Equine Spay

Haikufarm Blog - Full Article

by Aarene Storms

Fiddle's heat cycles didn't just make her "mare-ish".

Anyone watching her work when she was cycling could see that she felt glitchy and unhappy...and she cycled all year long, often spending the warm months in an uncomfortably-constant state of almost-readiness. Her nickname "Dragon" was well-earned.

Alternatives

Breeding: A pregnant mare doesn't have these symptoms, because she's not cycling. And at the end of the pregnancy, you get a cute little baby! Perfect solution...not. I've dealt with foals before. They're cute, they're funny, they're wonderful...and in today's economy, they are expensive and time-consuming to produce and worth a nickel-a-dozen when it's time to sell. There are too many horses who need homes for me to want to produce another one...especially since it's entirely possible that Fiddle's daughter would inherit her "rough-cycling" symptoms. And, of course, there's the strong possibility that Fee would return to her old cycle pattern after delivering a foal. For us, breeding is not a good solution.

Mare Magic: Adding Mare Magic (dried raspberry leaf) to Fiddle's food seemed to help with the grouchiness, but the discomfort remained. When Fiddle is in heat, she could barely move--instead, she would stand, apologetic, peeing. She would try to move forward a few steps, but would then have to stand and pee again. Mare Magic didn't help with that at all...

Read more here:
http://haikufarm.blogspot.com/p/equine-spay.html