What is a Rig? Is it possible to correct this condition ?

Question

What is a Rig? Is it possible to correct this condition ?

Answer 1

Oh God don't remind me, my mum & I owned a Rig once.................or was that plural?!

Answer 2

A rig is a horse whose "operation" did not go according to plan, and one of his testicles did not drop.  He will display stallion like behaviour but will be infertile - testicles need to be kept fairly cool in order for the horse to sire a foal.

Sometimes they are used to tease a mare at stud to see if she is ready for the stallion.  I feel sorry for the rigs.

It is possible to operate, but is more risky as a full anaesthetic is necessary and it is fairly invasive surgery, but if the horse is causing a nuiscance and is constantly trying to jump mares, it is well worth doing.

Answer 3

its a male horse who has not been castrated properly and its usually because one of his testicles didnt drop, Your vet should be able to do some tests to check it if he is really a rig and needs an operation to remove the t******e.

If a male horse was castrated later on in life he may show rig like behaviour ie act like a stallion around mares and be bolshy and pushy with his handler, this can only be resolved with re-training him and teaching him better manners

Answer 4

I think Fallen Angel...has summed it up perfectly....

Answer 5

Some say if you cut him he doesn't bleed, oh sorry that's the Stig!

Answer 6

A gelding who was not properly gelded.  Basically, one t******e dropped but the other has remained embedded in his abdomen.  I've always heard these geldings are crazy, often misunderstood because no one knows what's wrong with them.

Well, that was until I was given a rig gelding.  I'd like him to be smaller, but he is great at telling me when my mares are in heat.  Unfortunately, he does have to be by himself in a paddock because he tries to mount my mares, and this can cause infection in the girls.  I cannot ride him on trails with my mares, either.  I have tracked down his history, and he has two things going against him.  He wasn't gelded until he was 7 or 8, and on top of that he wasn't gelded properly.

I asked my vet what could be done about it, and he told me that the only way fix it is to basically do exploratory surgery on his abdomen.  There are a thousand reasons why it might not have descended, wrong shape, placement, etc, and they really don't know what they're looking for until they find it.  He quoted me about $1500 for the surgery, and I've opted for just putting him with a calm gelding buddy instead.  He does try to kill my smaller gelding (not kidding) but that is the only true aggression issue I've seen out of him.  The rig is a 16 year old QH.