Experience of rigs?

[eventer28]

I got a new gelding on New years day, he is a 16.1h, 7yo, part-bred arab (TB X arab x pony). Very kind horse in the stable albeit a bit nippy. He was turned out in the arena to meet some new horses in the field at the side of the arena. At first he was very playful over the fence with the geldings, that particular field is a mixed herd. The mares eventually came to meet my new horse and soon they began flirting and squirting. Two were acting like they were in season. My new horse started to become very irate and started pacing, charging, rearing and kicking out when the geldings came near the mares at the fence. I caught him and lunged him, he listened well and started to ignore the horses in the field. I hacked him out with two friends, one riding a gelding and one on a mare. After about 20mins hacking we stopped at the local pub for a swift beer, my horse was arching his neck, ears flat, snaking and trying to bite and kick the gelding, when i got off my horse he charged at the gelding in a very vicous way.. i kept him at a distance and all horses grazed happily whilst we drank up. Once back on board he was still behaving in a nasty manner to the gelding but very nice to the mare. When we got back to the yard I decided to turn my horse out in the geldings only field (group of 10). Everything went very smoothly. The gelding that he had tried to attack out hacking was more dominant over my horse in the comfort of the field without any mares around, as were most of the other geldings too. He has been turned out everyday with his new herd mates without any problems. My gelding looks very much like a mare, not stallion-like in appearance at all. Would anyone advise getting a blood test to determine if this horse is a rig?

 

[Birker2020]

I got a new gelding on New years day, he is a 16.1h, 7yo, part-bred arab (TB X arab x pony). Very kind horse in the stable albeit a bit nippy. He was turned out in the arena to meet some new horses in the field at the side of the arena. At first he was very playful over the fence with the geldings, that particular field is a mixed herd. The mares eventually came to meet my new horse and soon they began flirting and squirting. Two were acting like they were in season. My new horse started to become very irate and started pacing, charging, rearing and kicking out when the geldings came near the mares at the fence. I caught him and lunged him, he listened well and started to ignore the horses in the field. I hacked him out with two friends, one riding a gelding and one on a mare. After about 20mins hacking we stopped at the local pub for a swift beer, my horse was arching his neck, ears flat, snaking and trying to bite and kick the gelding, when i got off my horse he charged at the gelding in a very vicous way.. i kept him at a distance and all horses grazed happily whilst we drank up. Once back on board he was still behaving in a nasty manner to the gelding but very nice to the mare. When we got back to the yard I decided to turn my horse out in the geldings only field (group of 10). Everything went very smoothly. The gelding that he had tried to attack out hacking was more dominant over my horse in the comfort of the field without any mares around, as were most of the other geldings too. He has been turned out everyday with his new herd mates without any problems. My gelding looks very much like a mare, not stallion-like in appearance at all. Would anyone advise getting a blood test to determine if this horse is a rig?

You need to ascertain whether he's a true rig (still has a small amount of testicular tissue) or a false rig (in his head). This can be identified by a blood test. To cut a long story short my horse was cut late when I bought him at 4 (7 when bought) and he was very stalliony. He was falsely accused of causing damage to other geldings in the field by mounting them and tearing at their withers although no one saw a thing. Eventually he was banished by the YO to his stable. The YO said if I gave him an injection which the vet had suggested for 'riggy' behaviour then he could go out with the others. He had an unlicensed drug in horses, called depo provera which I had to sign a disclaimer for from the vet. Eventually it was proved beyond doubt that my horse was not the culprit as another horse was injured whilst he was at a show. I left the yard not long afterwards having lost total faith and trust in the YO and my so called friends who had insisted in his incarceration at the time. A few months later Billy dropped down dead in the field at the new yard from a suspected heart attack and I still wonder all these years later if the drug I so willingly injected in order to 'conform to pressure' was responsible.

Please don't go down the route of having the injection if it can at all be helped.

 

[gingerthing]

Hi there,

My 9 year old TB demonstrated occasional mild riggy behaviour when the mares were in season. I had the rig test done but he wasnt classed as being a rig. My vet just put it down to learned behaviour in the end, as where I got him from he was not in contact with mares. He was not cut late.

I found that giving him global herbs 'rig calm' helped an awful lot. However now he has calmed down so much now (and actually shares a field with one other mare) that I have not given him the supplement in about 2 months. He still gets abit 'jiggy' now again but this is only very mild ie calling/snorting.