Spaying Your Mare May or May Not Be The Answer
By Patti Schofler A
friend claims that when her daughter turned thirteen, aliens abducted her brain. And it doesn’t only happen to the human species. Sometimes
that precious, darling little filly can years later mature into a moody—and sometimes dangerous—mare, primarily due to her heat cycles. More and more frequently horse owners have
found a solution to deal with a mare’s unacceptable, cyclical behavior. The answer for some lies in a relatively straightforward surgery, an ovariectomy, commonly referred to as spaying. Yearly the University of California at Davis School of Veterinary Medicine performs about a dozen of these surgeries.
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Behavioral Signs The good news is that it doesn’t happen to all mares. Most remain a delight while on the other extreme some demonstrate their displeasure by behavior not always compatible with riding, training and competition. While squealing, squatting and urinating are perfectly wonderful and natural behaviors for broodmares, it is not a desirable trait when you are about to leave the start box during the cross country at an eventing
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competition or when you trot down the centerline for your first halt in a dressage test.
A mare may also
show aggression toward other horses during her estrus or heat cycle that can endanger herself or other horses. Canadian long listed dressage rider Karen Pavicic of Richmond, British Columbia, had a
mare in training that nearly kicked the barn down during
heat. “You couldn’t get a horse near her. She was okay under saddle, but in her stall she did a number on her hocks. Even a sideways glance from a person set her off. She just didn’t want anything in her space.” For a horse to be a candidate for spaying there must
be a physical reason for the behavioral changes during her heat. Take a mare that shows extreme discomfort during ovulation when ridden. “The ovary has a pretty tough capsule and the follicles can get quite large. For some females the ovary is tender around the time of ovulation. Some mares can handle it and are stoic. Others can’t tolerate it. If you take out the ovaries, there won’t be pain,” explains Dr. Patricia Sertich of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, New Bolton Center, where she is a consultant for high-risk pregnancy mares, director of equine endometrial biopsy service and animal reproduction clinical services and associate professor of medicine and reproduction. Dr. Sertich also points out that it’s rare, but a mare may
bleed from the surface of the ovary into the abdomen during ovulation. The blood is very irritating and may even cause her to colic. Ovarian tumors are a reason to perform a unilateral
ovariectomy. The most common ovarian tumor is a granulose cell tumor. About half of these tumors have a theca cell component that secrets male hormones and produces stallion-like behavior. Some mares will call out, arch their necks and stamp their feet like a stallion putting on a display. Some will go so far as to mount other mares. “It’s amazing behavior to witness,” says Dr. Sertich. “She will thrust her pelvis like she’s copulating. She will tease other mares, fight with stallions, be very protective of mares and not let them near other horses.” “Mares really struggle to deal with the testosterone,”
she adds. “Most stallions have training by skilled handlers or owners. Mares haven’t had that training and now they have testosterone and they get rowdy.”
Surgery Options Surgical procedures for removing ovaries have improved significantly from the day when major abdominal surgery
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