In foal mare acting like stallion!

[Crystalbank]

I have a mare who ran with a stallion for May/June of last year (I bought her November last year). I'm worried that she is no longer in foal as she looked huge in January, but now just a bit tubby.

Anyway I saw her mount one of my empty mares today

Not only has she done this, but is also running round the field like an idiot, just full of it.

I was going to try a wee foal predictor on her, but I'm told she could be too far gone to test - is this correct?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

[Flaxenacres]

I had a maiden mare foal on the 13th. For about a month prior she would mount my open mare and pick fights with my stallion threw the fence. Lorie

 

[HGFarm]

Sounds like hormones.......

 

[lilnickers]

Oh yes, I had a 13 year old mare that did all of the above mentioned things aobout a month prior to foaling!! She did this EVERY year. It may not be "common" broodmare behavior, but it is not totally unusual either. These mares keep us crazy

 

[Crystalbank]

Oh thanks guys, thank goodness it's not just her that behaves like this.

 

[hairicane]

Same here! But I have some that act studdy shortly before foaling and others that appear to be in standing heat a few weeks to a few days before foaling. This year one mare that I was pretty sure was in foal had our farrier convinced she was in full heat in march and she foaled on 4/8/09. Dont they just drive u crazy?

 

[REO]

For those of you that had a mare that did that, did they have colts? I heard that mares carrying colts will some times mount other mares. I've had 2 mares do that and both had colts. So it made me wonder

 

[mandi]

Its funny you mentioned that. I was about to say the same thing. I worked at a horse breeding facility and was always the one to stay up throughout the night to make sure the babies were born ok. We had numerous mares mount other horses a month or two prior to their due date and continue to do this until they had the foal. It was ALWAYS a COLT! We began to keep a record of this phenomina and it always had the same results. Now, whenever I hear that a mare has done this I automatically think colt. I wonder if the same is true for other people. It sure would be interesting to find out!

 

[Jill]

In the past, I saw one of my pregnant mares do this after we'd bred another mare to our stallion. She was carrying a colt at the time.

 

[Connie P]

Interesting. I have a mare that is doing this and I just always attribute it to hormones. I will let you all know if she has a colt.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

It is usually the mares that are carrying colts that do this, I have always had it happens, every now and again, with all the types of mares I have bred, big and little, I know longer pay attention to it, I'm afraid.

It is not always the colt carriers, though, sometimes it is just that the mare's hormones are generally out of whack and that makes her act a little out of character.

The mare I just had foal (yes, it was a colt) was teasing another mare two days before she foaled, and this is unusual behaviour for her, she is very prim and proper!!