My mare is a "completely useless" variation of hormonal

[dontskipthecafe]

My horse has gone into heat before and it has turned her into a mild PITA, but this is truly exceptional. She has always been tolerable before and would settle and work like a real horse after a few minutes of hijinks and flirting.

I got to the barn yesterday and she was screaming at the gelding in the field across from hers, and when I brought her inside she would not stop squatting and peeing in the direction of a different gelding who goes out at night. The second gelding in question lost his testicle privileges late and was not helping.

Admittedly, I have not owned this horse in the spring before. Maybe it’s a spring thing. But she was literally impossible to ride properly. I rode her for 15 minutes of mincing steps and skittering and screaming, and then I gave up, got off, and tossed her in the round pen to run around instead -_- She’s still fancy and pretty at least.

Advice? Supplements? Suggestions to make hormonal mare concentrate while I am on her and there is a sexy gelding in the ring?

[SmartAlex]

Mare Magic

[showmanship]

My previous mare was always a total dingbat with her first intense heat cycle of the year. It didn’t help that her back was normally sore while she was in heat, so I usually just scratched the to-do list for the week. Another mare that I rode could act out a bit when she went into heat (she went for both geldings AND mares), but that was another grin and bear it situation.

I’ve heard of using Regu-mate for mares that went off their rocker when they went into heat. Or getting a marble, but I don’t know if that’s “popular” anymore.

ETA - I don’t know much about either of the things I posted above! I just know I’ve heard in passing conversations those as suggestions. My fix was to get a gelding However, he is a girly man, and I believe he has man-PMS.

[TrueColours]

Ask your vet about doing a Regumate implant on her. Sort of like the grain of rice sized “bullet” they use for microchipping - its inserted into their chest muscles and releases a constant hormonal dose to make her level and rideable

Good luck!

[dungrulla]

[QUOTE=TrueColours;8196256]
Ask your vet about doing a Regumate implant on her. Sort of like the grain of rice sized “bullet” they use for microchipping - its inserted into their chest muscles and releases a constant hormonal dose to make her level and rideable

Good luck! :)[/QUOTE]

I have this for myself! I dunno about horses but it works pretty great in people.

[Marla_100]

Before I’d go to Regumate I would try a couple months of a magnesium supplement especially formulated for hormonal mares. Magnesium is a mineral which helps regulate nerve and muscle tissue and due to depleted soil is often undersupplied in today’s feed and hay. In many horses you will see a difference in their behavior within a few weeks.
I’ve got a young mare who was behaving erratically and grouchy when in heat and she has stabilized and I can’t tell when she come into heat. She gets 5000mg of magnesium daily along with other herbs.

[Mosey_2003]

I’d wait until at least the next cycle before you go full bore with something like Regumate, the first one of the season can be rougher.

[Flash44]

Regumate and keep genders totally separated.

[Spud_amp_Saf]

Raspberry leaf, magnesium, banamine for a day or two if she’s sore. If this continues, you may want to get her ultrasounded :).

[Lady_Eboshi]

Log the behavior, and her heat cycle precisely if you can “tease” her with a gelding broodmare fashion, for a month and show those findings to your VET with a complete description of the behavior.

Likely, she’ll be prescribed Regumate which is progesterone and will make her feel like she’s in foal, and the estrus-related behaviors should be absent. This is a powerful hormone treatment you DO NOT want to get on your hands, and if that’s what her problem really is, it should very much do the job.

Herbals, supplements and other voo-doo-woo-woo, not so much.

Magnesium and raspberry leaves ain’t gonna stop YOUR ovulation, are they? :rolleyes:

BTW don’tskip–taken a look at your thread count lately? You must have more “problems” with one horse than anyone I’ve ever seen since I’ve been on COTH! Are you LOOKING for an excuse not to ride? Or to justify the out-of-control behavior of a really bratty horse who’s got you overmounted? If you really DON’T want to ride, stop before you get yourself killed. I’ve got TONS of clients whose horses are idle pets, and that’s OK. Failing that, before you medicalize every thing you think you see, maybe put your money toward 90 days of cowboy “boot camp” for this mare so she can learn company manners. You might find it’s money better spent!

[Bombproof]

Spaying is an option. It’s not done much in the US these days, but there’s no good reason it couldn’t be unless you plan to breed her.

[Jealoushe]

I don’t know, this is a newish thing isn’t it? I wouldn’t jump on the supplement wagon. Not everything needs to be turned into an issue needing supplements etc. I know some mares do require this, but I would wait a little longer into training to see if she changes. A lot of horses being distracted under saddle has to do with the way they are ridden and their training level.

[candyappy]

Severity of heat cycles can vary. I would see what the next few are like before even thinking about putting her on something. In the good old days we just rode through it. Now everyone wants to medicate/ supplement when they encounter the first little issue.

I keep 2 mares together and every once in a while my mare ( the alpha) will be especially snotty( abusive, squealing , kicking ) to her pasture mate. The only signs under saddle have been irritation when I cue her to trot .

In all my mares I have never had to deal with what you describe. For that I am thankful. But, I have ridden a few like that who weren’t mine.
If it were my mare I would learn to work around it and let her know it is not acceptable. Since you don’t show her you can take her where the geldings aren’t and work her there, so she won’t be so distracted.

[dontskipthecafe]

[QUOTE=Lady Eboshi;8196864]
BTW don’tskip–taken a look at your thread count lately? You must have more “problems” with one horse than anyone I’ve ever seen since I’ve been on COTH! Are you LOOKING for an excuse not to ride? Or to justify the out-of-control behavior of a really bratty horse who’s got you overmounted? If you really DON’T want to ride, stop before you get yourself killed. I’ve got TONS of clients whose horses are idle pets, and that’s OK. Failing that, before you medicalize every thing you think you see, maybe put your money toward 90 days of cowboy “boot camp” for this mare so she can learn company manners. You might find it’s money better spent![/QUOTE]

1. I have questions. Most of them are not problems.

2. I am not looking for excuses not to ride. I do ride, almost every day. I even rode her yesterday, just long enough for her to be good for 10 seconds before we did some groundwork instead.

3. My horse is not out of control. As I said, I ride her almost every day and we are doing great except for yesterday, which was highly unusual and obviously hormonal. Not sure where you got that idea?

4. Mare does not need boot camp. I have set up a lesson schedule with an instructor who is not going to flake on me, and I can ride her myself. I’ve never been scared to ride this horse.

[IPEsq]

I had a mare that was pretty much not rideable in heat. She was a beauty to longe, though! We also did implants with her–I think it was every 3 months? But sometimes they don’t work.

[Hilary]

If this is the first spring you have had her, you should probably wait to see what her other heat cycles are like. As others have said, many mares go through a total rager in the spring (and sometimes a last gasp version in the fall) when they are unlike any other time of year. if that’s the case, then you may just want to wait these days out - it won’t last more than a couple of days.

If she does turn out to be one who gets difficult every month, you can try the herbals but they are not going to actually change her hormones, they might help her feel better in other ways.

Injectable progesterone is an option that is less expensive than daily regumate and easier to deal with (except the day you give the shot).

I don’t know about the implant but that sounds easiest of all if it isn’t cost prohibitive. I can’t imagine it’s any fun for the mare to be this distracted and uncomfortable either.

[Lady_Eboshi]

Scheduling things so you don’t ride her the 3-4 days of her heat cycle is actually a cost-free, non-medical solution. Make up the lost time later.

As others have said above, this stuff used to be managed with training strategy before automatically reaching for drugs.

[findeight]

But it’s not spring, it’s summer solstice Sunday and a little late for transitional estrus. Do think she’s feeling better and getting healthier, that is a downside with buying when they are poorish-it’s not the same horse when healthy. It is possible she’s healthy enough now for a real full blown heat and there may be a stud within sniffing range, I’ve heard it can be a mile or more if the wind is right.

You won’t know unless you follow the advice above and keep a chart of her day to day behavior…and remember mares ovulate about every 21 days, dont confuse it with our 28 day cycle.

Magnesium won’t do anything for hormonal fluctuations and unless the horse is actually deficient it won’t do anything at all except cost you. And it is possible to over supplement or combine things that counteract each other, there’s no research or guidelines so think before you put it in the feed bucket.

Have you pulled blood to see what deficiencies she may actually have?

[Lady_Eboshi]

I would bet the farm on a “deficiency” of wet saddle pads. :winkgrin:

[Simbalism]

For my older mare, I use Moody Mare herbal supplement. For my younger mare, I tried the Moody Mare on her and it almost seemed to make it worse. I put her on Mare Magic and it worked great.