Mares - chane in "in season" behaviour

[Tangle]

OK - so up until recently Fifi has had the most obvious seasons in the world. She'd take one look at you, turn her rear end, move her tail and wink and squirt for England :rolleyes:. Then peek back out of the corner of her eye to see if you were paying attention :p

A couple of months back she moved in with 3 geldings for turnout. Since then her seasons have become nigh on non-existent. The only things that give it away are mucky white socks and "the" smell.

So now I'm a little confused - from everything I've read mares tend to have worse seasons when they associate more with boys, but Fifi seems to have calmed right down.

Just some other random data:
- Her seasons last autumn were pretty blatant.
- The only other mares on the yard are a mare and foal and a 2nd mare in foal on the yard, although Fifi doesn't see them very much.
- There are two entire boys on the yard - a 10 yr old (foalie's dad) and a yearling colt. She's in the same stable block as them, but her field is two locked gates away. She used to be next door to the colt, but YO was keeping a beady eye on him and never mentioned he'd broken free.
- We've never seen any scratches on her quarters/flanks.

So. Any ideas? I'm happy that she seem's more relaxed, just a little mystified as to why the sudden change :confused:

[Jessey]

Maybe she's just getting all the attention she needs from the other horses now :D and isn't so worried about getting it from you, or maybe she's had too much attention and has therefore decided it is safer not to mention it to anyone :D

I wouldn't worry, so long as she's still coming in season and therefore not in foal, I'm sure she's fine, just....ahem....satisfied with her current situation ;) :p

J x

[Tangle]

Thanks for that. My first guess would be owner's paranoia :o, but it's nice to have other opinions. I guess it's just that she's chilled out SOOOOO much it's a bit disconcerting :rolleyes:

Oh - and YO was convinced her in-foal mare wasn't when she came into season. Took a scan to convince her there was something in there.....

[Tangle]

Hmmm - also had it suggested that maybe she HAD a hormone imbalance that has now resolved itself. Don't know enough to make a judgement on that one :o

Any other opinions? Please :o:p

[Jessey]

That could be very true, maybe being in close proximity to the colt was getting her excited :p making her seasons that much more noticeable and now she's further away things have settled back down again?

J x

[Tangle]

I guess I'm confused because they haven't settled back down - they've never been settled before in the year that we've known her. This is the first time that she's had a season and (apart from a little drop of gunk on her white sock) you'd never have known it. But it's also the first time she's regularly been turned out with company (of any gender) that we know of :(.

So just a little :confused::confused::confused::confused: