# Stallion has lost all interest in mares?



## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

Have your vet out, and have your boy's hormone levels checked. I've never heard of a reliably fertile stallion losing complete interest in mare.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Lack of libido, my friend's QH stud was that way. She decided to try pasture breeding, out 5 mares, not one was in foal. He was gelded, vet said he had a low sex drive.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

Where are you located? It may be too early in the year for them, the mares may be just transitional and not in a full on standing heat. But, I'd have the vet out to check him anyhow, just in case. Has he ever been trained to a phantom? Sometimes a phantom and the routine will remind them to sort of...get on with it.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Is there such thing a horse viagra?


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## Joe4d (Sep 1, 2011)

The mares probably kept trying to take half his stuff, or move in his stall with their bratty foals.


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

He's holding out for that special someone :wink:


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## Annnie31 (May 26, 2011)

Low libido apparently does come with age in some stallions. Testicular degeneration does happen in older studs and I know 12 isnt old but it may be happening.
Have you tried to stall him for a few days, away from the mares, then bring him out and see if he shows interest? At least if he refuses to show interest pasture breeding and hand breeding (after a break) you would at least look at a possible hormonal issue. 
It could be he is bored with same old, same old...and a change up might get him fired up again. If it was just one mare he was refusing to breed I would say trust his instincts because he knows when a mare is ready to breed, but since you say it is more than one mare I would be very concerned. Best of Luck.


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## Charlotte123 (Apr 7, 2012)

Thanks everyone for your thoughts!


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

The first thing I would do is have a Vet out to palpate (preferred method for me) or US the mares to see if they actually have a breedable follicle. If this stallion is an experienced pasture breeder, he knows when they are ready and will not touch a mare that is in an early extended heat.

I used to second guess pasture studs, but not any more. They are better at predicting when a mare is going to ovulate than most Vets.

Just the fact that the mare has been 'ready' to breed for a week tells me that she is probably not ready at all.

I don't know where you live or if these mares have been under lights, but if they have not shed out 90% of their hair and have completely slick necks and shoulders, they are probably not close to ovulating. The two seem to go very closely together.


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## Charlotte123 (Apr 7, 2012)

Hmm... That makes a great deal of sense. What about if a heat cycle is brought on using a hormone injection, such as Lutalyse? Do the same principals apply?


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

Lutalyse does not work in the spring before a mare has ovulated and has a Corpus Luteum on her ovary for the Lutalyse to act on. 

Early spring heats just need to run their course. Many mares (but not all mares) ovulate right before the end of that heat and if a pasture stud is experienced, he will know it and will breed her then. If she does not ovulate, her next heat will be a fertile one.

The very last thing you want to do is repeatedly breed a mare that is not close to ovulation. You can deplete a stallion's early (meager) sperm stores before a mare is even close to ovulation. You expose the mares to infections from frequent penetration and increase the stud's chance of being kicked as he dismounts from an 'unready' mare.


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## Charlotte123 (Apr 7, 2012)

Good news for everyone who kindly responded to this thread of desperation... My stallion is fully up to performance mode and once again a dream to breed! The problem, it seems, was early breeding. At the beginning of April, he was as docile and disinterested as a 25 year old gelding. By the end of April, he was all raging hormones the way stallions are supposed to be. Thanks everyone for your responses!


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

Like I said earlier, a good stallion knows more about when a mare is ready than most handlers. Early heats are not fertile and the stallion was the only one that knew it.

I only have one stallion now, and he would breed a snake in a thorn bush. Would have tonight anyway. In early April, he also acted like a gelding -- never even 'talked' to mares that were led or ridden past his pen.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

Cherie said:


> I only have one stallion now, and he would breed a snake in a thorn bush. QUOTE]
> 
> 
> SNORT!!! GUFFAW!!! I can SOOOO picture this with my stallion. :lol:


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