Need some mare and Regumate advice

[Tegan]

I am considering putting my mare on Regumate but am having trouble finding much information on it.

1. Does it help a mare's overall personality and mood swings? My mare can be rather bipolar but it does not seem to be specifically related to her heat cycle. I have been told to try Regumate, but I'm not sure it would make a difference in this situation.

2. Can it be used long term? Most of the literature I've found shows that it is mainly used for breeding or to suppress heat before shows.

3. Average dosage and cost? Is it any cheaper to do the compounded injections or pastes rather than Regu-mate itself? I did some rough math on the Regumate that came out to $80/month... wow, is that normal?

4. Do most people just start using it, or do they do an exam and ultrasound first?

My mare has started her first spring heat and I noticed while grooming she is very sensitive under her belly and in front of her flanks and will kick at her stomach when touched. While lunging today, she was actually very quiet and pleasant, but did not want to stretch down like she normally does.

I have noticed in the past she is very sensitive to being touched during her heat cycles. Is this a normal occurrence of going through heat, or should I have the vet out for an exam?

TIA... I have always had geldings!

[Addison]

You may just start using Regumate without having an ultrasound....Its use in show horses is considered off label as its original intent is to control estrus for breeding purposes. I have used it long term on each of my mares with a couple of breaks (2 weeks) each year.

In my experience, Regumate will allow a mare who may seem rather ADD-ish and scattered to concentrate and settle into their job better. My horse is not b*tchy when she does cycle, just a little quicker to do something silly. Regumate all but eliminates this behaviour.

Good luck with your mare. I think you will see results quickly once you find the dose that works for her. I give my mare 1 1/4 of the recommended dose as she is rather large.

[Percheron X]

1. Does it help a mare's overall personality and mood swings? My mare can be rather bipolar but it does not seem to be specifically related to her heat cycle. I have been told to try Regumate, but I'm not sure it would make a difference in this situation.
It can help, but it does not change the behavior in all mares that it is given to.

2. Can it be used long term? Most of the literature I've found shows that it is mainly used for breeding or to suppress heat before shows.
In my experience I have only needed it during the summer months when the longer day lengths kept the mare cycling.

3. Average dosage and cost? Is it any cheaper to do the compounded injections or pastes rather than Regu-mate itself? I did some rough math on the Regumate that came out to $80/month... wow, is that normal?
It is expencive.

4. Do most people just start using it, or do they do an exam and ultrasound first?


I would have the vet out to check her over and get an opinion regarding her behavior, and the possibility of putting her on the Regumate (as well as the handling and storage instructions for regumate as it is hazardous for women to handle).

An intra uterine marble is another possibility that you might discuss with your vet.

Some horses can be ultra sensitive in those areas, but when you combine your report of that sensitivity with the behavioral issue it makes me consider the possibility of an ovarian tumor or cyst......

Again this is something that I would want to discuss with my vet if I had a horse with issues such as you have described.

[lolalola]

Be careful for yourself giving Regumate if you aren't menopausal. It can screw up a woman's periods and fertility if absorbed through the skin.

[Eventer13]

You can give it every other day and still have it work. That cuts down the cost considerably.

I'd try giving it and see if it helps, then do a physical exam if you don't see a difference in 2 wks.

[draftgirl01]

When I have used it, we only do 6 weeks starting in Spring at the start of heat season and 6 weeks coming out into the Fall, my mare does not transition well.

Have done depo in the past but that was after we tried Regumate first. Vet recommended doing that because if she got weird on hormones, you can stop Regumate right away vs if you have done an injection, you have to have it run its course.

No longer use Depo because my vet explained that because it is back as an FDA approved drug she can't prescribe it as a compound and when she priced it for me it was $200 a shot, where before the compound was very very cheap.

[SmartAlex]

We used Regumate on my broodmare last year during her pregnancy. It made her act like a stallion. A very poorly mannered stallion. Anytime you led a horse past her stall (mare or gelding), she would puff right up, bellow, strike and kick the walls. I mentioned this to a couple of horse friends, and they have had some similar experiences with this type of behavior. It was shocking but sort of funny because it didn't cause us any problems. She is normally the most mild mannered old thing you could wish for.

[clint]

We used Regumate on my broodmare last year during her pregnancy. It made her act like a stallion. A very poorly mannered stallion. Anytime you led a horse past her stall (mare or gelding), she would puff right up, bellow, strike and kick the walls. I mentioned this to a couple of horse friends, and they have had some similar experiences with this type of behavior. It was shocking but sort of funny because it didn't cause us any problems. She is normally the most mild mannered old thing you could wish for.

It may have been the pregnancy itself that caused the stallion behavior. I have a mare who acts like a stallion while she is pregnant, with all the behaviors you describe, and it isn't uncommon. She has never seen a bottle of Regumate.;)

[SmartAlex]

That very well could be. However one person I talked to had a mare act like that and she was not pregnant. They had her on Regumate for her heat cycles because she was a show horse. My mare was pregnant the year before and we did not have her on Regumate. She reabsorbed at 4 months but never acted a single day like she did right off the bat on Regumate the following year. All very circumstantial evidence off course.

[merrygoround]

I wouldn't put a mare on regumate without first checking that all is well with her reproductive tract.

I would also advise any female with intact ovaries, whether pre or post-menopausal,to be careful in handling regumate. It is absorbed through the skin, and the results can be nasty.

[stella3]

I would get a pelvic exam first. We had a pony that was a little witchy and would buck the kid off during her estrus cycle. rest of the time she was a total packer. We started her on regu-mate and she was now acting like a spaz all the time. When we told the vet about this, he said that if you start it while they are ovulating, or have a persistant follicle that sometimes it "traps" the follicle. And they can get very uncomfortable and witchy. He came out, ultrasounded and this was exactly what had happened.

We took her off, and restarted when we knew she was done with estrus. And now the former sassy pants is packing her kid all around the sm pony hunters! She lives on it, year-round.

[Tegan]

She was much more sensitive today. She flipped out while grooming and did not want her flanks touched and was kicking and biting whenever I would poke at them.

So I called a repro vet and spoke with her. We think she is just going through a rough spring transition but the vet is coming out tomorrow and we're doing a full workup. I will feel much better knowing what exactly is going on rather than just medicating.

[Addison]

It will be interesting to hear what your vet has to say about your mare. Would you mind sharing the information?

Some mares definately have some discomfort involved with their cycles. My first mare had such tenderness and regumate eliminated the problem because it eliminated the cycle.

If you do decide to use regumate you will have to find what dose works best for her. One poster suggested using it every other day which worked well for her but may not work for all horses.

[Tegan]

The vet came out today. She went to touch my mare and almost got nailed, yikes. (I did warn her that she was kicking though)

Anyway, she did an exam and ultrasound. There are a good amount of edema in her uterus and she had one large follicle on the left ovary and another follicle on the right. Nothing terribly unusual, she is just in full blown heat and needs some help through the transitional period.

Vet is coming tomorrow morning with a shot of GnRH to make sure she ovulates within the next few days. We are going to try the Regumate when she starts getting sensitive again and that should help her.

Hopefully she will only need the Regumate to get through transitional periods and the occasional show but we'll find out. The vet said it can have a calming effect on the whole CNS so it may help with her everyday behavior as well.

[jm2]

I'll just throw in my 2 cents..............

Regumate didn't do a thing for my mare but that was because she had other issues going on that were unknown at that point. I put her on it because her cycles were crazy. She would come in and out of heat every few days. Very tender on the right. I asked my vet about it because I suspected a cyst and vet just said to put her on Regumate. Well - that did stop everything but it did not address the real underlying issue.

Long story short - I did a hair analysis on her 2 years ago because besides the whole heat issues, she had some physical issues that after $4,000 in diagnostics was never found. I think eventually it would have been found but I was out of money to keep throwing at it. The analysis was my last ditch effort.

The analysis showed she had a cyst on her right ovary and she was low progesterone. (it also showed a lot of other issues including the physical one - but that is for another thread). I supplemented her for the cyst and low progesterone and she was a new woman! Then I got to thinking - why was she low progesterone to begin with and then it hit me! I read up on soy because of another horse I have with IBS. Soy suppresses progesterone and increases estrogen. I removed soy from her diet and she got even better! She has not had a witchy cycle in 2 years now. She still can have some strong heats - with all the winking, squealing and displaying to the neighbor boys, but absolutely no problems undersaddle anymore or when trying to handle her on the ground. She just gets extra "lovey" to me when in heat.

Good for you for getting the ultrasound done. At least you now know what is going on in there. FWIW - I have my mare acupunctured for her "girly" parts before each transition - going into fall, going into spring. This also seems to help although living in Florida - my mare never goes inestrous. She cycles year round. The February heat though does tend to be a bit stronger than the rest.