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Discussion on Pregnant mare that behaves like a stallion | |
Author | Message |
New Member: Denese |
Posted on Thursday, Aug 24, 2006 - 12:45 am: My 7yr maiden mare is 180 days into her pregnancy and she is displaying stallion like behaviour towards a mare that has come into season in an adjacent paddock. She desperately wants to get to that mare. She is agitated and excited, prancing and running the fence line. She has a mini mare as a pasture buddy who she ignores at this time. This behaviour seems abnormal to me and worries me as I feel she is stressing herself, which could lead her to miscarry. Also handling her at the moment is not fun as she can be difficult.Do mares that show these behaviours stop latter in pregnancy or after the foal is born? Maybe I should move her and her buddy to a new location where, there is just the two of them? Not sure which way to turn at this stage and need some advise. |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Thursday, Aug 24, 2006 - 6:40 am: Hello Denese,This may or may not have anything to do with the pregnancy and is pretty common horse behavior. Have there been any recent changes in your mares environment? I would change that back to where the mare was comfortable if she does not settle down in a few days, most do, but can get a bit cut up from the fence. DrO |
Member: Banthony |
Posted on Thursday, Aug 24, 2006 - 9:39 am: Denese,We had a same mare do this after twins were pinched. She settled down somewhat after 100 days but still shows some of the behavior. Someone else wrote in to HA and said the same thing about a mare she had pinched twins on. I believe that mare showed the behavior up until she foaled. I know what you mean about being hard to handle. Its like handling a stallion. I would advise you to move her if you can and see if she settles down. Did you have her ultrasounded when she got in foal? I am wondering if you also had a twin situation. |
New Member: Denese |
Posted on Thursday, Aug 24, 2006 - 5:34 pm: Hi DrO and Linda S,I haven't changed anything in her environment, though she is a sensitive type. I have noticed she teases the mares in the paddock next to her. I had her ultra sounded at 15 days and 40 days. No sign of twins on each of these scans. Do you think she needs scanning again? I have read that sometimes twins can be missed in the scan. She is in good health otherwise; although she will start lose weight if she continues to run around like this. I will give her more hay to keep her weight stable. |
New Member: Mkwood |
Posted on Thursday, Aug 24, 2006 - 5:56 pm: I have a mare that is not pregnant that displays stallion like behaviour including mounting my other mare. About a week after that she starts showing signs of heat. Though the mounted mare does not seem to mind, I do keep them separate at that time so no one gets hurt. Someone told me it was a dominance thing, but I feel there must be more to it than that. |
Member: Banthony |
Posted on Friday, Aug 25, 2006 - 9:18 am: If you have had two ultra sounds, I wouldn't think twins would have been missed.Our mare is also a very sensitive mare and this is far from her normal behavior. I am hoping that she will return to her old personality after foaling. |
Member: Qh4me |
Posted on Friday, Aug 25, 2006 - 1:34 pm: Denese,I have a friend who bred her maiden mare, no twins, but she showed this strange stallion like behaviour. She was a handful, and at times, she would smell my friends clothes even and start making these monkey sounds, arching her neck, it was like she wanted to mount anything around her. She had to be very careful with her as she was dangerous. She only showed this for a couple months during her pregnancy, then she reverted back to her normal self. In talking with others, every now and then they have a mare that shows this behaviour, so I wouldn't be too alarmed, but just be careful. I hope like my friends mare, yours will also revert back to her normal self soon. Is it possible to change her suroundings to accomodate her. If she doesn't like the mare in the paddock beside her, can you move the mare to somewhere she feels more comfortable. Is there a gelding you can put her beside? I am sure she will not display any interest in him and may keep her relaxed a bit more. |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Friday, Aug 25, 2006 - 7:01 pm: I have seen dozens of early twins and I have not associated any change in behavior because of it nor can I think of any reason that should be.DrO |
New Member: Denese |
Posted on Saturday, Aug 26, 2006 - 5:12 am: Thank you all for your advice. I will be careful when working with her, as she is a handful. I am looking at moving her along with her buddy to another paddock or location where it is quiet away from the others.I hope she reverts to her old self soon or when she foals and this behaviour doesn’t affect her mothering ability. |
Member: Banthony |
Posted on Monday, Aug 28, 2006 - 9:12 am: My vet here is stumped as to why our mare started acting this way. He suggested that some fetal tissue might have been left behind after the twins were pinched. And that is causing an over secretion of testosterone.But it does seem to be a problem with a lot of varied circumstances even in some cases open mares showing the behavior. |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Tuesday, Aug 29, 2006 - 7:32 am: Linda, at the time of pinching there is no cells that have developed far enough along to be secreting hormones yet and development would not proceed following pinching off. I think he is really reaching with this theory and I know of no research to support this happens.DrO |
Member: Banthony |
Posted on Tuesday, Aug 29, 2006 - 3:43 pm: Good to know Dr. O. So much for my vet's theory. |
Member: mtca |
Posted on Monday, Apr 18, 2011 - 3:22 pm: Dr. O,I have read all these messages about mares acting like a stallion. I have one that is 25 years old that came to me due to some very bad injuries for aftercare. She has been sweet and now that she is healed she acts just like a stallion when I take her out of the barn to her pasture with another 25 year old mare. She teases the other mares across the fence and if you put a halter on any mares to take one out of the pasture (none of these are bred, they are all boarded horses) she immediately starts talking and will mount my 25 year old mare. This started about 2 weeks ago and she is not in heat. Is there anything I can give her to get her hormones under control? |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Tuesday, Apr 19, 2011 - 7:29 am: Hello Linda,I believe we can help you with your question but let me get you started off right so you can get the best answer as quick as possible. You will get more responses if you start your own discussion rather than post at the bottom on another member's discussion. Each discussion is "owned" by the original poster and all replies in that discussion should either directly or indirectly address the concerns of the original poster. To start your own discussion back up one page using the navigation bar at the top of this page. This will be a Article Page on this topic. Below the article you will find a list of already existing discussions on this topic. Under this list you will find the "Start New Discussion" button. We do have a better article covering your topic where you can start your discussion. You will find it at HorseAdvice.com » Training & Conditioning Horses » Behavioral Problems » Aggression in Horses. This will be a Article Page on this topic. Below the article you will find a list of already existing discussions on this topic. Under this list you will find the "Start New Discussion" button. You should first review the article as it will have important information on your subject. Next check the titles of the already existing discussions to see if your question has already been answered. If your question remains unanswered, now is the time to Start a New Discussion. Select a short title that describes your specific concern. A title like "Help!!!" does not help others find your specific topic. Instead something like "Ace for Colic?" allows others to rapidly find and understand what your topic is about just by viewing the title. This is likely to bring more responses from those with some experience with your topic and allows members to find answers to their questions quicker. DrO |