Mare Leans On Walls - Deterrent?

[Tiramit]

I have a mare that had two foals early in life, the last a couple of years before she joined my barn. She’s in work and our barn only has very “gelding” geldings and one other mare, no stallions.

She recently started leaning against her stall walls while in heat. The walls are varnished wood and fairly stout, but I’d like to keep her off of them, if possible…?

I’m wondering if there is some way to stop her leaning? Perhaps a ridged strip that can be tacked to the wall and makes leaning uncomfortable? Suggestions?

As an aside, since the wall leaning is a new activity and her work load was lighter in past months, my (probably naive) hope is that it’s a by-product of too little to do? Possible?

[triplethreat]

My old mare did that. Why do you want her to stop?

[The_Crone_of_Cottonmouth_Count]

If by “leaning” you mean “self pleasuring,” my mare does that every day at feeding time. It’s hilarious. Crams her butt up on the open door jamb, bobs her head, and makes faces. This alarmed me at first but the vet found nothing awry. We ultimately settled on the theory that it’s a coping mechanism she invented during her pre-crone years at the h/j show barn with no turnout. Doesn’t hurt anything and it seems to calm her, so what’s the harm? We do have to sluice some soapy water on the door jamb every so often, though.

[alto]

[QUOTE=Tiramit;7646436]

She recently started leaning against her stall walls while in heat.

As an aside, since the wall leaning is a new activity and her work load was lighter in past months[/QUOTE]

I’d be inclined to do a thorough vet check - focus on the repro end if she’d doing it the Crone’s Way ;), lameness eval if she’s taking weight off (stifles/hocks can trigger leaning).

[Appsolute]

There is a mare at my barn who will slam / bang against the wall when she is in heat - It got to the point management was seriously concerned that she may cause the wall to break!

For her, depo, moved to a different stall - helped, but didn’t cure banging her hind quarters in the wall…

[Tiramit]

It’s not a pleasure thing - at least it doesn’t seem that way! She’s leaning from her stomach over and sometimes slams her hind quarters. I am concerned about the walls, especially the dividers between stalls. They’re stout, but she is a big mare and will lean pretty hard.

Alto, it doesn’t appear to be a weight release situation. The vet and farrier saw her, and heard her when she reached out and kicked the wall at one point. the topic of spikes embedded in the wall was brought up, lol….

[WISH]

I have a friend who had a mare that did that and they sorted it by running a strand of electric fence around the inside of the stable an inch or so out from the partition:eek:! Pretty drastic I thought but it worked, however they used the electric tape on doors to stop windsuckers and across the stable at an angle to stop boxwalkers. You had to be very careful where you put your hand/arm in their barn!!!:sadsmile:

[mareslave]

could be she’s sending a memo re: cysts (or psoas pain, sacrum out of alignment)

she might be trying to alleviate some stress or tension or cramp. she may have a sore joint in the leg she always leans on. I remember in sex ed class back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, we were taught a number of wall stretches to deal with cramps.

If she’s not trying to break the wall or rub herself…she has another reason.

[mareslave]

could be she’s sending a memo re: cysts (or psoas pain, sacrum out of alignment)

she might be trying to alleviate some stress or tension or cramp. she may have a sore joint in the leg she always leans on. I remember in sex ed class back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, we were taught a number of wall stretches to deal with cramps.

If she’s not trying to break the wall or rub herself…she has another reason.

[Ainsley]

I too have a mare who does this. She is a great broodie, but when she is not in foal, she is down right disgusting. She actually goes so far as to pee all over everything while she is leaning on the wall and she will lean so hard that she has actually fallen over a number of times - she is on such an angle that her feet just slide out from under her. Of course, the floor is drenched in urine, so she then needs a bath!
Her “street corner ways” get so bad that she started doing the same thing to fence posts in the pasture too. We had to hot wire everything to keep her off them as she was actually backing into them while peeing and breaking them right off.
I never have found a solution other than to keep her in foal. I wonder if Regumate would help?

[todaysspecial]

I had one that would do this while in season, to the point where it became dangerous to ship to shows - she would go arse over teakettle in the rig. Regumate did the trick during the show season, silly mare.

[Mardi]

@mareslave;7648867

could be she’s sending a memo re: cysts (or psoas pain, sacrum out of alignment)

Interesting you say this.

A mare I know who leans on fences when in heat DOES have sacrum issues. She leans on her side against the fence and will occasionally kick.