Mare seasons.

Damnation

Damnation

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I know this sounds a bit daft but could somebody please enlighten me as to the times of year, length etc of mares seasons, and what their "cycle" is. I have only really had geldings before so this is a whole new plane for me!
NB I am asking this because my vet suspects that my mare has a cystic ovary, so I need to know what is normal and what isn't etc so any help is gladly appriciated!!

Thanks, Izzi x
 
The mares on our yard are already coming into season Izzi. Tarting about and generally floozying in front of anything vaguely male! I only inherited my first ever mare last July when she was too sick to have seasons but my understanding is that seasons happen about every 3 weeks from early spring to late autumn. Think they last a few days each. If your vet doesn't know about mare's seasons, I'd suspect s/he is in fact a window cleaner.
 
The mare is a "seasonally polyestrus" animal, meaning that she undergoes regular estrus cycles (reproductive cycle) during a portion of the year (late spring, summer and early fall) and none at others (winter). This is nature's way of preventing the arrival of a foal during bad weather. Horse are naturally long day breeders so in the wild (and without the help of lights, etc.) horses would cycle when the days are the longest (June-Aug), most horses that are stabled will start cycling earlier than that (some will cycle year round).

The normal estrous cycle in a mare is 21 days, for about 5-7 days of that the mare will display estrus behavior (when she is in heat and is receptive to the stallion) and has one dominant follicle that is growing and she will ovulate in about the last 24-48 hours of that estrus period, for the other part of her cycle she will be anestrus (when she is not interested in the stallion/out of heat).

For more information about the estrous cycle check out:
http://www.equine-reproduction.com/articles/estrous.htm

Or feel free to ask any other questions you make have or be uncertain about
smile.gif
 
Thank you! That has helped me alot! My mare has become uber marish and she is definately in season now, but she was displaying signs of being in season last week? People have said try "stroppy mare" or "Oestress". She is only 5 and I don't want to mess the hormones up, would she be ok to go onto something like that? Or is she a bit too young?
 
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