[DeeThbd]

Okay, COTH, I need some suggestions, and even though it's embarrassing as heck, I'm going to throw this out there. adult topic alert!!
I have put my youngest OTTB into light work after a layoff - I got him in August,had loads of problems with a recurring abscess, etc. Now that the weather is improving, I'm getting him going a bit.
He likes this....a lot.
At first he started dropping a little if I was doing ground work with him....no biggie.
Then, he started doing it after I dismounted and ran up my irons to walk him back to the barn.
Now? Um.....last week near the end of my ride, he exposed himself. Fully. Today? He scaled it up, and while riding at the walk, got very....vigorous. The videos have now earned him the nickname Porn Star.
WTF do I do here? This is soooo funny, but so embarrassing! I can't tell what he's doing because he merrily carries on at the walk and even the jog. If I ever get to the point of taking him to local shows, I think that I might get the gate before the class even starts!!
In daily life he is a well behaved gelding, never acts studdish or as if he is anything but a nice sweet boy. No flehmening, nothing. Under tack? Oh dear.
I want to know if anybody else has had this problem, just in case there is a physiological reason for it.....or is he just really, REALLY happy?
Dee

[fargonefarm]

Whew! I'm glad I'm not the only one with a "happy" gelding! My guy likes to let his hang in the crossties, after working, eating, you name it. He takes it as far as to "flex"..."it" periodically just for good measure. I just think he is particularly proud of his gift

[Frank B]

According to a couple of recent magazine articles, it's actually a form of relaxation among stallions and geldings, and not sexually motivated.

I think one was in The Horse and the other in one of the QH publications.

[DeeThbd]

Whew! I'm glad I'm not the only one with a "happy" gelding! My guy likes to let his hang in the crossties, after working, eating, you name it. He takes it as far as to "flex"..."it" periodically just for good measure. I just think he is particularly proud of his gift

I hate to say that I am relieved to have a reply, because I kind of feel like a perv talking about it....but he is doing what your gelding does WHILE BEING RIDDEN.....and it's becoming an every-ride thing! I was having my ride videod by a friend (helps me improve) and there are about four or five minutes of it going on.
I guess I more care about the cause....if there is something that might be pinching or something, or something that I need to change in his nutrition....
Sigh. No matter how I try to explain it, it just sounds wrong.
Dee

[arabhorse2]

Thanks, Frank.

That's a good thing to know, since Casper likes to "let it all hang out" occasionally, and even goes so far as to ahem, touch himself on the stomach with it. In the front paddock, in full view of anyone who happens to drive by.

He also seems to enjoy sheath cleaning way more than anyone should. I've often asked him afterwards if he needs a cigarette!

[macmtn]

My Arab used to do that in the pasture. Had a biker renting the place right behind where he was pastured...wanted to know what that was and wtf?
Had to explain to him wtf AND the meaning of hung like a horse..his girlfriend later told me it gave him raging inferiority complex... then they moved.

[DeeThbd]

So I guess that maybe my boy just likes his new life off the track, and my work with him and I should just ignore him?
Dee

[macmtn]

Would you rather he be frustrated?

[FlashGordon]

According to a couple of recent magazine articles, it's actually a form of relaxation among stallions and geldings, and not sexually motivated.

I think one was in The Horse and the other in one of the QH publications.

Good to know, thanks Frank.

My guy tends to get all sleepy and let it hang out, when being groomed, or when turned out, or scratched in his favorite spot on his cheek. I always took it as a sign he was relaxed.

Now I am a pretty conscientious handler, but a barnmate actually scolded me the other day... Saying I needed to "watch that horse" because it was a "signal he's acting studdy" (As he was closing his eyes while I gave him so scratches)

I sort of looked at her funny, cause he is the farthest thing FROM studdy..... but then I thought maybe she knew something I didn't!

But, Dee, I'm not sure about your guy getting a bit excited during your rides. It may be worthwhile to pull blood just for peace of mind.

[LR1976]

Whew! I'm glad I'm not the only one with a "happy" gelding! My guy likes to let his hang in the crossties, after working, eating, you name it. He takes it as far as to "flex"..."it" periodically just for good measure. I just think he is particularly proud of his gift

This is my guy too. As far as I know he doesn't do it when we're actually working, but as soon as we stop... I'm waiting for a lovely picture of our dressage "Halt, salute" someday!

[Tif_Ann]

LOL my boy does this all the time ... he was a stallion until he was seven but I don't know if that has anything to do with it. It's so common that nearly everyone at our stables will just respond with a "Pi, put it away!" as they walk by, or smack him on the belly as a wake up if he's really bad. He also REALLY enjoys sheath cleanings LOL ... which he needs more often than my other gelding because it gets so much dirtier!

Nice thing is he doesn't require tranqs for sheath cleaning because he's so willing to drop. He's a funny boy all around - the first time my vet tried cleaning him without sedation the tech sat there with her hand "there" for a few minutes, and we asked him to drop, and he wouldn't, until finally the male vet who was standing about ten feet away said "Pi, if you don't drop for soandso, I'll be putting my hand up there" and held up his much larger hand to Pi's eye. It dropped immediately. LOL ....

[Hunter Mom]

Another reason to love my mares!

[SarahandSam]

My gelding does that too, including the slapping against the belly, which is just weird... what's bad is at the therapeutic riding program I volunteer for, when one of the geldings waiting for the kids to come out lets it drop, and inevitably a small child ends up asking, "What's that?"

"Um..."

[BeastieSlave]

Well, I'm relieved my happy guy isn't that happy!
He routinely gets happy when he's groomed and I was appalled when he was a pest during a lameness exam. He dropped during flexions and we all grimaced when we watched him trot off - every time. At one point, the poor girl holding his leg up actually was in danger of being hit in the head. She asked if it was her.... I told her, "No, it's him"

[JohnDeere]

Try explaning to DD why your newly gelded boy "relaxes" with it at full length--and width!

Good think DH wasnt around.

[RomeosGirl]

Oh, I've got you all beat!
Riding on of the lesson horses for a while he appearently had a reputation I did not know about. Of course he let me know one Saturday morning when all the kids were there.
His "thing" is to get excited when you approach the mounting block. I'm not just talking let it hang out. I mean full on moving it around, pumping his hips, nickering, having a great time!!
My face was twelve shades of red! Everybody told me to kick it & he would put it away - well, that seemed to have the opposite effect & the only way to solve the problem was to go on a brisk walk & this took his mind off things.
The joke for a long time was "Snip really likes you! He needs a cigarette now!"

[DeeThbd]

I know that it's a "boy thing" to let it all hang out when relaxing, or being groomed, or standing in the sun....but for it to be "fully engaged and active" when working on the sidepass, walking circles, and even sometimes at the jog? (He WILL eventually put it away then) Please tell me that I am not the only one with this problem!!!!!
Dee

[monstrpony]

When I went to see the Spanish Riding School performance in '05, at the start of the performance they have all of the stallions and riders come in and make a trip around the arena so that they could be introduced. One of the SRS stallions enjoyed this part of the show a little too much, too. I guess he got it out of his system, because we didn't see his friend again after that.

[GrayTbred]

Our barn has a 20-something TB, name of Howard. Which became "Happy Howard" once his proclivities became apparent. He liked to display the famous "fifth leg" after the rider dismounted.

Happy Howard was recently retired, and will be spending his days exposing himself on a nice family farm. Ironically, about the same time he retired, a young TB at our barn started showing the same happy tendencies. So Howard's proud legacy lives on.

[vbunny]

First I would double check its clean and he has no beans so you know he is able to work comfortably with it up. After that I would carry a spray and spritz it with cold water when he lets it out and you are working him. If you need someone to come watch to help or spray it for you then do that for a few days. I bet that sorts him out. It won't hurt him but it won't feel nice having cold water hit his bits and pieces either. I don't mind if they do it when they are hanging out and just chillin' out but during work it's not very polite behavior .