If on the calendar, it looks like a mare should be in season, and she is walked within 15 feet of a breeding stallion with no response, could she be in silent heat or just not in heat?
Stallion paid attention for 30 seconds and went back to his hay.
Mare could be boarded in a corral across the aisle from the stallion if this would help getting information.
Even if the maiden mare is shy, wouldn’t the stallion be reporting what he thinks of the mare?
Nobody?
Even if the mare is shy, wouldn’t the stallion know she is in season if she is?
How long is a piece of string? There are so many variables and 15 feet from a stallion just ain’t close enough to really be able to make ANY kind of determination! Some mares will take up to 15 minutes of steady teasing to determine if they are in season. Other shy mares, will only “break down” after the stallion refocuses his attention elsewhere. But, without allowing them to make physical contact, I don’t think you can say one way or the other that your mare is “teasing” or not. Sorry.
I just had my mare at a boarding facility to get bred. They have a teaser stallion (and other stallions on the place) and she never showed either. We tracked her follicle through a “normal” looking heat cycle and bred her post ovulation but when teased even right up to the stallion and touching noses she never “showed”. Just more indifferent, no squealing/striking, just sniffed noses and looked away. The stallion was doing lots of talking and all his part but she acted really uninterested. However, I think maybe if I had teased her longer she maybe would have showed, I only teased for a minute or two prior to going in for our ultrasound. But I think every mare is different, some like one stallion better than another and some are more reserved so just leading past I don’t think many would show.
I also have a APHA mare that I ride at the arena and have to go through a barn of stallions to ride an they are all talking to her, never ONCE regardless of time of year has she ever showed when being led through the barn. Kind of nice to not have a hussy, lol!
I lost a couple of breeding seasons teasing one Trakehner mare with a grey stallion. It turned out she much prefered bay and eventually bred her live cover to that Arabian stallion.
So I know they have can have preferences.
I have one mare that is just very very quiet and takes about 10-15 minutes of nose to nose visiting (and some nudging and lipping and licking by the stallion) to get her to show at all…and she considers a “breed me NOW, you fool!” display to be a 2 inch tail raise and one little dribble and wink. Fortunately the stallions are wise to her and she raises a foal every time she’s covered.
Experienced stallions will know by the hormones in the mare’s urine whether or not she is ready to be covered.
IME the stallion becomes far more interested when the mare has very recently ovulated.
Depending on the stallion, he may not show huge interest until the mare is about to ovulate or has just ovulated, so as ER said it’s imperative that they have physical contact when teasing to judge.
Some mares will squat, wink and urinate from beginning to end of their cycle, others are only accepting of the stallion for a day or two. It will take a few cycles of proper teasing (from day 1 right through past ovulation) for you to know how your stallion reacts to this particular mare and vice versa.
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