Gelding owners - riggy behaviour?

Does your gelding display stallion-like behaviour?

  • Total voters
    0
Wagtail

Wagtail

Horse servant
Joined
2 December 2010
Messages
14,815
Location
Lincs
Visit site
I have been researching why some geldings still display sexual behaviour in the presence of mares, particularly in season mares. Could you select which option most applies to your geldings, please? This is a multiple option poll so if you have more than one gelding please select which option applies for each one. Thanks.

Also, if you have experienced problems with riggy behaviour, what have you found to be of help? Supplements etc.
 
Mine doesn't quite fit in any of your choices. He is very aware of in season mares and follows them around closely then. He also grooms them more when they are in season. He has been known to mount CM (especially if she backs under him *sigh*) but the grey isn't interested so he doesn't bother her as much that way, sometimes just a quick nip on the bum to test the waters and then backs away when she puts her ears back at him. When he has mounted he has everything tucked in his sheath still. He's happy to leave the girls and do something fun, but is always obviously happy to be back with them. He's less impressed if one of the mares is taken away and will shout for them. The interesting behaviour is when other geldings come here, he puts on a big display of prancing about and showing off - generally the most beautiful floating trot with his neck arched and tail curled over his back. I'm not sure if it's to put the geldings off trying to pinch the mares or if it's to impress the mares to stop them noticing the other gelding, but he does put a lot of effort into it. He's not had a stallion come on his home turf, but he has been led past the local stallion that is sometimes in a field by the road without drama.


I don't give any of them mare/rig supplements.
 
cobgoblin said:
You've missed out geldings that mount other geldings!
Click to expand...

Lol, no I hadn't thought of that one!

Faracat said:
Mine doesn't quite fit in any of your choices. He is very aware of in season mares and follows them around closely then. He also grooms them more when they are in season. He has been known to mount CM (especially if she backs under him *sigh*) but the grey isn't interested so he doesn't bother her as much that way, sometimes just a quick nip on the bum to test the waters and then backs away when she puts her ears back at him. When he has mounted he has everything tucked in his sheath still. He's happy to leave the girls and do something fun, but is always obviously happy to be back with them. He's less impressed if one of the mares is taken away and will shout for them. The interesting behaviour is when other geldings come here, he puts on a big display of prancing about and showing off - generally the most beautiful floating trot with his neck arched and tail curled over his back. I'm not sure if it's to put the geldings off trying to pinch the mares or if it's to impress the mares to stop them noticing the other gelding, but he does put a lot of effort into it. He's not had a stallion come on his home turf, but he has been led past the local stallion that is sometimes in a field by the road without drama.


I don't give any of them mare/rig supplements.
Click to expand...

Thanks. That's pretty much like the geldings I have owned really. But I've had some very riggy liveries.
 
Mine is 95% of the time not bothered in the slightest . The one year he was out with 4 mares he mounted one of them but I think she pretty much asked for it and kept flashing at him haha . He's out with all geldings now and doesn't really bother with mares at any other time so I don't treat him with anything . He does however get very upright and anxious if he's in a showing ring with a stallion behind or in front .
 
We only have boys, some mount each other sometimes, others don't. The stallion doesn't. Doesn't seem to be linked to age of castration either, more to level in pecking order. We don't have any of them in with mares.
 
My last horse..who frequently mounted our other gelding..to the extent that someone asked if they could put him to their mare...did a strange thing once out on a hack. There was a fairly fresh pile of poo on the bridle path, he stopped dead, sniffed it, then started dancing around on it. Would have been fine had we not been on a steep incline with a bank that he was jumping up and down...I nearly fell off laughing. No idea if it was poo from a mare in season or a stallion, or even just a funny five minutes.
 
I have a mare and 2 geldings. Mac is the boss, but they all live together happily. Ollie has been seen mounting Dolly, and she is a tart so will encourage him. I bought him from Clodagh on here, and I'm sure she said he used to mount her mare too. She had him rig tested, but all was clear. He will quite often stand and look longingly at the 2 mares next door, but doesn't act at all stallionish.
 
Current one has never displayed any behaviours towards mares that are significantly different to the way he behaves towards colts or geldings. Having said that he is turned out with only geldings and all his close stable neighbours are geldings so the only contact he has with mares is when he is being ridden or led.

First horse could be very riggy although he wasn't a rig. When I first met him he was on mixed turnout and he was seen doing the dirty with a filly. His behaviour became quite problematic in the turnout situation and he was extremely bossy and dominant with the other geldings. I moved him to the yard where my current horse is and the separate turnout and being stabled away from mares really helped. His whole demeanour and behaviour changed when he moved, although there were a number of other factors in play too that helped him be much more settled. Never had another problem after that with his behaviour towards mares or other geldings.
 
Mine is totally relaxed with mares but rather flirty (in a nice way) with human females!

Slightly riggy in that he's opinionated( "discuss it..."), never kicks but can be keen on using his teeth and poos in much the same spot....
 
My boy is very worried by mares especially if they flirt with him. Previously he was in a field with 3 mares - he was a great disappointment to them! One of them backed up to him tail up and squirting - he put his head down and hurried off to the far corner of the field muttering something about revolting hussies! She proceeded to chase him around begging him to give her some attention and he proceeded to blank her completely, walking off whenever she came close not looking at her at all.
 
Mine did when he was about 3/4 when he was out with my friends mare, who was also quite young! she'd encourage him and he didn't know what he was doing and mounted her side ways one day! poor sod! he was out with my old girl only after that and he never tried it on with her! he's been out with other mares and not tried it on! he does seem to be a mare magnet though!

The most annoying thing he does, which i think is a bit dominant is putting his head over the neck of the other horses, like he's trying to make himself the boss, he will do that to mares or geldings
 
Mares and geldings are separated at my yard, but one of the geldings has zero interest in hanging out or playing with his male fieldmates. He's glued to the fenceline, which he shares with both my mare (on individual t/o) and the herd of mares, making mooney eyes at them. When my mare is not in heat, she doesn't even like it and snarls and charges the fenceline. Does this guy care? Nope. He stands there like John Cusack holding a boombox outside of his ex-girlfriend's window. Except she isn't interested. Not even a little.

I'm sure if he were turned out with mares, he'd be all over them.

None of the other geldings at the yard seem remotely interested in the girls.
 
My two don't show any reaction to mares that's different from any of their interactions with geldings. Arch wants to be friends with every horse he meets and Mont hates them all. They live on a geldings only yard but meet mares regularly.

Not sure if this will be of any interest to you but my friend's horse went through a phase of displaying very riggy behaviour last year (at the age of 17). He'd never done it before but was very very stressed at the time. He'd moved yards so my friend could have him and her daughter's mare at the same yard but didn't really settle at the new place. Then winter came and the promised turnout didn't materialise. They were restricted to 3 hours per day out but it was up to them whether they did 3 hours every day or 6 every other. Everybody did something different and he couldn't cope with that. He likes all horses to be in when he is in and all horses to be out when he is out. As my friend works full time, she had to do 6 hours every other day and he just couldn't cope with the day in, in particular but this affected him when he was out too.

When he and his new field buddy, friend's daughter's mare, did manage to get out, he would be so clingy to her that he'd refuse to leave her again, would trap her in the corner so she couldn't leave him and would even mount her, although it looked like he thought pinning her down would stop her getting away from him rather than actually doing anything sexual.

He came back to our yard after a few months having lost about 80kgs (he was lean in the first place) and you could see the relief on his face the second he got off the trailer. He put the weight back on in the space of about 3 weeks and has been back to his normal slightly bonkers but perfectly well behaved self ever since.
 
My daughter's pony was gelded very late (12-13 ish) and had sired foals, so naturally he still retains all his stallion behaviours. He poos all in one spot etc. He's never turned out with mares, but behaves himself perfectly in hand or under saddle around them. He did once escape his field and turn up outside my neighbour's broodmare's field. He's not an assertive horse and is way down the pecking order.

My cob is no more interested in mares than geldings and always seems totally baffled if a mare starts flirting.
 
My big hairy carthorse finds girls a bit confusing. When he was in the fat paddock last Spring it was all mares in with him (purely by coincidence) and he tended to stay on the sidelines surveying them, but definitely not interested in any naughty stuff. I think he was a bit hen pecked actually!

We've got 4 riggy geldings on the yard though. The welsh Sec C can stay out in general population as he is no bother to humans (does try to mount the mares, but gets the angles all wrong.....), but the other 3 have to be in separate pens as they are not keen on humans taking 'their' mares away.
 
The only day B has ever shown any kind of sexualized behavior was the day he was gelded when he was 10 months old.

He has mares all around him at the moment, though is only fielded with T, and he doesn't show them the slightest bit of interest, to the point he very rarely shows any mutual grooming tendancies.

He occasionally calls to T when they are separated, but it is more a case of "where are you" as they have been field mates for almost 5 years than anything else.
 
I have one who gets really attached to mares. All mares. Any mare will do. If any other geldings are in the field with him and there is a mare close by he turns very aggressive. it wasn't so much of an issue on livery as we would ensure his field didn't border any mares but now we have our own small yard its not so easy. He is now given Rig Calm and its worked a treat. He's very chilled out even when the mare is season. Big thumbs up from me!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top