# Can mares come into 'season' while they're pregnant?



## Kim

My mare is nearly 5 months pregnant. Every few weeks or so when I go to feed her in the morning, she squats and kind of pees, then walks around with her tail up 'winking'. The first time she did this (this is my first foal btw...) was about a week before her 45 day preg test. So of course I panicked, I called my equine teacher and she said not to worry, it's fairly normal, and she was definately pregnant when we did the preg test a week later. And she still definately looks pregnant as her belly is rounder...

My friend's mare slipped her foal in the first couple of weeks, and she said you could see where stuff had run down the backs of the mares legs, so I'm assuming if my mare had slipped the foal after her 45 day check, then I would have noticed...

So is this normal?? For a pregnant mare to act as if she's in season by winking all over the place? She's only got mares living near her, no geldings and definately no stallions in my street, just 2 more mares next door. And would I definately know if she had slipped it??

What are all your own experiances with stuff like this and your mares??
Thnks so much for your help, I need to put my mind at ease...!!


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## Abbygirl

I bred my mare in April of 08 and brought her home the following month from the boarding facility she had been at for about 8 months. As soon as she got home I told the barn owner that I didn't think she was pregnant because she appeared to still be having her cycle. However, her belly was starting to grow. So now it is the end of Janaury and she has already begun to bag up and she is huge. I have a hunch she was bred before April by one of the other studs on the property. Not sure how, but she should not be bagging up when she still has two months to go before she delivers. So, yes I think she was pregnant and show signs of her cycle.


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## LMW

Yeah we were just talking about this the other day at our barn with my trainer. We have a new mare that noone was sure if she was pregnate or not because she kept coming into "heat". A few month later she still acted, just like your mare, like she was coming into season but at the same time her stomache was growing. So we had the vet come out to check her and sure enough shes pregnate. lol


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## county

Certainly not unheard of for mares to show heat signs when bred. Usually they will never allow a stud to cover them but I did know of a mare that was live covered 6 cycles one year then foaled when she would be due from the first cycle. She was a sorrel and bred to a roan the first cycle. After that the roan had a busy season so they bred her to a sorrel the other 5 times. Come spring she had a roan foal.


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## TralissaAndalusians

Aye, I was wondering that a while back about my mare.

And we phoned up a friend who breed's Andys, and she said some mares are like that and appear to be in heat when pregnant.


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## TxHorseMom

Many mares can and do show signs of being "in season" while pregnant. I've owned a few of them myself. I've had mares that have even "accepted" a stallion while pregnant. I like to keep some of my pregnant mares with our stallion to keep him company, but these particular mares I am unable to so that with. I believe it is because of the hormornal fluxuations that happen when pregnant.


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## claireauriga

All I can think of is that if human women can want sex during pregnancy, why can't mares? xD


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## suncolorsranch

No they are not in heat if they are in deed pregnant. They will pee a lot more and smaller amounts due to the foal growing inside and not a lot of room. And winking after peeing is normal. When they are in heat they will act different like rubbing on the fence or being mean or irritated with the other horses (not all change in behavior but most), and most of all the discharge will be more milky looking and not so clear like pee. However some behaviors can seem like they are in heat, if they are bred they are NOT in heat.


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## Kim

Thanks for your replies everyone, for putting my mind to ease that my mare isn't just 'weird' or something!!


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