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Mare in never ending wretched heat cycle-any suggestions???

Horse Care
#1

Hi All-
My mare has never been one to have an explosive heat cycle. I’ve had her for years and she’s always been out with geldings and I never really knew when she was in heat. I have been at a different barn for over a year where she has been out with mares and she has shown slight signs of heat when she is cycling, but nothing dramatic.

Well, about 2 1/2 weeks ago she came into a wretched heat. She has been fine to ride (thank god) but the issue has been in turnout. She has turned into this squealing, running, kicking, tail swishing, peeing crazy thing. She constantly is making faces toward the other mares and running around them, pees every time one comes near her or even looks at her. She has a gorgeous tail and it is disgusting on the daily with dried pee and who knows what and her hind legs are just saturated with ick.

She runs so bad and “herds” the other mares that barn owner has had to bring her in several times from turnout because she was worried she was going to hurt herself.

I have no idea how to help her :frowning: I want her to go back to enjoying her turnout. I will say, a new mare came in about a month ago that was added to her group. Throughout the past year boarders come and go and she’s had new friends in and out of turnout-but no issue like this.

Also she will sniff the geldings in the aisle as we are walking through the barn with zero issues. But god forbid one of the mares look at her!

She is on daily SmartPak Mare Harmony. Any insight would be appreciated :slight_smile: Barn owners are getting a bit fed up with her-but, she’s a mare!

#2

Sounds like her hormones are way out of whack. I’d be suspicious of an underlying issue such as granulosa, theca cell tumor, or other ovarian tumors, especially since it’s been an ongoing issue but now getting worse. I’d suggest having a vet take a look at her and doing a rectal palpation and perhaps some general bloodwork to rule out other issues.

http://csu-cvmbs.colostate.edu/Documents//case-ovarian-tumor.pdf
http://csu-cvmbs.colostate.edu/Documents/Learnmares47-reprodprob-ovtum-apr09.pdf

4 Likes
#3

Very interesting articles-thank you for the information! I will keep it in mind.

#4

2 things you might try: 1) Take her off all Soy- check feed labels- Soy can make some mares whacko.

  1. Put her on a good Magnesium supplement. It helps relax the muscles and reduces cramping when in heat.

I have a mare that was getting schitzo during her heats and both things helped her a lot.

1 Like
#5

I second having an exam done… I had a mare once do this and she turned out to have a volleyball-sized tumor on one ovary that had to come out. It was crazy to watch. It might not be that, but then you’ll know!

#6

If no underlying health problem is found I’d suggest Regumate as the next step…

#7

Regumate is amazing. Total personality change.

#8

How long until you see the Regumate help? I’ve sort of the same problem, trainer put her on Regumate. She has to finish a cycle, right? Then next cycle doesn’t happen? So no heat?

#9

Call the vet and have her checked for a uterine infection. We had the same problems with a horse boarded here. I finally talked the owner into the vet exam. Vet was skeptical, but checked the uterus and was amazed to find it full of fluid. He treated her for an infection and all was well afterward. Just one more thing to discuss and rule out with the vet…

#10

I would rule out infection and tumors first. If this is a mare well into her mature years, a sudden change in behaviour makes me think cyst/tumor. Although, its not unheard of for cycles to change as one ages.

Then I would really recommend trying a magnesium supplement and raspberry leaves - both can help a lot, and if you can avoid the expense and irritation of regumate, they’re worth a try. I myself am a woman looking at having kids in the next 5 years or so, so I would do just about anything to avoid having to deal with regumate!

Magnesium can help reduce cramping and improve attitude because they aren’t so uncomfortable. Raspberry leaves contain a number of minerals that affect reproductive function, and have been noted to improve reproductive function and smooth muscle tone (the uterus is smooth muscle) which can help improve their behavior as well.

My mare is a raging, peeing, squatty, winking at everything that moves SLUT when she’s in heat, but on Mag and raspberry leaves she is tolerable. Which I will take over stopping to pee in every gelding’s face as we walk down the barn aisle.

There is a supplement called Magic Mare available through smartpak, or you can purchase pure dried raspberry leaves from a health food or herb source, which is generally cheaper. It’s often marketed as a loose leaf tea, but it should be just the raspberry leaves.

Assuming there’s nothing medically “wrong” with her, I would try the supplements before jumping to Regumate, if only because I would do just about anything to avoid dealing with it.

#11

All this information is wonderful. Mare seems to be doing a bit better in turnout, but she still is in heat and her behind and tail is still disgusting and I am cleaning it everyday :frowning: She is on a mare magic supplement from smartpak-has been for about 6 months, and she has been on raspberry leaves and magnesium in the past and I can’t really say that they did much-but this is the first issue I have had with her being in this severe of a cycle for this long so maybe it’s worth another shot.

I certainly think I need to have an exam done to rule out any underlying health issues. She is 10 years old so she has been cycling for a while now, but nothing to this extent. Luckily I am bringing her home soon-maybe she will be happier with just a couple ponies and another horse for company instead of 5 other mares. She has been very good to ride (thank god!) but still a running squealing peeing screaming mess in the paddock.

She also has been on depo in the past-but has been off of it for a couple of years now and again no issue until this past heat cycle.

What is the difference between depo and regumate??

#12

I am having the same troubles. Depo does not really suppress estrus, and it doesn’t work on all mare; regumate reliably suppresses estrus.

I had had the opposite experience with soy. My mare was on soy until about two years ago. On soy, she never showed a heat cycle (but was bloated, low energy and susceptible to skin problems). I removed the soy (which resolved the other issues within six months) and she started cycling. The first year the only symptom was squealing and whacking the wall with a hind leg, and this was controlled with a monthly depo shot. This year, her heat cycle is raging since about mid-January: constant squatting and peeing, backing up to geldings, stiff and resistant, kicking and squealing I put her on regumate about two weeks ago (with a course of robaxin for good measure) and she is back to normal. Regumate will work in 3-5 days whereas depo has to be timed and given after they go out of heat. I have not had her examined yet as the vet said it was reasonable to try regumate first. She did not have any discharge, which you might expect to see with an infection and, while her lumbar was stiff from all the squatting, she did not react to palpating.

i am looking into spaying her after show season because I prefer my noncycling mare and I have no plans to ever breed her. Spaying is a fairly simple standing laparoscopic procedure.

#13

My mare was having very similar issues and was 10 years old. Come to find out she had a granulosa tumor on her ovary. We had it removed and now she is back to her amazing self!
It took 2 ultra sound sessions to find it. We had to time it with what we thought her heat cycle was (which was totally all over the place!) But in the 2 ultra sounds both ovaries had not changed size so we did the blood test and she came back VERY elevated for the tumor.
I am so glad we found it and had the surgery. Recovery wasn’t bad and we are now back at it! She is happy as could be with life now too!!

#14

Did you try regumate before the ultra sounding? I am wondering because my mare is totally back to normal on the regumate. Would I still need to ultrasound for a tumor? My vet indicated that if the regumate worked, we would not have to investigate further.

#15

Also wanted to note that there is a time released injectable IM version of regumate made by BET pharmaceutical. My vet is trying to get it for me. Another vet in the office used it with success on 5 mares last year. You only give once every month.

#16

I tried the one by BET pharmaceutical before we investigated and it helped her heat cycles but she was still loopy, just not her sane self. What lead us to investigate further was that it made a teat become enlarged and inflamed. She acted uncomfortable, just NQR. Then I had to take to her off all hormones for several months before we ultra-sounded to make sure there was no effect. That’s when we found it. Maybe try the one by BET pharmaceutical before?

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