Medication to help a false rig

[eventer28]

I have a 6yo TB that possibly covered a few mares before being cut late in his 3rd year. He is very friendly in his herd of 12 geldings, ranked about 3rd or 4th in the pecking order and is not aggressive. Whenever he meets mares he talks to them (like stallions do), gets erections but is still very well behaved. He sometimes lets his penis out for the whole hack if mares are present. Mares adore him! He is stabled next to mares and when they are inside at the same time as him he shows some stallion-like behaviour for a short while and then settles back to eating his hay. At the moment the geldings grazing is not adjacent to the mares field but at some point he will have share a fenceline with the mares which is worrying me. Are there any medications the vets can give to switch off his behaviours or any good supplements?? I'm guessing his behaviour is learnt and not hormone driven since he doesn't ever show aggressive behaviour just sexual behaviour which would lead me to think he isn't a true rig.

 

[Nats]

Sorry, no experience of this but Global Herbs sell a product called Rig Calm, so it might be worth phoning them for advice? Also I think there is a blood test that can be done to check if a horse is a rig.

 

[Birker2020]

This is a reply I put on a previous post about a randy gelding.


I was forced to inject my horse with depo provera which is a female hormone many years ago after the yard owner told me he couldn't go out with the other horses as they were getting injured and because Billy was very stalliony as he'd been gelded late they presumed it was him. No one had ever seen him attack others, and I for one was convinced it wasn't him and spent hours down the field trying to get video evidence to this effect. Horses were coming in with rugs ripped on the withers and one horse had broken ribs that the chiro told her were caused by a gelding mounting her horse. Billy was blood tested but came back negative for a rig so I presumed he was a false rig and asked the vet and he recommended these injections. I had to sign a disclaimer as they were unlicensed for use in horses but were ok for humans but at the time I considered I had no choice as I didn't want to leave the yard (stupid now I know) and I wanted him to go out with the others - it wasn't fair to keep him on his own in isolation nor was it fair to keep him in a stable day and night.

He had three injections during the period I owned him (the last injection at another yard). One day I was at a show and the owner of the horse who had been injured saw me and my horse there. When we got back from the show she came over to me to apologise and said she was sorry but it wasn't my horse as whilst we'd been at the show her horse had been badly mauled by another horse in the herd.

I felt so sad that my horse had been made scapegoat all this time, so I left the yard. Some 8 or 9 months later my horse dropped down dead of a heart attack in the field and I have wondered to this day if it was because of the injections he'd been given.

I did it as I had his best interests at heart at the time, but I would never do it again. Previous to losing Billy I'd had a youngster that had broken his leg in the field bucking and slipping in the mud (someone saw it happen) and the vet reckoned he'd had a hair line fracture which had most probably been caused by another horse - could this have been the rogue horse all along that kicked him? I shall never know the answer, but would never ever risk giving my horse this injection.

I just thought I would tell you my sad tale in case your vet or anyone else who is having this problem vet recommends this treatment.