at what age do mares start to come into season?

[raggydoll]

questions in the title :)

[chev]

Usually in the spring of their yearling year.

It does vary though, sometimes considerably - a filly born later in teh year (say June or later) will sometimes not have her first season until the spring of her second year, and obviously a filly who's nutrition has been compromised early in life would take longer to mature enough to start oestrus.

Generally though a filly will have her first season as a yearling, which is why it's never a good idea to graze yearling colts and fillies together. And even though a filly might be capable of pregnancy at that age, it's never ever a good idea to breed her that early. In fact imho the earliest I would consider covering would be when she's three - and leaving it later has a lot of merits, not least giving the owner a chance to see if she's actually worth breeding from.

[mad mare1]

chev, I wish someone had told my mares previous owners that. She was covered at 18 months, by a tb and then again at 6 years by the same tb. This has led to her having hips that click, but they don't cause her any discomfort, and also she now has an ovarian cyst, that has stopped her chances of carrying a foal to term ever again. Shame, cos I would like to breed from her,but thanks to anothers stupidity, I can't!

[Loopslou]

normally yearling year but not all the noticable - Amber starting getting notiicable seasons in her second year and the vet said that was quite young for her to be getting a bit wound up about them.