stallion behaviour.....disastrous consequences

Cazza525

Cazza525

Well-Known Member
Joined
31 July 2009
Messages
1,188
Location
south west devon
Visit site
Quick background, we have a 20 year old homebred mare....very placid, laid back type easy to do. She was kept on a busy yard up until 5 years ago when she came home and became Mum's pet again! Over the last 4 years she has been exhibiting stallion behaviour during the breeding season. Snorting, her whinny has become deeper, cresty and mounting other mares.

To cut a long story short, we have had to move her back to her old yard 3 weeks ago. Due to her behaviour in the last 4 years, we have kept her on her own during the breeding season. I was concerned this may happen again so I contacted my vet. He has prescribed regumate and to make sure she was on it for 2 weeks before moving her back to the yard and put her in with other mares,

All went OK, squeling and normal get to know you stuff for the first day or so and then all was OK. Until Friday....she was on 3 legs, has been beaten badly and sustained several nasty inuries which are being dealt with. Now, the most dominant mare has bit marks on her neck....I am almost positive that my mare has 'started' again. I think she has tried mounting her and been kicked.....badly!

I know that this behaviour could then possibly be to do with cysts? Ans that its not too serious? But, I would like some feedback please on anyone that has dealt or had treatment on their mare?

Oh, and healing vibes for the possible fractured splint bone would be good too! :(
 
Oh dear - poor girl.

19yo mare in our yard was doing this....she was on hormone supplement for a while, then had her ovaries removed...in doing so they found a rather large tumour which was also removed...Mare is doing really well and behaviour is completely different.

If I can get more info from actual owner I will PM you.
 
Not got a lot of advice to give, just wanted to wish your mare well and hope she gets better soon. How about the vet, are marbles a possibility? she obviously has some imbalance, is she getting enough regumate. I have known a few mares that have been sorted with it.
 
Parker79 said:
Oh dear - poor girl.

19yo mare in our yard was doing this....she was on hormone supplement for a while, then had her ovaries removed...in doing so they found a rather large tumour which was also removed...Mare is doing really well and behaviour is completely different.

If I can get more info from actual owner I will PM you.
Click to expand...

Thankyou so much, that would be so kind. We have the vet out tomorrow and I think I am going to arrange for her to be scanned once she's better
 
chestnuttymare said:
Not got a lot of advice to give, just wanted to wish your mare well and hope she gets better soon. How about the vet, are marbles a possibility? she obviously has some imbalance, is she getting enough regumate. I have known a few mares that have been sorted with it.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, but what are marbles? I'm sore she is getting the right amount....10mls a day. She deffo isn't in season so its working, but if she has too much testosterone then it probably wont matter!
 
if you are having the vet out tomorrow it may be worth having a chat with them so they can run any tests that may give you a clue as to what the problem is, if they have a mobile scanner I would be having her checked while she is still within a few days of showing the behaviour to make sure you are getting the best possible timing. There could be something simple that can be sorted with a different dose of regumate or as has been said a marble can work with some of them and to answer your query its when the vet inserts what looks like a maeble into the mare to replicate an inseminated folicle so that her body thinks she is in foal and stops producing folicles.
 
I cannot reccomend enough that you get her scanned in case it is a tumour .... these can secrete hormones to make her behave like this. I thought my mare had one as she was scanned with a huuuuge ovary that did not respond to any hormonal regulators.

Just before we were going to operate and remove the ovaries it started to shrink and she was diagnosed with persistant annovulory follicles,
This happended repeatedly and a few years ago she had a marble inserted in her uterus to try and stop her trying to come into season.

It literally is a (sterile) large marble put into the uterus to mimic a pregnancy and stop cycling. I have to say it did work at first but my mare is coming into season more and more this last 9 months .. and I suspect sadly this year she is showing signs of having annovulatory follicles again and I am planning on getting her scanned soon.

Hope your mares leg heals well.
 
I really advise you to have her checked by a vet asap.
My mare also showed these signs, becoming more and more stallion like. This coincided with signs of not having any seasons.
We could of had blood tests done to see if testosterone was present but vet advised its not always conclusive. Following an internal examination and camera scope she had indeed an ovarian tumour. Luckily my vet of 20+ years was prepared to operate as Royal Vet college would cost ££££'s.
A tumour the size of a grapefruit succesfully removed, leaving one ovary intact. Within a couple of months she had a season.
One thing to bear in mind is that these tumours rarely spread and success rate is quite high.
I sincerely hope that this is not the case for your mare and that there is a simpler explanation. Please keep us posted and fingers crossed for you.
 
Cazza525 said:
Now, the most dominant mare has bit marks on her neck....I am almost positive that my mare has 'started' again. I think she has tried mounting her and been kicked.....badly!

I know that this behaviour could then possibly be to do with cysts? Ans that its not too serious? But, I would like some feedback please on anyone that has dealt or had treatment on their mare?

(
Click to expand...

First things first: if your mare is on Regumate and has had her daily dose without interruption then she shouldn't be coming into season. And cysts are rarely responsible for bad behaviour in the paddock or during ground handling although they can be big enough to cause discomfort in the ridden mare.

If a mare is showing aggressive behaviour or mounting other mares this is often the first symptom of a Granulosa Theca Cell tumour on the ovary. These tumours can get very big - and they secrete testosterone! The ONLY treatment is removal of the affected ovary with the tumour. A scan by a GOOD repro vet is usually diagnostic - the GTCT has a very distinctive appearance. The 'bad' ovary will appear much larger than possible, and the other ovary will be much smaller, with no 'activity'!
 
Just a quick update. We are having her scanned next week as vet also thinks tumour on ovary, and whilst we are there, she is having her leg xrayed. I'll keep you posted. Thankyou
 
My thoughts are with you and your mare. Hopefully it's not the case but please keep us posted x
 
Fingers crossed for you, thanks for the update. It turned out well for the mare I know so hopefully that will be the case for your mare too.
 
Ok, well we have news....!!

Our dear old girl has a granulosa cell tumour the size of a cricket ball on her left ovary. She has been referred to a vet in Collumpton for surgery to remove it. Her leg is much better, although still 3/10th lame, the vet didn't bother to waste my money in xraying it as he said it will heal itself naturally even if a slight fracture.

She is very well in herself and enjoying being in and cosseted! When the weather improves I will start putting her out in a small paddock on her own during the day and the tuck her back up again at night......just the way she likes it.

I have absolutely no idea when this surgery is likely to be, the sooner the better in my opinion as we just want her to be able to lead a happy normal life again :)
 
Poor girl - but I'm so glad that you know what the cause is, and that it looks like a relatively straightforward operation to sort it out, and for her to be back to normal. Thanks for sharing the news :)
Please let us know when she's booked in for the operation, and that all is well with her x
 
Thankyou very much for all of your kind words. I have been told to manage her like a stallion until the operation date, my vet is ringing me tomorrow with referral details and prices for op......eeek! She is now 20 so unfortunately she wont be insured for the tumour.:eek:
 
Thanks for the update...sorry to hear she has a tumour but on a positive note at least they have found it and she can be treated now. Having a plan can make things a little easier all round.

I'm glad she is enjoying the pampering! she will be much happier after the op

Good luck
 
Immediately I read your OP I thought granulosa cell tumour and was wondering why on earth your vet prescribed regumate! I am forever being shocked by many vets' incompentencies nowadays. I mean, if a mare exhibits stallion like behaviour a granulosa cell tumour is virtually always the cause. Why doesn't a vet know this?
 
Wagtail said:
Immediately I read your OP I thought granulosa cell tumour and was wondering why on earth your vet prescribed regumate! I am forever being shocked by many vets' incompentencies nowadays. I mean, if a mare exhibits stallion like behaviour a granulosa cell tumour is virtually always the cause. Why doesn't a vet know this?
Click to expand...

I think our vet did know. This mare has been kept at home with my Mum for 5 years though, unridden. We had ample ground to just put her on her own during the breeding season. Unfortunately due to my mothers ill health she has asked me to take her on and bring her back into some pleasurable work. We were immediately concerned and vet prescribed regumate, I suppose to suppress the symptoms. This has indeed worked, but all the other mares in the herd have come into season, our mare hasnt, due to the regumate and has probably exhibited some other type of behaviour....nt necessarily mounting, and been beaten. Thankfully, we have got a diagnosis now :confused:
 
Ok, big update. Our dear girl has been xrayed and has indeed fractured her splint bone, although it is starting to heal which is good news. Both vets concerned, my own and surgical vet are still keen to operate to remove this tumour so it has been booked for one months time, the 13th June, to give her leg more chance to recover. She's still pretty lame, and on box rest but is so placid and dealing with it well. I have huge reservations about putting her through this at her age (20), but she is very low mileage, never been sick or sorry up until now, and the vets are very confident that she'll make a full recovery from both things!!!!!

I can't help feeling guilty though......if only we knew she had this tumour before, then she wouldn't have sustained this horrific injury!

Oh, and we're paying for the tumour removal as its not covered by insurance.......she hasn't ever asked anything of us, but she needs us now. We bred her and she deserves the best.

I'm going to spend the next 4 weeks panicking I think.......between bandaging and mucking out of course!:rolleyes:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top