Has anyone had their mare spayed?

Question

Just curious really. In the future I would like to retrain horses from auctions or bad situations and find them new homes. However with the state of the horse industry right now I'd love to be able to prevent at least a few non breeding quality horses from reproducing and am just looking at what options there are. Has anyone done this before? How much was it? How long did it take her to recover? Did you notice any differences in her behavior? Thanks

Answer 1

There's a reason why this procedure isn't as common in equines as it is in cats and dogs. Not only is it quite difficult but also can cause health complications later on down the road. Mammals need to maintain a heat cycle in order to stay healthy. Not only does this aid in body repair, growth, and body function, but also elongates the life of the animal. Along with the risks of death, disease, and botched recoveries, most mares become ill or fall septic after this procedure- which is one reason why the number one choice of population control in equines is castration of the colts. Because the entry is left open after the castration it cuts down the risk of the horse falling ill to maggots, tetanus, and also prevents them from becoming septic. With smaller animals such as cats and dogs, when a female is spayed, most people are going to doctor and treat the animal INDOORS. With a mare, she is going to be left with exposed wounds where flies can lay eggs, or another element comes into contact.

Many mares become even more moody AFTER this procedure. Just as other mammals have biological clocks ticking, mares do to. Take away the ability(even if you choose not to breed her) many mares become depressed and aren't able to be handled. Some even drive themselves crazy.

The truth is, people are going to keep breeding undesirable horses. You have no control over what they choose to do. But keep in mind if you are a rescue you can write up a adoption contract that states clearly that this horse CANNOT be bred. If they sign the contract, and later breed the horse, they WILL be fined and you can confinscate the horse.

Answer 2

I haven't had it done, but it is a highly invasive surgery that is really stressful on the mare. Anytime you have to put a horse under full anesthesia presents a dangerous situation for the horse. The only thing I may suggest is having their tubes tied. But if you really want to help the breeding situation, you can write in contracts with whoever you sell the mares to that they cannot breed the mares or even something as drastic as not having a stud on the premises. You can also write in the contract that you are allowed to take back the mares if you feel they are in a situation that you feel puts the mares at risk.

Answer 3

As far as I know it is not possible with out MAJOR surgery.  I have been around horses a lot and I read a lot of horse magazines and I never heard of anyone mentioning this.  You would have to bring the horse to a hospital and they would have to cut her open and do a major opperation.  It cost about $1000 just to have your animal knocked out and opened up.  I had a filly that needed colic surgry and she died on the table but it cost over $2000 and they were not even able to start the surgry before she died.  Also after a horse has a major surgry it takes a long time for them to recover.  The only reason I think they would do this would be if a mare had a tumor or some major like threatening issue with her reproductive system.  

Hope this was a little helpful.

Answer 4

Yes!  We had a mare that you couldn't even ride when she was in heat because her back got so tender back where her ovaries were...not to mention she was a total b*tch :)

It was very quick and easy.  And pretty cheap too, although I dno't know an exact price cuz this was done years ago.  They don't have to cut them open or anything like a cat or dog.  They just go in and have this little thing that grabs the ovaries and they essentially twist them off.  Her recovery time was only a week or two, I believe and we noticed behaviour difference pretty much immediately.  SHe calmed down, was easier to handle, and then we could ride her all the time.  It was SO worth it.

Answer 5

I agree -there's a reason horses aren't routinely spayed as are dogs and cats.

Horses have a low pain tolerance and the invasiveness of such surgery is pretty high and would take A LOT of recuperation time, care and carries a high cost.

The barrel racer who's mom had her mare spayed had a much bigger reason for it.  1D times result in paybacks that might make it the best option.  Also a person who runs 1D probably has a lot of time to spend caring for horses and the horses are usually VERY valuable.

Typically, the horses found in need of rescue may not be of value high enough to rationalize such an investment - and perhaps the level of neglect may have taken a well blooded animal and ruined it for any type of performance that results in high paybacks - not as a general rule, but a probability.

We cannot control what happens to horses not in our care.  If someone has a horse that they wish to breed, they will and we can't control that.  But we CAN educate as much as possible what breeding a horse causes in terms of time and money.

I get an awful lot of people who say "I love my horse so much, I want to breed her so I'll have another just like her!"  or they wish to breed to insure they get another close to the one they have.

While they might get lucky, what they may not realize is that in order to get the wonderful horse they have, years of proper training and care have gone into that animal.

People who make a living training horses and are very good at it and know the effects of their actions with horses KNOW how to foal, raise and train a youngster from day 1.  The common back-yard person who's got a horse now or has just had one a few years doesn't know what they are in for and the possibilities of what can happen.  They have no idea how easily a 300+ lb foal can become belligerent and mean if not handled correctly.

I cringe when a neighbor stops by to see a new baby or just wants to pet the horses.  I almost want to put a big fence around them because people just don't understand.  They are not a dog or cat or a person - they don't think like dogs or cats or people.  Dogs and cats and people are predators - horses are prey-they have a fundamentally different way of thinking than we do.

I was totally amazed at a recent visitors offering of Doritos to my new young foal.  I about came unglued!  Would they shove a chip in a 2 month old human babies' mouth?  Do they know that it's possible to send a horse into colic if they get something bad into their systems?

People often ask if they can stop by whenever they want to see the horses and I tell them they cannot without my being there with them.  They get huffy and don't understand why I don't trust them with my horses.  They don't understand and don't care to understand that the horse can bite their fingers off in an instant, they can feed the horse something that costs me hundreds of dollars in vet bills later.  And when my foal sticks her nose in your face, it isn't 'cute' - she's liable to try to take your nose off to see what it tastes like or to see how much mor dominant she is than you.

So - I would suggest that spaying is not a viable option for such horses as you describe.  You would be serving the animals better to work with them to become responsible horse friends - trained well to remove all vices which are likely to become the reasons they become rescue cases.  Then work to educate the people you can about how to interact with them.

You say that such spaying would prevent them from reproducing, but who are you to judge which ones are non-breeding quality?  What if that horse you rescue turns out to look great and have a great disposition when it recovers and gets with the right person?

While I agree that people breeding horses of generally considered low quality is the main cause of the horse over-population now, I feel that such decisions are not the responsibility of a select group to make.  We cannot force our opinions on others, but we CAN educate them to help them make good decisions.  

I would argue that there are no "low quality" horses because I believe that all CAN find a good fit in the proper family and discipline that fits their nature.  I would say that there are horses who were brought into this world by people who didn't have a good handle on how to properly raise them.  They thought they could make a fast buck by selling the foal for more than it cost them to get on the ground, or they thought the best way to get a horse like they want is to breed and raise it themselves then found they didn't know the proper training techniques to get the animal to actually become this superb specimen of physical beauty and performance.

Answer 6

my mom is a big time barrel racer - She bred one of her broodmares to a well known stud in our area known to produce some nice barrel horses.

Anyway the foal she got out of it was a bay mare, she runs 1D times and used to have the worst period of time where she was in heat. She wouldn't run the barrel course right, and she dumped my mom once at a big barrel race and my mom was soo close to winning the 1D in the saddle series.

She spayed her i think 3 years ago? Im not sure how long it took all that stuff - i'd have to call my mom. I was off at college. But now my mom comes to saddle series, buckle series etc with me all the time, she hasnt done that since.

it could be different for different horses. I dont know all the details. ill have to ask.