Mares seasons trouble- any help??

[horseyll81]

Hi everyone,
Thanks for taking the time to read my thread.
I decided to let my mare be covered naturally this year as she has been AI'd twice before (not consecutively). Being a Pink Papered Oldenburg with very good breeding, I want to assure you first that I breed for myself and only breed quality Sport/Dressage horses. She is one of my 2 broodmares, the other that i bred myself and has only had a foal this year as I would like to keep the line and then re-back her.

I sent the mare to stud when she came in to season (she is a tart so is easy to tell!!) and she was covered twice.
Two weeks later she came back into season ( a little earlier than I would have expected?) so went back to the stud 10 days ago. She has been covered 4 times and is still in season 9 days later. I was hoping the rain today would switch her off but the stud have just rung to say she is still in. I have spoken to the vet and they have said to carry on covering until she goes out, then we'll scan in 2 weeks time.

I was just wondering if this is common in mares or if anyone else has had the same trouble? As she has only been AI'd before I just wondered if maybe she was enjoying the real thing too much!!!!

Any advice greatfully received!!
x

[Guestless]

If she doesn't take this cycle, then it may be worth getting her scanned regularly to see how her cycle works. I got my mare scanned last year as it was a bit of a distance to stud and we were only staying 1 night. My mare had about 3 scans before we went to get the timing right and it was absolutely spot on.

Some mares ovulate right at the beginning of their season so you may be just missing the optimum time. A scan would help pinpoint the size of the cell to give you an accurate timescale.

[horseyll81]

Thanks Guestless, very helpful. I always assumed the best time was mid cycle.
Keeping my fingers crossed for this one as she's been covered at the beginning, middle and end of her cycle now (hopefully!!)
Thank you :-)

[squidgy]

My mare was in season for 15 days because she had a heamoragic follicle on one ovary that was stopping her go off, she had ovulated from the other ovary and when scanned at 14 days was found to have twins! They have been successfully treated and now we have one pregnancy with a healthy heart beat.

We didnt cover her for the 15 days as she has a tendency to pool fluid so she was teased and scanned and covered at the optimum time

[horseyll81]

Thanks squidgy. I picked the mare up this morning as she finally came out of season yesterday so will wait 10 days or so and get her scanned to see whats going on.....hopefully a little baby!!

[teddydog]

We get the mare scanned esp if like this on a short cycle and inseason for 2 long. The more you cover the more likely you are of making her dirty and she would then need washing out after covering! If she comes back in i would get her scanned then you know what she is up to and try and cover her as few times as poss. If she goes on inseason get the vet to inject her off.

Hope that helps.

[vjc]

Agree with teddydog, i do not like the idea of all these coverings!!! all that fluid building up in her uterus! all that can happen is she becomes what is known as a dirty mare, ie inflamed or infected from excess fluid. Why is the vet not injecting her off, they can inject chlorian (i think thats what it is called). I think i would seriously question my vet if it were me. Maybe you should ask for another opinion. forgot to ask is your vet a specialist in breeding practises???

[horseyll81]

Hi,
Thanks for the advice vjc and teddydog. One of my concerns was how many times she had been covered. They managed to get 4 coverings this time round. If she hasn't taken this time, I will definitely go down the scanning route to find the optimun folicle time and check everything is ok. She has had 2 fabulous foals by AI in the last 4 years. The vet is booked for next week. My vet is very experienced, though maybe not a specialist!! The stud even rang me to say they thought she would need injecting out.......

[squidgy]

They can inject Chorulon to encourage the mare to cycle but we have found it not to very reliable and opt for Ovuplanting. They then normaly ovulate about 36 hours later, which is means we can A.I the next day and makes it easier to time for frozen semen. Although nothing is text book and we have been known to A.I frozen at 3am but we were up anyway foaling a mare that night anyway.

[holiday]

It appears to me she has short cycled and could well be infected if this is the case. I would also suggest to go back to scanning for optimum cover timing, as also if she is infected she will probably need flushing and antibiotics but she may also need flushing after covering as well to keep her clean. Sometimes a little intervention goes a long way to a positivie result!!! Good luck xxx