Okay, don't laugh too hard, is there any such thing as an hermaphrodite horse

[Carolyn R]

I like to browse a draft horse classified site. I came across an ad, my first reaction to the ad is "wow, either they are totally uneducated, or totally trying to pull the wool over someones eyes!" they have a small Clyde, listed as purebred, they have him listed as a hermaphrodite!? They don't make mention of having female parts, but state he has no testicles (ummmmm , possibly retained?)

I have no interest in getting any other horses , but like to browse around. I would expect that if this ad were correct, they would state he has both male and female parts, but they only make mention of the male parts. Just wondering if anyone has ever actually heard of this in horses?

Just very curious as to others experiences.

 

[mini horse mania]

I have heard of it in horses..i actually was looking at a beautiful apha filly..come to find out...sge had to be tested as male or female ti be reg.she had male parts also...but used the female parts..lol..i did pass,on her after finding out as I wanted her for breeding.

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

That's a good one!!

I have no idea if a true hermaphrodite has ever been recorded in equines, but I suspect this person just has a gelding with retained testicles (as you thought also) and not that there is also a vaginal area of some sort in addition to the penis on this horse. But...who knows?? Nothing would surprise me.

 

[disneyhorse]

I have heard of it several times, so must be a rare-but-happens thing.

 

[Kaitlyn]

I have also heard reports of this occurring with horses. Rare, but possible.

 

[ohmt]

They can occur when two eggs of the opposite sex join or I believe a hormone imbalance during development. Intersexual is a more proper term to use than hermaphrodite. Rare, but possible in all animal species. If there are no female organs, then the horse is not intersexual.

 

[Carolyn R]

Very interesting and I guess it wasn't s silly of a question after all. To quote my grandmother when she was around, "you learn something new everyday".

 

[Becky Horat]

OK.....have seen one with my very own eyes. Many years ago we had a day of traveling to look at young QH prospects for sale to start. These were 2yr olds. This was back in the day when we looked in newspaper classifiieds...no Craig's List. We drove 3hrs. to look at all these horses and it was a waste of time. They had advertised several with great bloodlines, etc. When we got there...nobody had papers, scars and terrible condition. After wasting a trip, decided to look at local classifieds in that area. Found one to look at. Pretty little filly, great manners....said she's been shown in Halter??? After she longed it around and she/he relaxed. Out comes a penis from the vulva area of this horse. I couldn't believe it. When we questioned it....the lady was stammering. I worked for a vet for many years and found the exact photo/description of this horse in one of our medical books at work. Of course everyone teased us about our horse buying....thank goodness we didn't bring this one home. I should have taken a photo.

 

[Carolyn R]

Becky, I think given that it was back in the day, I would have been pretty darn surprised too. Now, heck research is at our fingertips, I think it takes away much of the shock factor. The ad that I saw was actually talking it up like it was a free bonus (or in this case a selling feature). While I must admit that the horse would make for quite the conversation piece and as long as it were mentally stable and not hormonally imbalanced so that it was borderline crazy, it really would not make a difference if it's only purpose was be a family horse, however, I don't see it as a bonus or a way to justify a higher price, LoL. None the less, interesting topic.

 

[Miniv]

It's very rare, but I've read about it with a mini.....It's been a long time.

 

[mini horse mania]

The one I inquired about was tested to be female..but had male parts also..she peed like a girl and was able to reproduce..she just had a male part with no testicles at all...you could barely tell it.it got away with me so bad.its the only one I had heard of until now.

 

[stormy]

Along the same line we had an XXX mare at the farm I worked at in California used as a tease mare for AI collection of the stallions...she was in heat 100% of the time and had been tested to have the extra female chromosome so yes XXY should also be possible.

 

[mshasta88]

I did have one back in 2003 that I think was a he/she but what ever it was, it still had perfect conformation.

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

Rare, but possible. More likely is crypt, or psudohermaphadite.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I had an intersex back when I had Shetlands- it was born normally female and suddenly acquired a small penis at a year old when some other fillies came into season- it was placed just inside the vulva and had not been evident at all- she had peed normally and everything. She was insured so we tried operating but she was euthanised on the table as it turned out to be inoperable.

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

There was an article in EQUUS a few years ago about one. I can't remember which gender they had made him/her at the end, but I do remember they did surgery on "it".

I have the equine library books on reproduction and there is a whole section on hermaphrodites in it, with pictures. Very interesting!

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

There is no need to euthanize an intersex "mare".... just remove the testicles and go on in life.

 

[Cricket8]

I don't know if this is allowed. I mean posting an article but, read this.

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/news/3-4-09/the-amazing-story-of-a-mare-turned-horse.html

 

[Cricket8]

There is such things and you aren't going crazy haha. I read this article in our Hoof Beats mag that we got a few years back. Pretty interesting!

 

[joylee123]

Yes Carolyn, I used to have one years ago. He/She, was an incredible Arabian, absolutly breathtaking, ultra refined and trained to the 9's. Toot was given to me as the owners passion had gone to the show ring and he couldn't be shown. Had he been normal he would never have been in my price range.

His male genitals where back where the mares should be, When he wasn't excited, he looked like a mare back there. When he was excited he would have an erection protruding from under his tail. He also had udders. I remember once when the brand inspector came out to do an inspection and wrote him down as a mare. Of course we hadn't said anything till after just to see what he would think( as he was kind of a jerk) LOL!

Toot unfortunetly had to be out down. He was acting stupid one morning and turned and kicked a trailer it severed his left back tendon. I cried for days.....