Hormonal mare - but in a nice way - any suggestions?

Holly Hocks

Holly Hocks

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I have a rising 4 year old new forest x cob mare. Last summer when a new horse arrived she decided to take it under her wing, tried to mother it (mine is only just touching 14hh, the new one was 15.2hh) and her teats grew massive and she started producing milk - not bagging up, just producing milk. The milk production has never stopped, although it did reduce and her teats went back to a more normal size. I got blood tests done for hormone levels and got her scanned as well to check for any tumours and everything comes back normal. My vet, who is fantastic, said just to ignore it unless any other problems start to show. A new horse arrived yesterday and was in the patch next to the mares to meet them over the fence. When I got there at lunchtime to get her in, she was standing grooming this new mare, who is 17.2hh and as I led her away started nickering to it. When I got her in her stable, once again her teats are massive and she is producing milk. She is a fantastic pony - there are no other issues with her - really friendly, alert and is looking fab. The vet thinks that when she was very young, she has been put in foal, possibly as a yearling.......any ideas on how to stop her being so maternal or any herbal ideas that would help to dry milk up? She is out for a few hours a day on crap grazing, has hay in the stable and is fed a bit of Fast Fibre. She gets nothing else.
 
Oh bless her! Sorry I don't know anything to help but bless her heart. Do you think that Oestress would be helpful? It works well on my mare who has the more traditional form of hormonal mare-ness! Good luck .
 
tobiano said:
Oh bless her! Sorry I don't know anything to help but bless her heart. Do you think that Oestress would be helpful? It works well on my mare who has the more traditional form of hormonal mare-ness! Good luck .
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Well I did try Oestress when she was very maternal last summer, but it's mainly a herb called Agnus Castus - but I stopped giving her that when I read that Agnus Castus encourages milk production! I did think about marketing mare's milk on ebay though...... :)
 
When she's producing milk do you milk her/mess for want of a better explaination? My mare (who's never been in foal) is very motherly & over the years has produced a small amount, usually coinciding either with playing nanny to a very young horse, or when living with mares & foals. If I leave her udders alone, it stays at a low level & dries up of its own accord, whereas constantly checking stimulates it.
 
Littlelegs said:
When she's producing milk do you milk her/mess for want of a better explaination? My mare (who's never been in foal) is very motherly & over the years has produced a small amount, usually coinciding either with playing nanny to a very young horse, or when living with mares & foals. If I leave her udders alone, it stays at a low level & dries up of its own accord, whereas constantly checking stimulates it.
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Hi LL

No I never touch them other than to check they are not hot or hard so checking there's no mastitis. The vet told me to leave them other than that, as she said that milking her would stimulate her to produce more...I read that sage can help in drying up milk so I've ordered some to put in her feed - it's worth a try anyway!
 
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