Is this behavior typical of a mare or stallion? Should I be worried?

[gf]

Kind of a weird question I know. I'm asking the question here as I feel like you all know quite a bit about mare care and what is normal for mare/stallion breeding behavior. I have handled stallions before but not breeding ones and have not really been around mares with foals by their side.

I want to say up front I have a call into the vet and will be consulting with them.

Here is the background. Ten year old maiden mare, I've had her since she was a weanling, has always been dominant if not at times aggressive towards geldings and dominant when turned out with other mares.

Started on regumate at age five. Her first spring on regumate she showed hormonal behavior that I had not seen an unbred mare display before. She would compulsively lick me when I hopped off after a ride and want to stick her nose in my armpit and crotch - nice eh? She would curl her neck around me while doing this and make a low rumbly noise.

This behavior has continued for a few weeks each spring. This spring it is more intense and has lasted longer than in the past. In addition to the licking she now also is calling to other horses frequently, not a normal behavior for her. When I led her down the aisle last night she was all puffed up and making a rumbly noise to the horses as we passed and she was generally not paying attention to me (we had a discussion about that ). Apparently the mares that are pastured next to her are all worked up and have been squirting at her in the pastures and when they walk by her stall

Some important factors:
We have been trying to get weight on her for the last eight months or so. She was previously overweight. This would normally have me worried except the change in weight was marked by a change in barns and a change from very rich alfalfa mix hay to not so great hay. Before she went to the barn with the rich hay she had also been a hard keeper. She is otherwise perky and going very well. She recently had a blood test/fecal to make sure nothing was going on with her, both came back clean.

She was palpated about a year and a half ago to see if she had an ovarian cyst or tumor and was deemed fine. Is a palp a good enough way to determine this?

Would you be worried if this was your horse? And does this behavior sound more typical of a mare with a foal or a stallion? Do stallions typically lick? Would that be more characteristic of a mare with a new baby? Sorry for the long post, thanks in advance! :D

[amdfarm]

I'm not going to be much help, but your mare's behavior is interesting. Anxious to hear what others say.

I've not had a horse lick me the way you're describing and I have all three genders and have had many mare/foal combos, none lickers. I've also never had a mare on regumate.

Have you had her hormone levels checked and has she been ultrasounded to see if something is amiss reproductive wise that would case her behavior?

[Penthilisea]

I'm no help either, I've had fillies and mares and geldings lick me, but NEVER the studs or colts. They would prefer to chew or bite lead ropes and such.

[rideagoldenpony]

That really sounds more like stallion than mare behavior, to me.

I think you need to have her ultrasounded to check for a tumor. I can't remember what they are called. I want to say granulosa cell tumor, but I may be completley wrong on the name. I've never experienced anything like that with any of mine, so the name didn't really stick! But I do know that the stallion type behavior can be part and parcel of the whole thing.

Good luck, and I hope you'll let us know what your vet says/does!

[Daventry]

I agree with Gretchen. I'd get her ultrasounded for either tumors or cysts. I'd also get some bloodwork done and check her hormone levels. In my opinion, she's displaying stallion behavior.


I'm no help either, I've had fillies and mares and geldings lick me, but NEVER the studs or colts. They would prefer to chew or bite lead ropes and such.

You have to remember that each stallion is an individual and can exhibit very different characteristics from the next one. On the whole, most stallions due tend to exhibit the same behaviors. Both stallions that we currently have on the property wouldn't dream of biting or chewing but absolutely love to lick. I could stand there for hours with my hand held out. :yes:

[monami]

We own a mare that sounds very much like yours. She has stallion like tendency in the spring even when open... in foal she is our favorite thing to tease the other mares with!!

We have another mare that has teased to my partner!! LOL! And we have had mares and geldings that have been lickers... especially if you are sweaty!

All of ours are healthy. When you spend a lot of time with your animals there are always unique things that they do. I would have an u/s for piece of mind but my guess is that she is fine.

[Cassy's Mom]

I think you need to have her ultrasounded to check for a tumor. I can't remember what they are called. I want to say granulosa cell tumor

This is EXACTLY what our mare had (a granulosa cell tumor) and she was showing the same behavior as the OP describes. We actually took her to the vet to be scoped for ulcers because she was just always so unhappy! And would fret about the other horses and when away from home (much like a stallion would if taken away from his "herd").

Anyways, the vet asked some super questions, didnt' scope for ulcers and instead ultrasounded and found a large granulosa cell tumor on her ovary that was producing testosterone. I won't lie and say she became a saint after it was removed :winkgrin: But she was better and stopped being studdy.

[FriesianX]

I have a mare who acts like that WHEN she is pregnant. She gets "studdy", herds the other mares around and protects them from threatening geldings. She is also a licker, and rumbles. She doesn't have tumors or cysts (since she is a broodie, we get a good look at her by ultrasound several times annually). I do think some mares might have a higher level of testosterone?

It is an easy enough thing to do an ultrasound to check for cysts/granulosa tumors, or other abnomalities. But, it isn't anything I'd be horribly worried about, as long as you can get the weight back on her!

[gf]

Thanks for the responses so far. We have not ultra sounded her previously as this behavior was fairly mild and would disappear after a couple of weeks.

My Mother who is in medicine (human not horses) offered an interesting theory - she pointed out that the behavior started with the regumate. Now that the mare has lost weight she is technically getting a higher dosage since she has less body weight. So, higher dosage could = a greater reaction to the drug. She also pointed out that it seemed unlikely that the behavior would come and go if it was a tumor.

Cassy's Mom did your mare's behavior come in cycles? Also, how difficult was it for them to remove the tumor?

Edited to add that this mare has always had tendencies to be dominant. When she was in a mixed herd (mares and geldings) she took it on as her personal responsibility to chase coyotes out of the field ;) By the time she left that barn she was very clearly in charge of that whole herd.

Also, she really is not unhappy right now. She's doing fantastic in her work, she is just distracted when there are other horses around which isn't totally new for her.

We will probably first do a blood test to look at her hormone levels and go from there. Still waiting to hear back from the vet...

[Daydream Believer]

The Arabian stallion I stand here for clients will lick a lot. He finds it very stimulating and it seems to help his libido when we collect him. LOL! I have never seen that behavior with a mare.

[gf]

Just wanted to let everyone know that it turned out that the mare had a tumor. It was removed two weeks ago and was the size of 1 1/2 grapefruits! :eek::no:

She is currently on stall rest with handwalking and is expected to make a full recovery. What threw us all off about this one was that she had shown milder versions of this behavior for many previous years so it didn't seem abnormal. I feel bad for the poor girl - she has lost so much weight she looks like a rescue horse :(

[gubbyz]

Wowza! Glad you cought it. Good luck with her recovery.

[dressurpferd01]

Not surprised at the diagnosis. The last farm I worked at, we had a mare with an ovarian cyst/tumor. She would compulsively tease the other mares, and act very stallion-ish. Almost as soon as it was removed, she went back to normal mare behavior, and is now in foal.

[pcwertb]

I'm glad you were able to discover and remove the tumor. I'm sure she'll make a full recovery and you will find she is not as hard to keep in good weight! Thanks for the update.

[CosMonster]

I'm glad you were able to find and remove the tumor, too. That was my suggestion as well. I knew a mare who got a little "studdy" on Regumate like you described in previous years, but almost the same thing happened to her--one year her behavior was prolonged and just over-the-top, so her owner got a vet out and found the same type of thing. I hope your mare recovers quickly.

I also knew a stallion who was a licker, although he was kind of funny--he could be quite the big bad stallion, lots of pawing and noise and whatnot, and some of his previous handlers were terrified of him. He had no qualms about biting them, and at least one of them has the scars to prove it! I wouldn't stand for that type of behavior while I was handling him and let him know it, and he turned into such a lovey little guy and would stand there licking me for as long as I would let him, but never offered to bite. :lol: He had a couple of different handlers and was that way with all of them--people who were afraid of him, he would bite; people who knew how to handle him, he licked. I miss that horse. :(