# Mare in heat in December???



## Ray MacDonald (Dec 27, 2009)

She could be producing extra hormones which is making her go into heat. I would ask the vet the next time they come for a yearly check up/ vacines, or you could give them a call and see what they think. (Calls are free


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## Horsesdontlie (Mar 11, 2011)

Is there a stud in the area? My friend's mare would go into season every two weeks when she could smell a stud. Boarded at a stables with studs on the facility for about a year, it was like the never ending heat cycles. Though she never got witchy, just obviously in season and drove my gelding crazy. (He wanted nothing to do with her and she was all over him) Then moved to a different stables with no studs, and she hasn't gone into season since.


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## WSArabians (Apr 14, 2008)

My mares haven't cycled in forever.
Yesterday, my stallion came home. I have three in raging heat right now that are driving him (and me!) absoulutely batty.


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## CheyGurl17 (Aug 19, 2010)

My horse is kept on my family's property (a dairy farm) and has a nice 5 acre pasture all to herself. The only animals near her are cows and wild animals. There are no studs around my area for at least 30 miles.


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## Wallaby (Jul 13, 2008)

My mare is on her lonesome with no males of any sort around as well but she still goes into heat regularly. During the winter her heats are less obvious but they're still there.

I wouldn't worry about it too much...


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## gunslinger (Sep 17, 2011)

My mare came in christmas eve.


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## grayshell38 (Mar 9, 2009)

Thelma has silent heats, so I got the barest glimps of her heat this spring and nothing since. 
Deja was a differant story. She was in hussy mode every few months. Poor thing. She had been bred every year since she was two until she came to me, so her body was all "WTF"?


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## EPMhorse (Jun 14, 2009)

CheyGurl,
It has been unseasonably warm in Pennsylvania, with temps near 55^F for five days. It brought many mares back into heat, not just mine.


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## mls (Nov 28, 2006)

EPMhorse said:


> It has been unseasonably warm in Pennsylvania, with temps near 55^F for five days. It brought many mares back into heat, not just mine.


Mares cycle on light - not temperature.


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## Golden Horse (Feb 20, 2010)

Someone should tell the mares up here that they should be cycling to heat not temperature, a friend is calling the vet to come and lute 4 of her mares having found an escaped stud in with them and all of them have been served:twisted:

I haven't seen mine cycle, and we do have a stud here, but they are all quite discreet about it unless they are right next to the boy.


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## OwnedByAlli (Nov 8, 2011)

mls said:


> Mares cycle on light - not temperature.


A little pony im riding and handling came into season a couple of days ago. Nothing drastic though. Could it be due to the winter solstice and the days beggining to get longer? If its to do with light?


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## mls (Nov 28, 2006)

The Mare's Estrous Cycle


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## EPMhorse (Jun 14, 2009)

mls,
I would agree that animals and plants are very dependant on the light cycle to determine normal reproduction cycles. I also think many horse owners have observed mares brought into heat with the introduction of a stud in the barn, or other modifiers (not the least of which is temperture in plants). I don't have other horses within a mile of me. No stud at my farm. But the mare came into heat on the shortest day of the year. Mares in heat was a topic of discussion at the hunt barn, the tack store and the feed store. They all had mares that came into heat when the temps got warm.

The article you referenced indicates that a modifier on one hormone can have effects on one of the many hormones that drive the estrus cycle. From another article: "As the mare's brain records the increased amount of light and higher temperatures, the hypothalamus gland located within tissues of the mid-brain is stimulated." , The Horse.com Article # 427.

This isn't an argument, just a thought that I'm not alone in seeing my mare come into heat during a winter warm spell. "Heat Happens."


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## CheyGurl17 (Aug 19, 2010)

Ok, thanks everyone. I'll just keep an eye on her, but otherwise she seems pretty 'normal'.


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## Golden Horse (Feb 20, 2010)

EPMhorse said:


> mls,
> 
> This isn't an argument, just a thought that I'm not alone in seeing my mare come into heat during a winter warm spell. "Heat Happens."


Quite, it seems that a few mares haven't read the correct books, they don't know what they should be doing.

It does make you wonder if there will be a fundamental change in triggers if climate change goes on


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## mls (Nov 28, 2006)

EPMhorse said:


> mls,
> I would agree that animals and plants are very dependant on the light cycle to determine normal reproduction cycles.


I supplied the article to answer the question about normal heat cycles.


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