Need help with my mare

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mgranch

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Bonanza, Oregon
My Lily is 9 years old this year and has never had a foal. I tried for a couple of years to get her in foal with no luck so decided to teach her to drive and show her. She went in cart like a dream and is an amazing athlete so that was good. The problem is the poor little thing is in full blown heat everyday of her life year round. I feel terrible for her she must be miserable and all the spraying and wringing wet tail makes me crazy too!! My geldings are constantly in an uproar because of her and I can't imagine how I can show her like this!! So, what are my options?? Are their any?? I thought about spaying her but don't know if that would help. Meds?? If she were to get in foal would that help her after baby was born?? I am calling my vet tomorrow but I live in a small town and the vets don't seem too interested in minis and I trust all of you far more so wanted your opinions so I could tell my vet what we should try!!

Here is a pic of my Lil so you can see how darling she is!!! Thanks Gina

Lily.jpg
 
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Hmm...that's weird. I don't know much. But just a thought. Have you had her checked for an infection??? It could cause a constant leakage. But this is just a shot in the dark.
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Sounds like she has a cystic ovary. It has been many,many years since I have had to deal with that...maybe they have a cure for it now..Ask your vet about it.
 
Someone else mentioned a cyst to me today. What does that mean?? Can it be fixed?? I never plan to breed her so fertility doesn't matter to me. I just want her happier and healthier. Is a cyst an expensive deal??
 
Cystic overies usually result in stallion-like behavior, but heat could be a sign too. Diagnosis would involve ultrasound, blood assays, and could be "repaired" by removing the errent ovary.
 
Any of the full sized horses that I dealt with that had cystic ovaries didn't act stallion -like at all! They were "in heat" 24/7/365 and were miserable! They couldn't be ridden because they were so cranked up! Back then, there was no ultra sound and they seldom did blood work..they just didn't know much about that then..and the vets diagnosed by Palpation.

Surgery (surgery was almost unheard of back then!) would have been too risky and expensive, so the owners chose to just leave them alone..But, it will cause quite a stir in your barn too , as the stallions (and geldings) think the mares are in heat,too! It really gets them upset that a mare is in heat all the time..and, it is such a STRONG "heat"...Like I said, that was a long time ago and they probably have ways of dealing with it now. It isn't a true heat,and the mares I knew never conceived even though they were bred over and over. In fact, one mare was in foal, aborted, and it was after that that she became cystic. She never conceived again.
 
cystic ovary would be my first guess also. my old quarter horse mare suffered through this although her "heat" was every few weeks, not constant. i always knew when it was coming on, she acted like she was in full blown heat and pestered my gelding unmercifully.

it's been so long ago, i do not recall what the shot was but my vet would give her an injection of some sort of hormone. almost immediately, she would break into a complete full body DRIPPING WET sweat. by the time she dried off, she was back to her normal sweet self.
 
That would be a prostoglandin f2alpha injection, either Lutalyse or Estramate. Most of the time it doesn't work though, since cysts don't usually respond to the drug as easily as CL's do. Some do, and that's why its worth trying! Its a heck of a lot easier and safer to give a shot than it is to do surgery! That drug can also help anovulatory follicles (eggs which don't ovulate, and just stick around telling the mare she's ready to pop and to BREED!!) go away. The symptoms of anovulatory follicles and cysts are very similar, except follicles usually tell the mare to be crazy-in-heat or tell her she's pregnant, whereas cysts usually produce testosterone and make them aggressive. Neither will cycle until whichever structure goes away. Usually time and sometimes drugs will make a follicle go away, whereas surgery is the only alternative for a true cyst.

Be sure not to confuse ovarian cysts with uterine cysts... one is a major reproductive problem the other is usually not an issue at all, unless there are dozens of the suckers. Also please don't equate human cysts and equine cysts, they present very different and are not the same at all. True equine ovarian cysts are very rare. I know a lot of women want to think of their mares as the same as them, but they are just different enough to make things confusing, but still the same enough to allow equine research to lead to some very interesting human discoveries/treatments!
 
Thank You so much everyone!! I am calling my vet today and now have some ideas to run by him!! You are all the best!! Gina
 
Been there, done that. Have her ultrasounded - if there's a cyst in an ovary that will show it. If there is one, treatment is (at least in our case) a series of shots of oxytocin (I believe, but I might be remembering wrong) and that got rid of the cyst. Now, that was because it wasn't cancerous, just a general, simple cyst. My vet said if there was more too it (like cancer or something else) the cyst would still be present when we re-ultrasounded her again 2 weeks later. That was last year and I'm thinking in our case the cyst may have returned because she's sort of acting the same way again - not every single day, but showing heat more than she should.

Good luck, the good news is it can probably be treated fairly easily!
 
Thanks Pamela!! I so appreciate the info and knowing it should be an easy fix helps a lot!! Money is tight like it is for everyone so I really wasn't excited about a surgery or something!! I just want my girl happy!!
 

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