Mare trying to breed with mare?

Question

i work at a horse rescue which has recently decided to also breed miniatures. the owner had a paint mini named kate who's about five or six years old, never been bred. three new minis came earlier this week, one stallion and two new mares. one is two and doesn't let the stallion near her which is good. the other mare, named frenchie, is about sevenish years old. we dont know anything about her except she's missing teeth and was bred twice, producing dead foals. the stallion mated with her multiple times since coming here. he's also breeds constantly with kate because she's in heat. yesterday, i was shocked to see frenchie mounted on kate. i have never seen a mare mount and try to breed with another mare. does anyone know what's going on?

Answer 1

horses just do that i have a mare who had a baby and her baby was a stalion and he would always try to mount her mother its natural

Answer 2

mares do that,especially when they are getting ready,or already in heat,the donkeys across the street from me do it too...its like trying to get the males to notice her...

Answer 3

I have only ever seen this in cows and the farmer explained it as "bulling" and said it was a sign that they were ready to breed.

Answer 4

dont worry about it. animals are not homosexuals or "swingers". it is not natural - as it isnt for humans. anyways, it is more of a A) playfull way. she is just trying to get the other mare to play with her B)going into heat and she is being territorial about her "man". it could be a number of things, but dont sweat it.

Answer 5

I've saw it only one time and it was in a mare in to be covered. She had really strange heat cycles, lasting 2 weeks and wouldn't settle. Had our vet (an Equine Repoduction Specialist) do a full work up on her and discovered she had an ovarian cyst as well as some uterine cysts.

After that I started doing some research into it and found out that in almost all cases of mares showing stallion-like breeding behavior (actual mounting and thrusting) it was due hormonal problems resulting from reproductive organ cysts or if they had been on actual hormonal therapy.

http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/...

Sounds like the mare you are talking about might have some cysts or possibly even tumors in either her ovaries or uterus. I'd definately get a vet out ASAP to have her ultrasounded to see for sure. With her aborting the last 2 foals as well it's a pretty sure bet that something has went bad wrong there.

Answer 6

Some animals exhibit homosexual behaviors and there are numerous theories as to why.

If no one is getting hurt, I wouldn't worry about it but it's free to call the vet and ask.

Answer 7

This is common in virtually all herd animals.  In fact as far as I know there is not one ungulate (hooved mammal) species that does not show some tendency towards homosexuality.  Did you think for a moment that only humans exhibited that behavior?

There are some mares that will not let stallions around them even when they are in full blown heat, but will stand stock still for another mare.  As a result they never get bred.  In fact I think one of the people on here have such a mare.

BTW  Why is the stallion allowed in with the mares?  Especially considering this place is supposed to be a horse rescue?

Answer 8

Its A Dominate Thing,, To Show Who Is The More Dominate Thing,, But The Better Thing For You To Do Is Show Her That It Isnt Ok,, Just Like Grab A Lead Rope And Kinda Hit Her (Not Hard But You Know) Till She Gets Off =D