Lesbian behaviour???

[Dizzy]

My mare Breeze shares a field with my coloured native - who she has up til got on with really well. In the field next door is an arab mare and TB mare (both like herself, chestnut)- over the past week she has been off with her native companion, and shamelessly flirting (all 'in season' traits) with the two mares over the wall.

Though the 2 fields run side by side, the 2 mares' field is bigger and runs further back than ours. Every morning the 2 mares graze the top of thier field. Breeze has now started screaming and galloping up and down our field shouting for them. Our field is on a slope, and on Monday she carted round so fast, when she attempted to gallop back up the field but her back legs went from under her, she fell and rolled. I was poo picking in the field at the time - so I witnessed it all - and was stood praying she'd get up with 4 sound legs. She did , but whats going on? I've never witnessed lesbian behaviour before. Breeze has always been a blatant firt with geldings - but otherwise pretty independant of other horses.

Lesley

 

[Nerys]

I've noticed that some of the girls will show signs of heat even without any guy there, and sometimes without any other horse there. I've also seen a fixed mare making signs without a guy present. As far as i'm concerned, if her hormones are a movin' she'll act like a female regardless of who's around.

How long have the mares been next to her? Maybe she just decided that she likes them better. As for screaming for them, might it just be separation anxiety? There's a yearling out a the farm who will cry for her buddies if they are out of touch range. They can stand twenty feet away in full sight but she still hollers for them.

 

[Mehitabel]

it's perfectly normal for a dominant mare to mount another. the submissive mare will go and tart at the more dominant one, and the mounting is a reinforcement of their relationship. the kind of behaviour you describe is also pretty normal, usually seen in a young mare who is coming into season and doesn't really know what to do with herself. often, once they've had a foal and so know what the whole affair is about, they stop tarting at anything but stallions, but before they know what they're aiming for (as it were) then any horse who looks more dominant is fair game.
petal has always been a bit of a tart, and before she was covered she would show to any horse that looked interested - the more dominant mares in the field, geldings, anyone.but once she had been covered, nothing woud do but the real thing! she also became the dominant mare in their herd as she got older, so stopped displaying to the others. younger girls often tart at her though now.

 

[LindaAd]

Our Ginny, who's old and has bred at least one foal, tarts at the young and well-bred gelding across the way, but not at Barney who shares the field with her. Could it be that she doesn't realise he's not a stallion at that short distance..? (I don't think he realises either, or Barney, who goes to great lengths to defend "his" mares).

 

[floppy]

we also have a couple of lesbian horses at our yard...when they are in season (which the 2 are at the moment) they both have a particular other mare that they hang onto and flirt with and run aroudn like siamese twins. But then as soon as their season is over they dont like each other anymore.