Rig Ops success, Riggy geldings.. any ideas??? HELP!! (long.. sorry!)

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dobbin27

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Hi All,

If anybody is able to offer me and advice/suggestions on where to go now (other than back to the vets which is a given!) I would be really really grateful!

So we had a genuine rig that was gelded in May, operation was deemed a success and we were good to go! Vet is happy there should be no stallion like levels of testosterone in his body.. he has always been an absolute sweetheart to handle, good with children, been turned out with three geldings including an elderly tiny pony without any hassle and since being gelded is starting to do some work and hasn't put a foot out of place.. he has been turned out next to mares without a problem, but has only in the last month been turned out with mares.. one of the mares has been in season on and off over the last few weeks and this again has not caused any problem until yesterday when he completely lost the plot.. has charged through post and rail fencing, taken on every other gelding on the yard (he is about 12.2hh.. he has been picking fights with 16.2 gelded late, pony munching, boss of the field) and then turned himself inside out for four hours until he was sweating like nothing I have ever seen before.. took a pop at yard owner and continued to cause chaos until I brought him in looking every inch the wild eyed stallion (luckily his manners are deeply ingrained enough for him to walk in relatively sensibly) and left him in with hay and the top door shut!!

So.. Vet is coming out to take bloods, but she is adament that everything that needed removing was removed.. He is supposed to be a childs pony, so if this is likely to be a regular thing I don't hold out much hope for his future. He has to be as safe as a pony can be and if these outbursts cannot be ruled out I will PTS.. BUT he is a beautiful, friendly chap and I don't want to give up. Tonight, after a day in is as quiet as a lamb again. And this is the first time we have had a problem. Does anybody have any words of wisdom? Advice? Suggestions for management??
 
I have a pony that was a rig, gelded as a three year old now 10, he is the sweetest boy most of the time, goes out with a mare or geldings.
He is however possessive of "his" mare and has attacked a gelding when the three were turned out together, the last time this happened he had the other one pinned against a gate, literally wetting himself.
I do not see it as a problem, he is not a nasty pony in any way, I think it is very much protecting his mare and this has only happened on a few occasions when I have forgotten about his previous attack, although the last one was rather more serious and I will not forget again.
Can your pony be kept in a gelding only group, mine is fine if no mare with him, it is unlikely that he will be a problem if he does not bond with a mare and he should be fine as a ridden pony.
 
Hi th ebloods may well come back negative and he may well indeed be a true gelding ,but the stallion instinct is just in his head ,in which case keep him well away from in season mares and other mares if poss maybe try some of the rig calm products available or agnes castus sorry not sure of spelling but some people swear by it recentley heard it called monks pepper ,hopefully he will calm down and forget butif he dosent then you will have to consider that he isnt the right pony for a child ,good luck with him .
 
My riggy geldings bloods came back as within acceptable levels, as in no bits left in there, but my vet did offer me a jab (not me, the horse!) can't remeber what it was called, tartak or something? Its a hormone suppressant and he said he should only need it once a year.
I now don't keep him with any mares so I didn't go down that route in the end, like yours mine is an angel in all ways except he bonks anything in season.
Perhaps ask your vet about that? The weather is so spring like at the moment (watched a magpie building a nest yesterday) that his behaviour may have been kicked off.
 
Sorry to hear, we do have a riggy gelding, but his behaviour is not as extreme as your gelding. Our gelding has improved over time, he is a lot more settled than he was. He only seems to be possessive about the mares in his paddock, and does not show interest in other mares at pony club etc.

I guess I mention this because with time your fellow may settle, or in a different environment, so maybe he will not need to be PTS if he is good in all other respects. Maybe with a bit more time his behaviour will improve, or maybe he can go to a home without mares.
 
I have a very riggy pomny, have had him 17 years, but he tested negative when we had him checked by the vet. He is the herdbut leader and he is very dominant and he doesn't do strange horse in his personal space. Introducing any new horse takes weeks but we just accept that's him and that's it. We have our own stables though and all geldings as we had a previous horse who would attack mares so we've always chosen geldings from then on. I think my pony would react if there was a mare nearby though.

He had an episode earlier this year due to some changes in the field following my sister's horse being put on box rest. To cut a long story short, something we did ended up upsetting the whole herd dynamic and said pony decided he was going to push my horse (who is normally second in command) out of the herd! He was manic, attacking him more than he's ever done - it was like he was new. He got in to a real state, screaming and kicking etc and if we brought him in to the stables (he's normally pretty quiet) he would scream and snort at the fact my horse was still out with HIS herd!! We had to separate them and reintroduce slowly essentially as it got that bad. They have been together though 16 years so that's what made it more mental!!!

I think you just have to accept that some horses can be like this - mine is lovely to handle and has very good manners but when it comes to his herd he likes things just so! I certainly don't think it warrants him being PTS as it's behaviour with horses NOT humans that is his issue. Oh I forgot to say, when mypiny went on loan he jumped over what was approx a 5ft fence to get to a mare in the next field! Now he just does NOT do things like that. He was put back in his field but did it again so they decided to leave him with her after that! that was totally outof character for him and he has never ever done that in all the years we have had him so i guess that was the effect a mare has on his behaviour - he is going to get to her whatever it takes!
 
Feel for you, my big lad isn't a rig, but was gelded late. Although he show's no stallion behaviour towards the mares, and quite frankly I don't think he knows when they are in season or not.

However, he is very aggressive towards any other horse that is introduced into the fields, he lunges at them over the fence, paces, strikes out with his front feet and is generally a pain in the bum with it all. He will guard his mares like crazy and really herd off the other horse with intent to kill!

After 3 weeks or so he's usually calmed down a bit and we can have happy turnout, I always make sure that he and the alpha mare are separated from the others though, as she can be a tarty little witch too.

I'd say, don't give him cause to get riled up, move him away from the mares with one reliable field companion, and slowly introduce him back into his herd of geldings he was happy with before. Any horse, riggy or just gelded late should be given special precautions to keep them calm, as something is obviously ingrained in their minds.
 
Thanks for your advice all.. I am confident we can manage his behaviour if he is just turned out with geldings, and he has enough manners for him to hold it together when handled by adults.

I certainly don't want to do anything drastic as we have poured a lot of time and love into this little guy (he came to us as a rescue at about 18 months old) just worried about what sort of future there is for a four year old 12.2 pony that cannot be ridden outside the yard if we can't get over the mare issue. He was not a happy pony Thursday, I certainly wouldn't want him to be that stressed all summer when even if the mares aren't in his field he has proved he will go through post and rail to get to them. We only have geldings at home, so while we have bumped into mares out and about we seem to have avoided in season ones until now!!

I think I am keeping my fingers crossed that his bloods are positive and he is just one op away from the future he deserves. Until thursday he was shaping up to be a brilliant kids pony..
 
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