Help! Gelding on steroids

[redpony]

Added a mare to the herd on the same day, our gelding was treated for a sore back with mesotherapy. Not too much of a problem when they were introduced over the fence. I separated her from our gang of two geldings until I felt comfortable enough to try to let her out with the leader of the gang. He immediately formed a strong attachment to her and would herd her away from the others. Yesterday, when we added the second gelding, all hell broke loose. He literally was trying to kill either of the geldings we tried to turn out. Acting more like a stallion than a real stallion, rearing, kicking, biting. So we separated her again and locked the offender in his stall and let the most docile gelding be on turn out. So now I have a mare in a separate paddock, two TTB's in their stalls and the good boy wandering around. I started doing some online research about meso, and have some nagging doubts. The vet who did the therapy said all vets have their own formula for meso and highly guard it. So he wouldn't tell us what exactly he injected into the gelding back, I thought though he said there were steroids in there. This gelding has been turned out successfully with other mares in the past, so is it too much of a jump to think he may be pumped full of steroids and that may be causing the problem? Has anyone had experience with mesotherapy like this?
Something has got to change or the mare might be sent back, I just don't know.

[sk_pacer]

The injections certainly would not have been anabolic steroids, would have been one of the many other kinds of steroids or perhaps a sterol. Steroids are a class of chemicals that include anabolic steroids and corticosteroids. Corticosteroids include dexamethasone, hydrocortisone (most likely candidate for your horse's injuection). prednisone, flonase et al. I suspect it is more general horse behaviour than a result of the injections. The simple answer is keep the mare away from the two geldings.

[Mor4ward]

Many years ago, I had a TB gelding at a boarding barn - he gone off his feed during a particularly hot July (the fireworks of Fourth of July didn't help, either). The vet decided to perk up his appetite with a "fractional" dose of the anabolic steroid, Equipoise.
Well, in a matter of a few days, he started paying more and more attention to the mares.
Before long, his studdish behavior became outright dangerous. He reared up, finally dumping me, galloping around the ring (his 'fifth leg' at full-attention) and towards a mare that was being ridden by a small girl, with full intentions of mounting said mare! I managed to to get between him and his heart's desire, preventing a train wreck by applying a dressage whip to his face.
That was just the first episode. He reared up on me a second time, in a crowded ring and the magnitude of my problem became obvious. I spent the rest of that summer working him at the crack of dawn, before any horses were turned out. He was even dangerous on cross-ties. He once caught a glimpse of a mare and I miraculously managed to wrestle him back into his stall before he killed me for getting in the way of his good time. It was almost six months before he returned to any semblance of normal.

When the decision is made to keep a stallion intact, he is trained to behave himself ... to the point that he won't even drop without permission!

So a gelding that suddenly develops "urges" might be likened to a teenage boy waking up out of a coma in mid-puberty. He knows what he wants ... and he wants it very badly ... but has no idea of how to go about it in any civilized manner.
As in my case, yours acts "more like a stallion than a real stallion, rearing, kicking, biting" and it makes perfect sense. He was never told the rules.

All you can do is lock the offender in his stall, until his raging hormones get back to normal.
A stud ring might help, too.

Good luck, and be careful.

[Ibex]

The injections certainly would not have been anabolic steroids, would have been one of the many other kinds of steroids or perhaps a sterol. Steroids are a class of chemicals that include anabolic steroids and corticosteroids. Corticosteroids include dexamethasone, hydrocortisone (most likely candidate for your horse's injuection). prednisone, flonase et al. I suspect it is more general horse behaviour than a result of the injections. The simple answer is keep the mare away from the two geldings.

I'd agree. We used mesotherapy on my mare (with fantastic results I may add!) and I don't know how use of anabolic steroids would help in this application.