Hormonal mares

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FfionWinnie

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My mare has been a bit hacked off recently. Generally she is a very friendly happy horse but she is irritable just now. I've got a few theories and one is it's hormonal. I've only owned her since December. She is going the best ever under saddle. She's just irritable when I'm on the ground.

I'm specifically looking for info on how your hormonal mare behaves. Is she different in the summer and how etc.

Not looking for people telling me to check her saddle or scope her for ulcers. She has a serious health condition which is probably the reason if it's not hormonal so I know what path I need to take. Meanwhile any nitty gritty details of horses that are affected by hormones would really help me try and work this out.

Does anyone have a moody mare who is happier after exercise for instance. This is the main thing that's pointing to it being connected to her PSSM and it's worrying me that we are on a downward slide now even though she appears absolutely brilliant in work.

Secondly, how long would you expect them to be irritated at a time or are they just crabby all summer?

What blood tests can be done, I'm getting her CK and AST levels checked, so I can get other tests run at the same time. She doesn't like needles so I don't want to miss out on something.

Thanks.
 
I have 2 mares. One of mine does tend to be better after exercise but normally it doesn't make much difference. I find they are grumpiest a week or 2 before their season, like PMT, and during the season are less forward/more distractable. They just become a bit argumentative and can be 'snappy' or less tolerant. TBH neither of mine are especially marey though.

I have found equine Americas no more moods very good for helping them feel more comfortable in themselves.
Hope that helps :)
 
I have a moody young mare. Very backwards during, crabby just before and bloomin' delightful for a week.

Just like me :D

I just go with the flow at the moment. less work during and before, a bit more when the going is good. Mind you, this only works for me as she is young still and have no agenda apart from an education.

I do know of competition yards with mares use the marble, mare supplements like vitex or regumate to help. If it continues I may look into all of that and discuss with vet which would be best. I even know of some friends putting into foal and that has seemed to help although you have to be able to take full responsibility and adopt responsible breeding policies and breed quality not quantity etc. Not something I would consider as a form of personality modification! :D
 
Thanks ladies that's really helpful. I have to ride her the same amount every day for the PSSM management and she is really fine to ride other than if she thinks she's putting enough effort into her canter and I put more leg on, she will do a little buck to tell me to eff off. She just looks irritated to see me where as usually she loves human attention.

At the same time I've bought another horse (which she hates) so I also wondered if it's sharing her space with the blonde interloper as she is very angry about that!

I also wormed her last week which definitely affected her PSSM the next day.

She can't be bred from, got the vet coming on Tues so wanting to have as much ammo as possible to fling at the poor guy (in terms of questions lol).

Thanks again.
 
I have a slightly moody mare. She is rather aloof all the time, doesn't do cuddles, but just before she comes into season she is irritable, walks away when go to catch her ( only a token objection food always temp her) and will mouth to nip ( but wouldn't actually dare) makes no difference if exercised or not, schooling at that time includes a lot of tail swishing.

Is she turned out, I have also noticed at this time of year that she is extra irritable and think that is down to the increased hours of turnout and grass consumption.
 
Also... consider this. I never looked at it before but my mare became awful to tack up. At the same time, I noticed her poos were loose and smelly.

My trimmer mentioned yeast overgrowth can cause mares to be moody as she had had similar issues with her mare. After vet, turned out she had a yeast infection in her gut so was very sensitive. I though the bloating was just spring grass but the bloating is related to the yeast overgrowth. antibiotics don't work and I was reluctant to give oral canestan as not licensed so tried myrhh which is already used in humans for the exact same thing! Anyway, tried it and it took a good two weeks, maybe more! But, the poos firmed up and her attitude has improved a lot since then. Still moody but less edgy.
 
How did they diagnose the yeast thing Tallyho? My mare doesn't get to eat grass, her dung could be slightly loose tho. It's hard to tell as she gets fed micronised linseed and sunflower seeds and the little birds are in there as soon as she does it looking for seeds. I did think she was a bit loose when I rode her last night. (And even more crabby to handle :( ). Vet is out on Tues so going to speak to him too.

Thanks for the replies all.
 
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The vets I use have an on-site lab so provide worm counts etc so I sent off a sample to test for candida. It came back positive but that really doesn't say anything as yeast is present! (£6)

You can tell anyway from the smell and the farting! It is very distinctive. Everyone commented how her pops were smelly and that is very typical of candidiasis.

Antibiotics will make it worse apparently. Herbal treatments seem to work best. I got mine from Trinity Consultants. They specialise in herbal supplements and used them before so I trusted them. You can email Roger Hatch.

I'm so glad my trimmer points it out or else I would never have known.
 
Blood results showed its the PSSM causing the problems :(. What's causing the PSSM to flare is unknown at this stage. It's been suggested (not by the vet who is completely useless!) it could be the stress of living with my new horse as she hates her. The timing ties in so I've moved new horse out of her paddock. Of course it could also be hormones making the PSSM flare up, or something else. Its a nightmare.
 
tallyho! said:
FW, this is at least conclusive and you can now manage it. Have you seen this website>http://www.cvm.umn.edu/umec/lab/PSSM/home.html
Click to expand...

I have but I haven't read it for a while and it was good to be reminded of it thanks. :)

I knew she had PSSM but I was managing it. She is slightly better tonight however so its possible that the new horse, which she hates passionately, could be causing enough stress for it to flare up. Fingers firmly crossed.
 
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