hormonal mare{menopausal}

[debsflo]

have had my mare 5 years and have never noticed much of a behavior change until recently.she is rising 15 and showing all the grouchy signs pulling faces hates being rugged,weeing and winking.do mares suffer more as they get older and do they have similar to menopause. any tips im going to chart the dates to check her seasons and will consider herbal supplement if it continues.also heard that first and last can be worse

 

[JanetGeorge]

Mares don't have a menopause - they can (usually) breed well into old age and 15 is young!

There are two possibilities: one is that she's coming into transitional oestrus, and yes, the first and the last seasons can be the worst in behavioural terms. The second is that there is something not quite right with her ovaries - at the relatively trivial end, she may have a persistent/haemorrhagic follicle - at the more extreme end of the scale, a granulosa thecal cell tumour on the ovary. There are other possibilities between those two extremes.

See how long this lasts, see what she's like in 17-19 days time. If it continues or gets worse, then you're best bet is to get her ovaries scanned by a GOOD equine repro vet to see if there is an enlarged ovary.

 

[debsflo]

please can you explain transitional oestrus a bit more thanks