Mares

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voltaire

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Wondering about mares and mare-ish behaviour.

Anyone have any experience with young mares that have been put to foal early-ish (say 3), as well as ones that have never had any foals?

I was just wondering whether those mares that had had foals when younger were, ermmm....more chilled and less hormonal (best way I can put it) than those who've never had a foal.

Anyone know anything about this?
 
PF was put in foal when she was 4. I think possibly she's sluttier now than she used to be, but she's never really been mareish (I've had her since she was 3)
So no help at all. Sorry
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I think it depends on the horse tbh.

I brought Amber in August and she was 5 months gone. She is fairly laid back, but does have off days. Her only hang up is that she really doesnt like being in the field with other horses so she is in a field next to them. She is ok to walk past them but does get defensive if they get to close to her tummy.

On the other hand, Septre has not had a foal and can be very stroppy and is the biggest tart I have ever known! When she was 3/4 she was a nightmare!

So I think perhaps having a foal young does chill them out but that is only from my experience. Sorry- probably not much help really.
 
Have had 2 mares - a 17 hh clydesdale x tb who was 4 when I bought her and had had foal before that( poor baby must have been put in foal when she was 2 grrr) nature was superb but think that was just her ,present mare was 7 when I got her and allegedly bred 2 foal prior to that,nature not any better for it!!
 
Hi there,

I had a young mare who was a right cow (To put it politely)!

Someone suggested to me that putting her in foal would calm her down.

I put her in foal as a 3 year old and she had said foal the following year.

I really do not know whether she did calm down that much. She is coming up for 16 years old and she still does crazy things.

However, there is nothing to say that she couldn't have been a lot worse!!

She had her 3rd foal last year and I she is still a lunatic. A cunning one.
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Sorry, I am no help what so ever.
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Its an interesting question and there doesn't seem to be much scientific research on the subject. I am not sure how age of the mare when she first foaled can physiologically effect the horse's oestrous cycle (so things such as hormone levels and ovulation rates). Do humans become more chilled out after their first child? And does age effect this? As a currently unmaternal female I have no idea!! It would be an interesting study though
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Many people out here believe you can chill a mare out by putting into foal - not sure if it is ture. I would say it is more to do with handling.
 
One mare who had never been sluttish had a foal last spring. It was weaned in November and she has been in season ever since, squatting if she even sees a horse poo on the road!

Friends warmblood - 6 years old - has had a foal and is the miost repellent animal you have ever seen. Gateposts, humans, she fancies them all.

So, it puts me off breeding from mine, all that winking and goo makes me queasy!!
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Cant say it has made much differance to most of mine.
But bar one they are not really fussy mares anyway even though they live on site with the stallions.
One mare we have would go looking for the boys when in season but since she has had a couple of foals she doesnt do that although will show to pretty much anything.
 
I bought Hannah as a 4 year old and she had already had a foal at that time and I believe it was because she was neurotic and a nightmare when in season (she still is, but it is definitely getting better with age). I don't know how having a foal affected her behaviour then, but she is in foal at the moment and I will let you know if I notice any changes in her behaviour when in season after it is born.

Hannah's mareish behaviour was not biting, kicking or ears back. She would spook at absolutely everything, stand and shake for no reason and canter around her stable if she had been brought in from the field before the others. Like I say, it has got a little better as she has got older, but it was definitely still there in her first season last year (she was put in foal in this one so not sure of any others).

Hope that helps a little.
 
The vet reckoned my mum's horse had a foal young (we got her at 6, from dealer). She had never ever been mareish or visibly in season, even in a mixed herd up until last summer (at the age of 14!). She fell in love with one of the geldings, started flirting and squirting etc, and has also been in season this summer despite not being near any geldings/stallions.

My mare is 6, never been in foal, and is definitely more hormonal in general.

So I'm not really sure what I'm getting at - up to last year I would have said that having had the foal settled her down hormonally, but she's now disproved that theory
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