Anyone else's mares a bit hormonal?

Shantara

Shantara

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As the title really!

Is it just me - who is used to geldings - or are mares still a bit mad with hormones?
We've got about 5 mares who are acting like lunatics and two of them, one of which is my new mare, are very obviously still in season!

How would you tackle the issue? They're in the same field together and I have to walk past other silly mares to get too and from the field. She's fine when I take her out of the field, is pretty much ok when she's in the yard and lunging in the school (I don't have a saddle yet, hopefully this week!), but when I take her back to the field, she's awful!! She was rearing (all 16.3 of her), cow kicking and bucking and generally trying to drag me over to see the other girls. I'm glad I decided to keep her bridle/lunge on! She was fine when I let her go, but soon started charging around with her two pony friends.
She's not kicking at me, but rather kicking out of frustration, I think.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Pictures of the beautiful madam <3

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she will probably be transitioning to winter so it is normal for them to be hormonal in autumn and you have it to look forwards to again in spring when the hormones wake up with the longer days :D add to that the fact that a lot are a bit nuts with the change in the weather and it welcome to the world of mare ownership :)
 
My mare is strangely nice and quiet at the moment &#55357;&#56882;, I think she may be plotting something!
 
Yes. It's spring here and we've just had two mares come in for schooling after a long spell. We're otherwise a stable full of geldings and they were driving everyone nuts. One in particular was coming into season and being quite disruptive all up, not to mention being a bad influence on the other mare. We've kept the quieter one and sent Miss In-Season back out for a bit. Peace has been restored to the realm. For the time being anyway!
 
I noticed my mare has come back into season today and all her field are being very mareish and needy at the moment.

I think it's the autumn combined with the unusually warm weather sending their hormones wild.

I do love mares, never a dull moment.
 
My mare is the exact same! Apart from she kicks me!! When she's in season she bucks, rears, cow kicks , single kicks , boxes with her fronts (like a stallion) , bites , bolts and when you tell her off she takes it like a challenge and try's to fight you!!!
Geldings are so much easier!
 
Mine was lifting her tail again yesterday and is back to trying to take chunks out of me. Autumn season seems to involve a lot of biting - I'm wearing a thick jacket & my gelding is working hard on his protective layer of blubber....
 
Yep. Welcome to the club! My little strumpet goes into season like it's her job, and has projectile-peed on geldings walking past. She's a tit right now but I think that has to do with her splint injury (from kick-fighting another horse, go figure) and limited movement. I find she gets a bit crampy, so I do acupuncture on her once or twice in the spring and it seems to clear it up for several months when hormones are at their worst. In the winter, I warm her up with a quarter fleece (think how much we ladies like heat pads that time of the month!)
 
Wow, I thought my mare was bad, but she is nothing to some of these mares here :-) I actually use Easy Mare Gold (was given a prescription for Regumate but have avoided using it this year). I find it actually works. It's a herbal thing, and I don't go much on herbal supplements but I actually do find this helps her and she is far less grumpy than she is normally.
 
Mine have finally settled down, hormone-wise :D

Little one had some regumate for spring and autumn when she had a full-on attack of the horrors, but is now back to her usual sweet self.
Millie is not usually difficult in her seasons, she's quite cheerful at the moment with this cold snap but nothing too bad. Phew.
 
Thank you for posting this, it is a massive relief for me. I'm new to mares and was starting to make real progress with my new mare but recently she has gone backwards in a huge way. In fact she has become too spooky and silly to ride at the moment and to put it bluntly she's a menace to herself and me. There are no other signs that she is in season so I was starting to think it was me!
 
Mine has been a bag (I posted a similar thread not long ago) she's become very grumpy in the stable, teeth baring etc.

And she has been very frustrating to ride, similar to you Bertie - was going very sweetly and now she's gone backwards (falling in, falling out, napping - it's like trying to ride a flipping snake!)
 
This is the third winter I've had my mare. Seems to be that come October time she turns in to a witch, doesn't like to have saddle put on her back, doesn't like to be brushed too hard on her flanks, doesn't like to have her feet picked up....doesn't like much to be honest! Stays this way for a few months and then come spring she becomes nice again and generally not bothered by anything at all! Not sure if it's hormones, lack of grass or a combination of the two but something definitely affects her at this time of year.
 
Antw23uk said:
Oh blimey do I really want a mare? Im rather smitten with her already tho! :(
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Ahh see, I was of this opinion - I never wanted another mare. Not at all. However, when Jelly isn't in season she is the most incredibly affectionate friendly beautiful girl I have ever had the pleasure of owning. I have never had a relationship with a horse like I have her. And I have found that with the mares, once you get them on side they will work SO hard for you.

They are hard bloody work but definitely worth it :)
 
Procrastination said:
This is the third winter I've had my mare. Seems to be that come October time she turns in to a witch, doesn't like to have saddle put on her back, doesn't like to be brushed too hard on her flanks, doesn't like to have her feet picked up....doesn't like much to be honest! Stays this way for a few months and then come spring she becomes nice again and generally not bothered by anything at all! Not sure if it's hormones, lack of grass or a combination of the two but something definitely affects her at this time of year.
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I'd agree - Jels has pretty much been the same since the start of October. I only purchased her in summer so I'm hoping that come Spring she will bounce back!
 
Sprat said:
Ahh see, I was of this opinion - I never wanted another mare. Not at all. However, when Jelly isn't in season she is the most incredibly affectionate friendly beautiful girl I have ever had the pleasure of owning. I have never had a relationship with a horse like I have her. And I have found that with the mares, once you get them on side they will work SO hard for you.

They are hard bloody work but definitely worth it :)
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And comments like this are whats making me consider a mare, thank you :)
 
Antw23uk said:
And comments like this are whats making me consider a mare, thank you :)
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I'm another happy mare owner. I've had more mares than geldings, and the ones I have now are just lovely. Very different personalities, one quite standoffish and one incredibly cwtchy one. Both have an amazing heart and desire to please, both very trainable. I haven't ever met geldings that I like as much as my mares. There's something about having a partnership with an entire animal I think.
 
Sprat said:
Ahh see, I was of this opinion - I never wanted another mare. Not at all. However, when Jelly isn't in season she is the most incredibly affectionate friendly beautiful girl I have ever had the pleasure of owning. I have never had a relationship with a horse like I have her. And I have found that with the mares, once you get them on side they will work SO hard for you.

They are hard bloody work but definitely worth it :)
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Sprat that's good to know, I was starting to lose hope.
 
Procrastination said:
This is the third winter I've had my mare. Seems to be that come October time she turns in to a witch, doesn't like to have saddle put on her back, doesn't like to be brushed too hard on her flanks, doesn't like to have her feet picked up....doesn't like much to be honest! Stays this way for a few months and then come spring she becomes nice again and generally not bothered by anything at all! Not sure if it's hormones, lack of grass or a combination of the two but something definitely affects her at this time of year.
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That sounds just like Serenity! I've only had her for a couple of months, but when I got her, she was a saint, so calm and quiet - hence the name! I came back from holiday and she was an absolute witch! I thought it was her saddle and got the back lady out. Her back was a little sore, but nothing too bad and the lady tells me she's probably just in season!
Such fun!
 
Peregrine Falcon said:
My mare and my son's pony have turned into a right pair of squirting tarts. Not helped by the arrival of a new gelding who has set their hearts fluttering.
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I feel your pain - There is a VERY sexy gelding that is a few fields down from Jelly. She squirted so ferociously at him when leading the other day, it actually splashed against the fence post.

I was mortified and disgusted in equal measures.
 
How are all of your mares getting on?

I thought we were out of the woods but she is now being a bloody misery case again - she's getting so aggressive with food it's driving me mad.

And ridden, god! - I nearly flew out of the front door yesterday as she was so against me putting my leg on while schooling.

Naturally I am worrying again and so I'm manically trying to contact the chiropractor just in case she is out through her pelvis again, but I would love some reassurance that she is just being a typical mare in season!!
 
my stroppy one is still stropping, but I think that's more about her objecting to us upping the training level rather than anything else. She'd bimble around having an easy stretchy day quite happily I think.
She snorts and blows her nose and eventually condescends to be ridden, and then we're away! As sweet and cwtchy as every on the ground.
 
Sprat said:
I feel your pain - There is a VERY sexy gelding that is a few fields down from Jelly. She squirted so ferociously at him when leading the other day, it actually splashed against the fence post.

I was mortified and disgusted in equal measures.
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I nearly spat my tea over laptop....

But I know what you mean, my ole girl hasn't appeared to be in season all summer, yet today shes squirting everywhere. I think shes having some sort of mid life crisis, she always hated other mares, but is seriously in love with our new girl. Maybe shes bored with the geldings and fancies having a fling with a mare
 
My girl has chilled out now, still have a few moody moments but on the whole she is being pleasant. Her nice behaviour coincides with them starting to come in overnight where she gets some yummy haylage so I suspect with her this year it was mainly related to the drop in grass. Having said this, we had a new mare arrive on Saturday so she's had a bit of a relapse as there's been a reshuffle in the herd dynamics but I'm sure she'll be back to usual in a few days once they all settle down.
 
Yep another one here. She's a Clydesdale ..... And they squirt by the gallon, had to move the gelding to single turnout as she's backing up to his face and baptising him all the time, poor lad.
 
Mine and my friend's mares are having a love/hate relationship at the moment lol. Friend's mare is bitchy and bossy and mine is definitely a bottom of the heap type....but they call constantly when parted &#128530;
 
Serenity was quite good yesterday, but is still being a grump about having a saddle on (to be fair, we're trying different saddles on to see if they look good - not riding in them, just putting on. Saddle fitter out next week!), she was good to bring down from the field and good to groom/fuss too! I lunged her a bit and she was great, apart from stopping twice to show me how tall she is...16.1 my behind! She's flippin' HUGE!
I also think I have cracked the issue leading her back to the field. I lead her from the other side and gave her treats, worked very well, even when the other hormonal mares decided to show her how well they could rodeo up and down the fence!

Serenity can also throw some shapes when she wants to!
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