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  Discussion on Mare always accepts Stallion
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Posted on Wednesday, Feb 2, 2000 - 2:58 pm:

We have a mare that is finally bred. However, no one can really help me to understand the problem we had with her last spring in concieving. Hoping you could survey the situation for me. If we rebreed her,I hope to eliminate the same problems.
Last April, she seemed to be cycling, we pasture breed and so put her in with the stallion. The stallion covered her several times through out the week long heat.
About two weeks later, she accepted him again..but didn't seem to thrilled about it. I have never seen a stallion able to penetrate a mare that is NOT in heat, unless she was too passive and the stallion too aggressive??? Anyway, three months went by and finally after a strong heat, we removed the stud. She took. Could she have concieved the first time around, and because of the stallions aggressiveness have aborted?
Why would this mare accept him if that was the case?
Should we hand breed her next time? I honestly believe her passiveness, if that was it, caused this stallion (who was otherwise a gentlemen with other mares) to become quite aggressive in breeding now. Possible?
Thanks in advance for any insight.

Posted on Wednesday, Feb 2, 2000 - 4:52 pm:

I think this is just a case of you needing to help out nature.

Yes If she was cycling properly the first time around she would have taken.

It is quite common for mares to partially cycle again, it is known as false heat, but the stallion can not tell the difference.

My mare seemed to cycle back on, but not quite so I got the vet to do an ultra sound, he found that the cervix was open as if in heat but the uterous was toned up as if in foal. The ultrasound proved she was in foal :-) now a 3 month old filly today.

As for mares allowing stallions to breed them again, it is upto the individual and what they want from the stallion. In a study in England somewhere they vasectomised two stallions in a mob of wildish horses and watched them for a couple of years. The mares in the mob would allow a stallion to mate them in or out of season. So yes it can and does happen, it just depends on hormones as to how strongly she will reject his advances.

And yes it is possible that this particular stallion wants to treat all mares like yours and can not see any reason to be rejected now by any mare, it is a positive reinforcment thing, he just needs to be told no.

The ultrasound is your best tool, if their is a baby don't put them together again, as it can cause an abortion, though I heard somewhere about staggered twins, conceived on different cycles.

Posted on Thursday, Feb 3, 2000 - 8:35 am:

Very interesting!

That of course leads me to another question.
We have a young two year old stud we plan to breed with her this spring after she foals. I suppose if we want to teach him proper manners, we would only put him in with her during her cycle and remove him so he does not develop any bad habits should she accept him out of cycle correct?

I am always told to put young studs in with older mares for this reason...but this mare just isn't the norm. She is 10 years old, but only bred twice in her lifetime. I want this stud to be very mannerly and good, as we want to keep him around for a while.

Denise

Posted on Thursday, Feb 3, 2000 - 2:57 pm:

Hello Denise,
Many of your questions are hypothetical and we do not have enough information to answer. On the other hand your mares behavior is perfectly normal for a mare in April at the higher latitudes. She was in transitional estrus, maybe a hair later than the other mares but not much. For more information on this see, Equine Reproduction: Breeding and Foaling: Breeding Patterns in Mares
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Feb 3, 2000 - 5:01 pm:

Well it is up to them to do what they want.

The theory being that if he is in with her before her cycle he will see her as just another horse, and will behave properly around her. When she starts to come in it will kick his hormones into gear, and as she nears the end of her cycle she will get demanding and the two of them should figure it all out. As long as you watch her for her final day, and she does refuse him after ovulation leave him there for at least a week and he should figure out when he can and when he can't. Just move him out before she might cycle partly back in.

I suppose with all horsey things just watch them and make a decision on the risks involved.

Posted on Thursday, Feb 3, 2000 - 6:16 pm:

Darren,
Thanks so much. Great advice, I will do that.
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