riggish gelding

[martinka]

Hi Everyone,

is it just me or would you agree that a gelding that is mounting mares in our field whenever they are in season, should be kept away from them? My mare got injured and

crippled by a rig in the past and it was very traumatic experience for me. Now I have a filly from the mare who is 2 and I found her last week with injured leg, bite marks and scratches. 2 geldings were turned out in her field at the weekend just few days prior to her injury. She was in season at the time too, but despite the fact my gut feeling was telling me she was mounted, I thought I was just over-reacting. BUT this weekend I saw one of the geldings mounting another person's mare, who witnessed it too and chased her mare around. I don't see why should any horse be put in a danger of being injured and if there is a horse with problem, would you not agree that it should be delt with promptly??
I have already one crippled horse and big vet bill for last week's event. It seems rather unfair.
Do not understand why some people think it is acceptable to leave such a horse in a herd with others.
What do you think???

 

[Cobland]

I agree with you martime, it is extremely unfair. I have a wee falabella gelding, he still thinks hes a stallion. He tried to mount my friends mares (shetlands) when out in the field in previous yard. I immediately removed him from the field as i was worried that he might injure one of the mares as he too liked to chase them.

I know it sounds like a silly question, but what is a rig? Sorry just never heard that before.

Can you not talk to the YO/YM and say to them about your worries? Also i would have handed the bill to the geldings owner!

 

[martinka]

hiya,

Rig - A male horse or pony who has either one or both testes undescended and retained, ie retained in the abdomen.
But in general many people use the term also for geldings that behave like stallions, i.e. mounting mares when in season.
Personally, I had 2 stallions and I would never jeopardize anybody else's horses health and safety and if I did own a gelding that behaved in that way, I would take him out immediately too. But not everybody is responsible and others end up paying for it.
I could try to give the bill the owner of the gelding, but I only see them once, they are irish guys and i can just see them turning around and say " you will have to prove it". Which of course I cannot as I was not there to see, even though the evidence is pretty clear to me.
I spoke to the YO who said she will look into it and if it needs to be she will fence another field off just for geldings.
But the odd thing is that the owner of mare that I saw being mounted by this gelding, is not bothered about it at all. But then the owner of the gelding is one of her old liveries (she used to have a yard and moved her horses with some of the liveries to our fields).
I am feeling bit bullied and overlooked really, because she has 6 horses plus she brought another 3 liveries with her, making good business for the YO. And there is me with my little girl who I was trying to protect and raise since born. Cannot help but to feel upset, because I would not want to end up with another horse I can do nothing with.

 

[LeneHorse]

I went through the same thing a few years ago. New people came to the yard and although we had always kept mares and geldings separate they insisted their mare and gelding could not be parted so they both ended up in the field my mare was in. Well this gelding was definitely mounting my girl but the YO would not believe me as she was too busy sucking up to the new people. It wasn't until my horses back got badly injured and a vet confirmed the injuries were consistent with her being mounted that something got done about it and the gelding got moved. She was only 14.3 and quite fine while he was a hulking great gypsy cob. My girl was off for several weeks and tbh was never really the same horse after that happening to her. Good luck with getting the gelding out of your field and stand up for your mare, she needs you to be strong about this.

 

[martinka]

Thank you very much for your input. I spoke to the YO again yesterday and they were really concerned and promised to sort this out. Which I really appreciate, because not everybody would do the same.
I hope your girl's back is ok. I just really wish that one of the horse magazines would write about this issue and made more people aware of the danger and injuries mares can sustain by a gelding that behaves in that way. I wrote to Your Horse magazine 4 years ago when my first filly got injured and crippled for life at age of 2, but I never received any reply. I found that lot of the times people just burry their head in sand and don't want to face the problem and deal with it.
I would really like to see some kind of licencing or control so only people with decent knowledge could own a horse. There would be so much less unhappy and mistreated horses. and also people who actually do care and know how to properly look after a horse would have less stress and worries too. Because it is the ignorant and careless horse owners that cause all the grieve to people that really care and put lots of love, time and money in having a horse.