# Hormone shot?



## erikaharmony (May 25, 2009)

So my horse is what you would call a "dirty" mare. She is in heat more then she isnt and when she is in heat shes a completely different horse, lets just say shes the devil when she is in heat and when she isnt in heat she is an angel but i get heat more often then i get not in heat. My coach has suggested i talk to the vet and get her hormone shots to stop her heats from happening so much or i think happening at all which would be nice but at the same i feel like if her heats stopped altogether that might not be very natural. What do you think of the shot? Apparnetly its very safe and alot of people have done it but id like some feed back! Thanks.


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

I was suggested to use hormones on my mare - the barn I go for lessons uses it. But when I called my vet he said he does NOT recommend to use hormones. But rather put more training in my mare. If you think about it you have to give hormones (I'm talking about liquid here, not shots) with hands and all. So I'd think it's not a very healthy thing to do. Also it's not recommended to keep the horse on hormones all the time. So I passed personally. Again, I'm talking here just from my prospective and I'm NOT a professional in any way.


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## erikaharmony (May 25, 2009)

Yeah i probably wont end up doing it, I'm sure the longer we are together the better it will be i got her April 2009 and she is ALOT better then when i first got her but when she is in heat she tends to forget about respect and steps on me but she doesnt like humans all that much she use to get abused when she was a baby but i am the person she trusts the most. Hopefully she'll just improve the more she gets to know me!


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## wesgirl (Jan 26, 2010)

We use it on a lot of our horses. Its called the depot shot. Im sure its short for the long technical name..but thats the 'street' name if you will. Anyways, its safe, my vet approves and we have only had good happen from it. No problems with it whatsoever. Basically the mares just dont come in heat like normal and their temperment calms. We even use it on some of the geldings who have attitude/energy issues and it makes them easier to train and work with. Your mare sounds like a very good candidate for it. And look at it this way, it lasts 2 months i believe, so if you dont like it...just dont give her another dose when this one wears off


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## eralcx3 (Jan 5, 2009)

I have not used it on my mare but I have thought about it. There is a little Arabian mare at my barn that apparently used get very hot and high strung and they had the depo shot given to there horse rsgularly for a year and then stopped and she is still calm. It definitely worked for her because I rode her before and she was very nice to ride. I am pretty sure it works a lot like the human version of the depo provera shot.


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## tealamutt (Aug 21, 2009)

The shot you're talking about is progesterone, sold under the trade name "Regumate". I agree with the more training suggestion for a few reasons. The biggest being that it is very expensive and others being that I just don't think that you should play around with hormones, even though the drug is completely safe. Hormones have lots and lots of functions in the body and I just don't like the idea of using them as a substitute for training. 

If she really is that night and day, let me ask you a couple of questions- has she always been like this or is it a change? Would you say she acts like a "stallion" or just a cranky mare. There could be more at play here- namely a hormone secreting tumor on the ovary (don't worry, almost always benign) which causes changes in mares. The bottom line is that hormone injections are either a short cut for good training or masking a health condition that needs to be addressed. If she has always been this way, then maybe try some suppliments like Mare Magic, which we have had good success with. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, I just feel that throwing drugs at behavior problems isn't always the best solution, though it DOES work.


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