and the stallion behavior settled a bit too
 
Blood test is the only way to know for sure and that costs approx £70 depending on your vet. I thought my chap could be flirty but the vet assures me rigs are very rare these days although I would be concerned about the fluid aspect.

Sometimes a new pony can "show off" to find his place in the herd so the pony may settle but he may also be better in a bachelor group if he proves to find the company of mares too much.

My chap is fine with my little herd but when a new pony is introduced he gets stressed and suffers little man syndrome but he does settle.
 
sarahg83 said:
The one thing that has struck me as a little odd in this whole situation is the pony has not even been paid for yet, the old owners rang the new owners and said they were going on holiday and could they take the pony early. The new owners did not have the money or the deposit but they didn't mind they just had to have the pony sent away asap because of their holiday They then delivered it for the new owners without a deposit or any payment. Yet yesterday when they should have still been on holiday the new owner managed to get hold of the old owner to ask when the pony had been cut. It all seems very odd to me, almost like they just needed the pony gone for some reason and the only reason i think of is he might be a rig.
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Does it not occur to you that maybe the owners were on DIY or kept the pony at home and getting it off the premises might make their lives easier and indicate that they trusted the buyer? As for being able to get hold of them on holiday - mobile phones do work when you're on holiday you know, often even when you are abroad!

As for the riggy behaviour, I have two geldings both capable of covering a mare. Some mares they are extremely interested in, some mares they don't fancy at all. They will live perfecty happily in a bachelor herd or with mares, it's just that some mares do seem to encourage their behaviour. It's likely that this new lad is just trying to show off and will settle down when he's been there a while.
 
Yeah it is all ready to go in the same way a stallions would be, and if he could reach he would be very capable of carrying out the deed. It is all the same as a stallion but without testicles, but i wonder if they could be hidden somewhere. Would you find records of the horse being gelded in his passport? Sorry stupid question i should know but being a owner of mares its not something i have had much dealing's with. My Tb years ago had some stallion tendency and would mount our Shetland given half a chance but non of his equipment was out on show like it is wth this pony, it was more of a playful mount rather than a covering if that makes sense.
 
jemima*askin said:
Does it not occur to you that maybe the owners were on DIY or kept the pony at home and getting it off the premises might make their lives easier and indicate that they trusted the buyer? As for being able to get hold of them on holiday - mobile phones do work when you're on holiday you know, often even when you are abroad!

As for the riggy behaviour, I have two geldings both capable of covering a mare. Some mares they are extremely interested in, some mares they don't fancy at all. They will live perfecty happily in a bachelor herd or with mares, it's just that some mares do seem to encourage their behaviour. It's likely that this new lad is just trying to show off and will settle down when he's been there a while.
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The old owners from what i know run their own livery. Thats why it strikes me as odd. Also i would be very reluctant to even sell a pony to someone who cant afford the deposit as it is a small deposit, as we all know it not the buying of a pony or horse but the keeping it.
 
My new boy behaves the same... inclusive of full erections and fluid, though I've never put him in the same field as a mare.

As he's new to me, I'm giving him a few months to settle. If the behaviour is still the same by the time his jabs are due, I'm debating having him tested. My last boy had similar behaviour when he came to me, turns out he was late gelded which was where it stemmed from. He was perfectly okay once he settled.
 
A true rig (one with a retained testicle/testicles) will not be able to impregnate a mare. Geldings are perfectly capable of full erections and emissions of fluid.
 
My lad had to be tested after raping a mare and cutting/biting her badly, this was a new mare to the yard and he had lived happily with our mare for two years prior to the attack, showing no interest, his results were clear, fast forward a year and after getting an ex brood mare, I saw him mount her, after she had spent hours with her bum in his face, squirting and winking, another year later and he shows no interest, in fact it was the mare displaying stallion ways when my TB gelding came home, keeping my lad moving and attacking the TB, strange creatures, I'm inclined to think that if a mare is very pushy, my gelding at least will react
 
I have seen a few rigs in my time and horses who act riggy. Signs I have seen are

getting exited near a mare
rubbing head over mares rear end as if about to mount
erections
nickering and neighing to mares
mounting a mare and trying to perform the act

these are just a few signs.
 
Leviathan said:
I have seen a few rigs in my time and horses who act riggy. Signs I have seen are

getting exited near a mare
rubbing head over mares rear end as if about to mount
erections
nickering and neighing to mares
mounting a mare and trying to perform the act

these are just a few signs.
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3 of the geldings I've had have shown all these signs, but weren't rigs. I think more of a sign is if they try to mount whilst you are riding and do stuff like jump out/into fields containing in season mares.
 
A friend of mine bought a lovely DWb, had a full vetting which he passed and all was fine. She bought him in November and he was absolutely normal, a bit more vocal than her old boy but apart from that normal. Then come Feb, March and hormones started risin, we realised my friends horse was a rig and he had a roar not a squeal. As you were riding him his penis would fully extend with the full plate on the end and would swing from side to side. Very very hard to miss that! He stressed weight off, so was skinny despite being well fed. He would try and mount anything, mares or geldings. He was dominant and bossy in his stable. And would look for a fight with any other geldings he saw, he fixated on my gelding and would try to get at him on hacks if there was a mare around. He tried to mount my gelding while we were loading them on the trailer. My horse was in and her horse went straight up his side of the ramp roaring and about to mount him.

Initially the vet said no chance he was a gelding. My friend had to ask for the blood test. He was a full blown abdominal rig. He went to Liverpool for the operation, and a testicle the size of a grapefruit was removed from high up inside his abdominal cavity.

When he came home, his voice had risen to a normal level. He started to put weight back on and was fine with other horses. It took a while for his weight to go back on but it did. And he chilled right out. He was always an opinionated horse. Refusing to do anything he didnt want, but that was put down to him being a rig for so long and getting away with stuff because he was dangerous.

It became clear why he was sold in November. Hormones dont rage in winter, mares are not in season. So it means selling then gives you a few months with no rig behaviour likely to show. By which time the seller has no responsibility.
 
Waffles said:
3 of the geldings I've had have shown all these signs, but weren't rigs. I think more of a sign is if they try to mount whilst you are riding and do stuff like jump out/into fields containing in season mares.
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To be fair I did say some were rigs some just acted riggy, I didn't say which was which in the just :)
 
I have a gelding who does all of that OP! Perfectly manageable as long as kept in a field without mares. Or with mares in the winter. He does respond to very flirty mares and "cover" them, but he is always quite nice to them. He is very popular with the mares and they follow him around! He also jumps out but fortunately his greed is greater than his lust and he just goes where the grass is, not the mares.

So best just to keep them separate, which tbh any livery yard should offer as an option anyway. My boy can also roar if really annoyed (eg being left on his own in the field) and generally has a rather strong character. Vet says he is not a rig but was possibly gelded late. That said, he is a lovely character and a real trier once you have him on your side.
 
My youngster was the same around one particular mare last year! he was only 2 and a half, and really playful, he's never been like this with my mare! he's young and will occasionally try and nip and play with her but would never mount her! I think its just a young boy thing!

I spoke to the vet about the rig test and she said its HIGHLY unlikely that there are any real rigs out there these days! Normally my vets will do any tests I ask but she put me off on this occasion! and having him away from that mare he is a totally different horse!

I think some boys are just more playful! and he might have covered a mare in the past, you might never know!

Plus if he's new on the yard he might just be feeling a little unsettled, if he's on his own he might just want another horse out with him?
 
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