Horse with too many hormones

[Miriam]

Has anyone ever had a horse with too many hormones? Some of you may remember I posted about my mare mounting other mares. Well she only does this when they are in season so that boils down to too many hormones. What did you do? I have told my farmer that I will seperate her from the others if they wish but this will only sort it self out in the short term. Could puttting her into foal sort out the problem?

[Wally]

Cows do it all the time when they are bulling! If she is with a group of friendly mares who are unlikely to kick her and damage her don't worry. Putting her in foal only makes more problems....like a foal!

The vet could prescribe a course of treatment if she is aggressinve with it.

One of our Shetland mares does the same....we leave them to get on with it!

[Miriam]

Hi Wally,

I think that is part of the problem. Most of the mares let her get on with it. If they were to give her a telling off I think it would probably stop.

I have left her to it up until now as the last time I was talking to the vet he said to wait and see if she only does it when the mares are in season. The biggest problem now is my livery owner. I think he is getting concerned for the other mares. I did not know anything until Iwent to the stables tonight and was told by a friend that he was ringing the vet this morning to have a word with them. He collered me tonight and said that he would ring them tonight as there was not a vet there this morning he could talk to. If there is something they can do it looks like he will ask me to do it or move if I refuse. He is not keen on the idea of seperating her into another field. His suggestion was that if she was in foal it may help to sort it out.

[Spydgal]

If you put a horse in foal does it not make them more hormonal in the future when they have seasons themselves? I am not knowledgeable about breeding but I would have thought it may make her more hormonal after? Anyone any ideas about this?

Miriam, I realise your yard owner could be in a difficult situation but can he not be a little more sympathetic - every horse is different and odd behaviours from horses come up all the time. I have known lots of geldings in the past who have done this with mares in season. If she was actually bothering the other horses and putting them at risk surely one of them would get her told to behave.

[Miriam]

I am really suprised at his attitude personally as usually he is very understanding. I spoke to him tonight to let him know I was looking into various options including homeopathy and he said 'oh well you know they can and cannot work. I think HRT will be best'. As for leaving her to mature (she is 6) as she could be a late starter was a no go.

I have a friend who works for a vet and she is going to have a word with her today and hopefully get back to me tonight.

I have spoke to the girls on the yard whose horses we know she is mounting and they do not seem to be too bothered.

[Wally]

Well in that case why is the owner of the yard worrying?

Your horse is the one who is at most risk from injury, theirs could give her a good hiding if they wern't happy with her advances!

I think his idea of putting her if foal is irresponsible, Why does everyone seem to think putting a wayward mare in foal will cure everything? You are the one lumbered with a foal to bring up, which is not a task to be taken one lightly!

I knew a mare on hormone treatment, she had aggression problems, it worked, but it also cost money.

It seems to me to be a bit of a mountain from a molehill!

[liz--y]

have you tried feeding a hormone balance suplament to her feed.

[Miriam]

Liz--y,

I had thought about someything like Stroppy mare but my mare is not stroppy. Is there anything else you could suggest. I do not want to put her on drugs for the rest of her life. I would rather go homeopathic, but when I spoke to Neil he was not overly impressed and said he would rather she was on HRT injections if that is what she needs.

Have talked to a girl on the yard who works for a stud and she is going to have a word with her boss to see if I can get her down there to share cost etc of vet as they have the vet coming out to scan a few horses. This will tell us whether it is a cyst.

[fiesty_filly]

Sometimes dogs mount other dogs as a show of dominance. This could just be a very dominant mare???

[Miriam]

Hi Fiesty,

I would say Rhi is anything but dominant. I am starting her on a homeopathic treatment for now and will speak to the vet on Monday as he is on holiday at the moment.

[ally]

Hi there,
I used to be at a yard where a girl had a horse that had exactly the same symptoms , if not worse.
She decided along with her vets that maybe putting the mare in foal would settle her hormones down.
Unfortunatly at the stud the owner found the horse to dangerous as being surrounded by male hormones seem to make the matter worse, so the stud vet did an internal examination and found the mare had a tumour on one of her ovaries, which was successfully removed and the mare went back to stud and produced an exceptionally nice foal the following year.
This was probably an exceptional case but always check !!!!
Hope this was of use to you !!!.

[Wally]

Ovarian cysts are often the cause of stallionish behaviour!

[Miriam]

Waiting to speak to the vet as he is on holiday.