How often does your mare come into season?

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Moggy in Manolos

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Well i am eagerly awaiting my mare to have a season, not for breeding reasons sadly but due to her uterus infection we have still not resolved.
Vet has been out multiple times but not for a little while now as we are waiting for this elusive season to appear.
She was given on two separate occasions a hormone to induce the season, neither time worked! So i was hoping nature may take its course.

I thought mare's seasons were generally 6-8weeks, i am sure her seasons used to be more regular when she was in a mixed herd, but now not a sausage on that front.

How often does your mare have her season? I would really like to get on with finding out the cause of the infection as we are no closer then we were at the start
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Usually, never that I notice to be honest! She is twenty-two and lives with my completely clueless gelding so I think she has given up any of that 'nonsense' as it gets her nowhere!

Introduce another gelding into the mix and she is all over the newcomer, squealing and squirting, perhaps if you could find a friendly gelding she might start?
 
Thanks CM, i have been trying to get her to flirt daily over the stable with some of the geldings but nothing so far! Maybe she doesn't fancy them! will keep trying though, got to be one some time soon now!
 
Not all mares will show in season, even if they are cycling. Some will only "break down" in the face of heavy teasing from a stallion they actually like. Others will never really show (except for maybe a few hours around ovulation when teased heavily). That's where scanning is really useful!

A normal mare's cycle lasts for around 21 days. 4-6 days of that is the oestrus period where the mare may "show", and is under the influence of oestrogen produced by the dominant follicle. The remainder is the dioestrus period where the mare is under the influence of progesterone from the corpus luteum (a yellow body formed after ovulation in the space the follicle had occupied).

Some mares are already transitioning out to winter anoestrus, and so will not show at all from now until they start cycling again next spring.
 
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Not all mares will show in season, even if they are cycling. Some will only "break down" in the face of heavy teasing from a stallion they actually like. Others will never really show (except for maybe a few hours around ovulation when teased heavily). That's where scanning is really useful!


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SO true! I've got a couple giving me real grief at present! One I was trying to catch on the foal heat - started teasing her 6 days after foaling (trying any sooner would be just plain dangerous!) We've teased her every day for 8 days now and she has tried to KILL the stallion over the trying bar every time. Poor lad just LOOKS at her and she hurls herself at him trying to rip his throat out! And another we tried to kick start (as she had no follicle at all) - and she's 'showing' - or at least flooding the yard - but also screaming in rage and kicking furiously. Both on the list for a WTF scan today!
 
My older mare (now 22 years) had a cycle of 18 days! Very easy breeder, usually only had to look at the stallion to be pregnant. Very embarassing when your mare starts backing up into the stallion ... poor boy does not know if lucky or going to be kicked!! Have also tried insemination with this mare ... she fell in love with the vet! However you risk your life (or that of the vet's) as she is NOT a mare that you scan if not in season.

Her daughter has a cycle of 24 days. She has enormous follicles at the peak period (5.5 x 6 cm !!), does sometimes show pain, likes her tummy rubbed; if bred/inseminated at peak she will always take. She is much too well mannered to do anything but GLARE at stallion if not at peak period.

Her daughter (granddaughter of older mare) has a cycle of 22 days. She was inseminated within 1 hour after ovilation and took. Does not appreciate being scanned and showed non-appreciation by jumping out of the cage!
 
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My older mare (now 22 years) had a cycle of 18 days! Very easy breeder, usually only had to look at the stallion to be pregnant. Very embarassing when your mare starts backing up into the stallion ...


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NOT as embarrassing as having a mare who backs into the pitchfok when being mucked out - or standing like a lamb while the Golden Retriever 'pleasures' her hock!
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Sadly she's no longer with us!

Got the vet to scan are from hell today - big follicle, softening nicely - vet said: "Cover her today or you'll miss her!" With soe trepidation we led her to the trying yard and she was ragingly in - and covered - not a bite or a kick to be seen!

Mare with no follicle last week STILL has no follicle - looks like she's gone transitional. And mare scanned last Friday who vet thought was NOT in foal is! And of course her very best friend - who has been not in foal for FIVE cycles - was in foal too! (Quite handy really that they're due exactly same time as they're inseperable!!)
 
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Mares should come into season every 21 days - from about March to October/November. Has she been scanned? Why does the vet think she has an infection? Have swabs been taken?

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Hi JG, i thought maybe every 3 weeks but my friend said every 6weeks. Anyway, the vet has been out multiple times since she expelled a massive pool of thick horrid cack (best way i could describe!)

They did examinations and tried flushing, giving her season inducing injections which have not worked. Vet wants to see her in season and so the cervix is less closed so they can flush her out more effectively. Still no season 4 weeks on. Rang vet today again to say still no season and he just said we should wait for a natural one to come along then continue with investigations, unless she appears unwell in the mean time.

She used to come in every 3-4 weeks when in a mixed herd, but she is with one other mare, who she actually realises is the same sex so i dont think this helps encourage her season.
Just wish we were closer to finding out the cause of it
 
Hi Andypandy, thanks for your reply.
My mare has always been very obvious with her seasons indeed, i should have said that, but as she is getting her winter coat perhaps she is going into winter anoestrus as you say
I thought that perhaps none of the geldings were one she liked, but thought maybe i was being to human in my comparison.
Maybe i will try to get her to say hello to different geldings and see if that helps.
 
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My older mare (now 22 years) had a cycle of 18 days! Very easy breeder, usually only had to look at the stallion to be pregnant. Very embarassing when your mare starts backing up into the stallion ... poor boy does not know if lucky or going to be kicked!! Have also tried insemination with this mare ... she fell in love with the vet! However you risk your life (or that of the vet's) as she is NOT a mare that you scan if not in season.

Her daughter has a cycle of 24 days. She has enormous follicles at the peak period (5.5 x 6 cm !!), does sometimes show pain, likes her tummy rubbed; if bred/inseminated at peak she will always take. She is much too well mannered to do anything but GLARE at stallion if not at peak period.

Her daughter (granddaughter of older mare) has a cycle of 22 days. She was inseminated within 1 hour after ovilation and took. Does not appreciate being scanned and showed non-appreciation by jumping out of the cage!

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Thanks CF, my mare is the same, if she likes the stallion she will be practically backing up to him to tell him, she is a real flirt. Tried to breed from her last year but we just got pooling in her uterus instead and no foal, she loved the stallion and seemed to pine for him for a while, he was gorgeous! So she is very obvious on the whole.
I suppose saying hello over the stable door is a bit rubbish for her, she probably knows nothing is going to happen as she is not running outside with the potential stallion which is always the way she has conceived in the past.

I was thinking about trying to turn her out with some different mares for a short while as this may induce her, as there have been many an occasion where she cannot seem to tell the horse is the same sex!!!

Thanks for replies everyone, much appreciated. As i said in other reply, spoke to vet today and he said as long as she seems bright then we wait for the season to continue the investigations
 
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As i said in other reply, spoke to vet today and he said as long as she seems bright then we wait for the season to continue the investigations

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Maybe I missed it - but still not sure why your vet thinks there is an infection in the uterus. Has she been scanned?? I ask because I thought I had a mare with infection in the uterus AGAIN this year. (She's shown the same symptoms after foaling 3 years running now but always gets in foal again.) Nothing showed up on scan but she passed large quantities of 'guck' (looked like milk that had been standing in heat for a week!)

Finally discovered the cause - she was pooling urine in the base of the vaginal vault - nothing to do with her uterus at all!

ETA Waiting for a season - in the absence of a stallion - may take a long time. And some mares are already going transitional and NOT cycling at all. Unless she HAS been scanned and shown a lot of nasty stuff in the uterus itself, I would ask your vet to examine the vagina using a speculum.
 
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As i said in other reply, spoke to vet today and he said as long as she seems bright then we wait for the season to continue the investigations

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Maybe I missed it - but still not sure why your vet thinks there is an infection in the uterus. Has she been scanned?? I ask because I thought I had a mare with infection in the uterus AGAIN this year. (She's shown the same symptoms after foaling 3 years running now but always gets in foal again.) Nothing showed up on scan but she passed large quantities of 'guck' (looked like milk that had been standing in heat for a week!)

Finally discovered the cause - she was pooling urine in the base of the vaginal vault - nothing to do with her uterus at all!

ETA Waiting for a season - in the absence of a stallion - may take a long time. And some mares are already going transitional and NOT cycling at all. Unless she HAS been scanned and shown a lot of nasty stuff in the uterus itself, I would ask your vet to examine the vagina using a speculum.

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Hi JG, Thanks for your reply. She came into season today!! at last, i took her over to the gelding as usual and she is most definitely in season, so called the vet and they are coming tomorrow.

It makes very interesting reading what you just said. They did neither a scan nor swobs, and her 'guck' was just as you described. I just took what the vet said as a given, as a layman usually would.

Have you been able to treat and prevent this occuring again in your mare?

Regards the missing my other post, apologies i want being specific enough, it was in another reply after yours to someone else
Thanks again, astra
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Hi JG, Thanks for your reply. She came into season today!! at last, i took her over to the gelding as usual and she is most definitely in season, so called the vet and they are coming tomorrow.

It makes very interesting reading what you just said. They did neither a scan nor swobs, and her 'guck' was just as you described. I just took what the vet said as a given, as a layman usually would.


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Don't worry - even my very good vet mis-diagnosed Karina. I'd told him she had 'guck', he scanned her and said she was fine (which she was - in the uterus!) Then we had more 'guck' - so he washed her out and bunged ABs in. And when she came into season again, we had MORE 'guck'. This time I decided to cover her (as time was marching on) and then wash her out - but on this occasion he decided to use the speculum.

Not sure if we've 'cured' it - I think it's something that happens after she's foaled and the muscles slacken off a bit. She wasn't in foal after the last cycle so started teasing her again today - and no 'guck'!
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It won't hurt to wash her out and bung soe ABs into her but I would suggest that you ask him to examine her with a speculum to rule out urine pooling. I HAVE had mares with infections in the uterus and NONE of them showed any external signs (just mucky fluid showing up on the scan.)
 
Thanks JG, she has had some wash outs to date and AB's straight into uterus and orally.
I would love to put her in foal but after last year not working and her getting older and the constant threat of laminitis i have chosen to stay away from breeding her, as much as i would love a final foal from my perfect horse, to keep, just too risky, love her too much.
I will ask them about the pooling of urine and a speculum tomorrow when they come.
She has had 6 foals previously so i suppose is prone to such things much as women suffer associated problems later in life with their womb and related area.
Thanks again, fingers crossed we get to the bottom of it soon, it does sound so similar to your experience thats for sure
 
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