Mares, hormones and blood tests??

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Ginn

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My mare has had the most horrendous mood swings and has been unusually horrid for the last few months.

A few people have mentioned hormones being an underlying factor, especially given the warmer weather we are experiencing (she is still coming into season which is late for her in the year).

Vet is up to do annual MOT in just over a week, I won't be there so will leave vet, mother and sister to speak to him and decide whether it is worth persuing along with usual MOT related queries and discussions. However, I am trying to do some research on costs and results of investigating hormone levels so I have an idea of how much to ask mum to persue it or even just ask the vet to take a sample and test it anyway...

My question is, is it likely just to be a combination of her age (she's 5 1/2) and the time of year/weird weather or would it be worth taking a blood sample and checking her hormone levels??

Vets fee for blood sample is £22 and there would then be lab fees on top of this so I'm guessing it could be anywhere between £30 and £100????

Any idea on lab fees and therefore total cost of test? And do you think it is worth the expense or would I do better to ride it out and hope some of her mood swings and behavior improve with time and just allow her hormones to settle naturally (assuming of course that they are not normal - she could of course just be going through a particularly difficult phase!).

Also, anyone had this problem followed up by a course of treatment and if so, what was the treatment and did you see a positive change as a result?

I should also like to point out that I'm not looking for a quick fix but I am genuinely concerned by her behaviour - she is normally the sort of horse who is an absolute poppet and I could leave a 3 year old toddler handle but at the moment she has very definate horns, won't let me so much as change her rugs in the stable and extremely sensitive to absolutely everything
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Any ideas greatfully received
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I wouldnt worry about her being in season unusually late, mines in season again now, and I think alot of others are too because it is so mild.
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Have you tried a hormone supplement first? Maybe worth having a chat with the vet though
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Thing is its no good using a supplement unless I know what I'm supplementing for.... could be any one of a number of different imbalances hence needing to test to see what's normal - it would also tell me whether the behaviour stems from a physiological imbalance or just plain bad manners which need firmly stamping on the head (not that that is working, she is just horrid no matter what I try!).

A year ago I was jumping bareback in the school, now we can't manage 10 mins without a substantial argument over something suitably irrelevent. She is a pig to lead, a thug and a bully to max, shoves her bum in my face and flirts obsessively one minute and refuses to let me near her the next. One day she is her usual delightful self, the next we end up not speaking to each other. And its not just with me!

We seem to a have week of semi niceness, a week of the most grumpy, antisocial, hypersensitive, stroppy, thuggish behaviour I have ever seen from her (OK, she is not as bad as some but this is the horse who I normally cannot fault on the ground!), then another week of acute hypersensitivity combined with insescent flirting and complete distraction and then back to another week of semi niceness.

Something is not right but as you say it could just be that with the milder weather they are having late seasons and this is having an unsavoury effect on Till's....

Have asked the vet to give me a ring at some point but I have no signal from 8am till atleast 4pm and so it is relying on him being available when I am about of an evening.... I trust Mum and Kiri to go with his advice but equally don't want to miss the opportunity to check it out while he is up.
 
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either a blood test or a scan to check her ovaries are working as they should?

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I'd have it looked at, blood test don't cost as much as they sound, surely its better to find out this way rather than throwing money at hormone supplements ...which will no doubt help and work buts its best to find out there is a more complicated problem first.
 
I'm sorry you're having a tricky time. It sounds like it could be hormone related, I don't know if this will help but here's a link that shows a mare's hormonal cycle .
As its american they spell some of the hormones different to us such as oestrogen. It's interesting that you describe it as a 3 week period of different behaviour and the cycle is 21 days-I'm not a vet but agree that a blood test would be a good idea.

http://www.equine-reproduction.com/articles/estrous.htm
 
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I would probably scan her ovaries in preference to a blood test

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I would agree. At this time of year, most mares are in transitional oestrus or anoestrus. During transitional oestrus, persistent (haemorrhagic) follicles seem to be MUCH more common and they can be painful - but the blood picture would probably not be clear.

The other possibility if an early ovarian tumour - even a GTCT (granulosa theca cell tumour). At an advanced stage, mares with a GTCT don't usually come into season at all and can show stallion-like tendencies. But in the early stages, they can just be bad temperered cowbags!
 
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