Should I start a moody mare supplement now or wait until spring?

[swampdonkey]

Sorry if this is an obvious question but this is my 1st mare. She has been a little on the grumpy side over summer but this season is awful. She is kicking out at other horses when hacking and in the school, her ears are back more than they are forward. She is a baggage to tack up and difficult to ride. Was thinking about putting her onto a moody mare type supplement but should I wait until spring or start now?

 

[Izzwizz]

I feel my mare NAF Oestress all year round. Presume everything else is ok in that teeth, back and tack are ok and not causing her to be moody when tacking up etc.?

 

[swampdonkey]

thanks for replying, teeth and back were done in June, there were no problems there. If I don't do something I can see her ebbing away at my confidance. Hoping it is just a hormonal thing.

 

[Perce]

can't really advice as mine not on anything (YET!) and i have no real experience of moody mare supplements, but you say that this season seems worse. This could be that she is in the transitional phase from 'full on' seasons in the summer to no seasons in the winter. The transitional phase is sometimes worse - more commonly so in the Spring I believe!!!
My mare becomes particulary marish in late January/early February which i thought was a bit early for Spring!!! but it now seems to be a pattern so i expect it.

be interested to hear how you get on. my girlie is probably going onto Regumate in the spring next year. each year as she gets older her seasonal behaviour improves, but as she is now 10 and it is still fairly extreme have decided at last to try something. i am getting too old to be bucked off!!

 

[Izzwizz]

It does improve with age, I got Izzy when she was 10. Shes now 15 and its calmed down now, though she had a foal before I owned her so she does know what the boys are for. I would suggest that if your horse is near to geldings to move her away. Iz has had a field to herself this year due to her tendon injury and I have noticed a difference in her since shes been next to the boys. When turned out she waits for a treat, not this year on one occasion, ran off to the other side of the field to where the boys were over the wall. At our yard normally the girls and boys are kept separate and away from eachother so as to prevent problems. The Oestress does seem to help her and yes, in Feb she comes into season in a bigger way than usual after the winter. She once bucked me off which is not atall usual for her in FEb a couple of years ago. She wasnt on the Oestress then which is why I now keep her on it all year round.

 

[swampdonkey]

she is not near the boys but we do have stallions on the yard, although not near her she does see and hear them, also wondered if being in a big (12) all mare herd will be making her worse as her old owner insists she was never marish.