Are mares really that bad?!

Bloss dosent get moody when shes in season, i think im lucky, shes also the sweetest and most affectionate horse ever! One of the mares on my yard is awful, shes so moody all the time, snaps at all other geldings and pulls faces at everyone.
 
Some are tarty and horrid, most arent!
My two are very good, arent 'marish' at all, other than Moon gets a little restless when she's in season.
 
I have four CHESTNUT mares
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They're all lovely, the old mare (25 now) can get moody but the other three are lovely souls!
 
Lottie, never pulls faces, bites or kicks a human. However she is very protective of her stable and turns in to a stallion when a horse comes near it. The other mares in the yard are fab to ride but so grunpy to do anything with pull faces etc and never totally trust them
 
Mine are lovely but....

...you do have to handle them differently to a gelding and I find with mine if I try to tell them to do something I will have a big fight on my hands, if I ask nicely or employ some persuasion, life is just fine
 
I don't find mares any moodier than geldings. On my yard we have 5 chestnut mares (mine included), and one brown. The rest are geldings. Apart from when they're in season, there's nothing to really differentiate them tbh.
 
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Mine are lovely but....

...you do have to handle them differently to a gelding and I find with mine if I try to tell them to do something I will have a big fight on my hands, if I ask nicely or employ some persuasion, life is just fine

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Ask a mare...tell a gelding!
 
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Ask a mare...tell a gelding!

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No different to us girls really!!!!!!!!! Maybe that's why women understand mares more than men do
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I can only tell when mine's in season by her squirting at geldings. Its' normally every 3 weeks in summer, for a few days at a time.
It doesn't affect her attitude, work, or behaviour, and she is one of the sweetest horses I've owned.

My other mare is grumpy almost all the time with other horses, and isn't affectionate, but it's unrelated to her hormones - she just appreciates her personal space
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NO....once on side they are better than geldings!!!
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My mare can be moody before her 1st season of the year (but that's it). She is also a tart in the field.
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so if a mare has been used for breeding, is she more likely to go a bit loopy when in season?

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Nah!
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TBQH my tb gelding is as moody as any mare i have ridden he goes into a mood and doesnt like it when i first try and get contact with him! He is ver affectionate tho and wonderful in the stable no faces or anything! I have found (have also posted about prefernce to mare or geldings) that some horses are like that and most are not! i would look at a chestnut mare i think it is a big myth they are supposed to be the worst horse to have! Good luck and i hope she is really lovely!
 
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...you do have to handle them differently to a gelding

how?

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this is just personal experience, but I have had both mares and geldings for many years. An example I could give you is loading, as a specific. The gelding pretty much romps on to the box (as have other geldings), he knows that resistance will result in more force being used so therefore just does as he is told. The mares on the other hand, shown a controller headcollar, lunge rope or whip would go vertical, damage the box and injure themselves...with the mares we take them to the ramp and wait...it might take an hour the first time but they do get better with regular loading, any sign of force though and they immediately regress, we have to work on a reward system with them that they understand, rather than punishment (that sounds a bit harsh, it isn't but you get what I mean)
 
I have two boys and four girls. Only one out of the four is a moody mare and it wouldn't stop me buying a horse if it was a mare.
They say that you can tell a gelding to do some thing but you should always ask a mare.
I think this is true to a point
 
Breeding can sometimes calms their hormones down!
Chloe (grumpy one) had a foal as a youngster (we think) and she only started visibly coming into season last year - at the grand age of 14! And that was only because we got some stallions on the yard...
 
My mare is not marish at all!!! I cant tell when she is in season and when she is not as she is the same all the time.

She is also a lot more affectionate than my old gelding.

My friends mare is the same and she was what actually changed my mind about mares as i had geldings until i met her. Now i would prefer a mare over a gelding.
 
Well I have a gelding and a mare - the mare is the sweetest, most well-mannered horse I've ever known whereas the gelding is a grumpy git!

In fact all my best horses have been chestnut mares. It annoys me that mares get so much stick from some people, each horse is an individual case.
 
I dont call them moody, just expressive. They use a lot of body language and are great communicators - which is often misunderstood as pulling faces hence the moody tag.

They just dont behave the same way as geldings but they are certainly no worse.
 
Short answer - no, but the level of horsemanship currently standard in the US and UK means that every advantage is necessary - look how many people sedate or struggle with routine things.
 
I have never had a mareish mare- no I tell a porkie I had a 14.2 arabxwelsh who was moody and hypersensitive, all the others have been great. I do have a very very very 'mareish' gelding he is such a girl, he even squeals like a mare, in fact I think he is worse because you can't ask him or tell him to do anything, he only does if he must!
 
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