Extreme behaviour in mare-Regumate?

[Trubie]

I have a 10 yr old TBxAppy mare who i have had for nearly 2 years, when i got her i was told she was a bit green and didnt have much mileage so needed to get out and about more. I believe she had spent quite a lot of time out in the field before I bought her as her owner didnt have much time. Other than this she is a very talented mare with lovely paces. I spent a lot of time last year taking her out and doing various events, lessons, hunting to give some more experience.
She as always been a bit quirky (bit bargy on the ground and spooky) but i have out this down to breeding and just her personality, its normally controlled with some firm telling off.
Yesterday I took her out to do some BD (which is now what I would like to focus on) and she was a nightmare. She came off the trailer and started to spin and barge at me, almost glazed over and didnt see I was there. There wasnt anything that could see that had spooked her and she also wee'd a lot, as she is currently in season. We did manage to tie her to the trailer to tack up but she continued to spin and the usual telling off wasnt working but made the situation worse. I tried to calm her down with strokes to the next but she still barged me. Eventually she caught herself on the trailer and skinned some hait off her leg and draw a small amount of blood. After some help from the stewards and fellow competitors we decided she was ok to ride, which we did. She wasnt as bad to ride (she never is, bu was still very tense and spooky which lead to a not so good test and a much lower score than we are used to
I believe this extreme behaviour is linked to her seasons. I took her out in April (before her seasons started) to a new venue and she was a bit quirky as hadnt been out in 6 months and first time she had left her friends but she was no where near as bad as yesterday, the following week i took her out to another venue and couldnt have asked for better behaviour from her. So i dont believe that this behaviour is just down to going out for this first time in a while.
Most of the time she is a very lovely horse but when in the height of her seasons she can be difficult to handle on the ground and a bit stuffy to ride but doesnt show the same behaviour ridden. When she has these moments she is almost dangerous, not only to people handling her but herself as well as she doesnt seem to have a self preservation and will blindly run at you and spin and the smallest thing can set it off.
I currently have her on supercalm which helps her generally behaviour and also Frisky mare, which doesnt seem to be working as i would like. have tried her on different supplements which havent worked so im now going down the route of speaking with the vet about Regumate.
Anyone else had similar experiences and how Regumate/marble has worked and the process to getting it prescribed.
Feeling a bit low about it

The other option is to track her seasons and not go out when in the height, not sure how to track this though??

 

[maree t]

Hi, I have just taken on a mare that is chronic. I have spoken to the vet who recommends trying regumate and if that works they can consider the marbe. I have also heard that you can get an implant put in under the skin which I think will be better than trying to get her to eat regumate. I have put her on oestress for the moment but her seasons start early in the year and make her a right pain in the a##e. As she is ridden by my son I need to know she is safe. Be interesting for info from people who have tried the implant

 

[Trubie]

Thanks Maree t, im going to speak with the vet tomorrow and hopefully trying Regumate should be quite straight forward. In the meantime ill try and avoid competing the week she is at her worst
I agree it would be interesting to see others views/experiences on the implant as im a bot concerned that Regumate may be quite costly in the long run?

 

[Zimzim]

Hi I have a mare who can be extremly unpredictable (when ridden) and very marish (pulling faces, threateneing to kick etc) when coming into/ having a season and last year I put her on regumate after speaking to the vet and after trying herbal feed supplements (and after having a physio and dentist check her just incase there was anything underlying there etc). However it didnt touch her and didnt help at all, it was quite expensive to but was worth a try. I know some people have had success with it but unfortunatly is hasnt worked for my mare.

I now have learned to compromise and just avoid doing too much with her when she is in season (such as schooling/ competeing), as the rest of the time she is very sweet natured and a lovely horse to be around.

Hope you find something that works for you and your mare though

 

[jenz87]

My mare is exactly the same and this has been an on going nightmare for us.
When shes not inseason shes tempermental sometimes but most days will happily keep a contact and school nicely.
When in season, no rein contact, rearing, galloping off, trying to throw you into the wall, all very agressive, and dangerous stuff. Very upsetting to say the least!!!

Started her on oestress by naf last month and fingers crossed so far so good. She came into season on mnday, and was a moo on tues, but still do able, just argumentative about a contact but still riding on. Went to a dressage yesterday, double doses her oestress and magic calmer and was good, except when a horse neighed and then we shot backwards screaming, but that was just once.

 

[Trubie]

Thanks guys, did try Regumate and didnt work.
Not sure if this behaviour is related to her seasons or not (but seems more extreme when she's in season). Maybe more of a confidence thing which she has on and off since i have had her and may just be down to her quirkyness which gets worse when she is in season

 

[TBB]

Hi, I have just taken on a mare that is chronic. I have spoken to the vet who recommends trying regumate and if that works they can consider the marbe. I have also heard that you can get an implant put in under the skin which I think will be better than trying to get her to eat regumate. I have put her on oestress for the moment but her seasons start early in the year and make her a right pain in the a##e. As she is ridden by my son I need to know she is safe. Be interesting for info from people who have tried the implant

I dont know anything about the implant, but when I have a mare on regumate I always give it to them by syringe. Then I'm sure shes got it all and if she is out full time it means that you dont have to wait for her to finish eating and you're sure none of the others has got it. I've only used it on broodmares as part of a breeding plan.

 

[kezimac]

to all of you experiencing issues when your horse is in season or is in season more than usual - contact your vet and ask for a scan of ovaries - my mare can be tense and tight over her back, distracted, hard to handle at height of season so i decided to go marble route - today she has been to vet for marble - scanned her first as they normally do - found a granulosa theta cell tumor on left ovary -she is now scheduled to go to liverpool to have op to have it removed. The tumor excretes testosterone and thats whats causing the issues.

So regumate if i had tried would not have worked - the oestress i did try didnt work obviously as it suppresses eostrogen!

So consider having a scan - really really worth it In my opinion - you just never know!!!!!

 

[mrsbt]

Had the same thing with my mare, she was fine last yeas but since may has been a nightmare.
Was already on oestress as per last year but no longer working.
She started rearing so had ovaries scanned but no problem.
Got her in regumate which has calmed her a little but issues still there so doesn't appear hormonal.
All usual checks done so not in pain, just appears she has an attitude.
Have now started doing some groundwork so will hopefully work her through the bad behaviour.
Hope you get sorted soon

 

[amage]

Thanks guys, did try Regumate and didnt work.
Not sure if this behaviour is related to her seasons or not (but seems more extreme when she's in season). Maybe more of a confidence thing which she has on and off since i have had her and may just be down to her quirkyness which gets worse when she is in season

18 days is not much of a trial on Regumate...it won't work overnight! You don't mention was she actually in season the day of the first incident? Was there alot of flies/horseflies around? is she the same at home?