Marish?

[GalloFino]

I've read that about 10% of mares become "marish" during their cycle. Are there any breeds that are considered to be more (or less...) likely to be "marish"?

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I've always found it to be more of an individual personality kind of thing. I've never really had a problem with a mare-ish mare though, but I usually get along much better with female animals for some reason. I definitely think the way a mare acts has a lot to do with the person dealing with the mare as well! I've had my fair share of problems with geldings though. I've never had a mare I didn't like, but I've had plenty of geldings with terrible personalities. I can say that in general (well IMO anyways), mares and geldings tend to have different personalities.

It's funny because my dad is a dead set gelding fan and I've always been partial to mares. I wouldn't rule out mares just because they are known to be mare-ish though. If they have a good personality when they aren't in PMS mode, they will most likely be like that most of the time. Every horse has a bad day though. I never really attributed it to hormones, just to the fact that my horse didn't want to work with me on that particular day. Too many people (at least when I was in the show scene) seemed to blame bad days/behavior on their horse going through PMS, when really the horse just needed more training.

 

[Slinkytoys]

A good mare is worth her weight in gold. I've grown to trust my mares as they tend to be very much "in tune" with their owners. Not that I haven't enjoyed my geldings though

I haven't noticed so much of a difference between breeds, I think it is more of an individual horse thing. I've had Morgans, Saddlebreds, Quarter Horses, Appaloosas, Paints, Arabians, Spotted Draft, Clydesdale, and Grades.
Slinky

 

[RiverOtter]

Quote:
Yes, this, a LOT!

I've always very much enjoyed mares and known a couple who had a slight variation in temperament during their cycle, generally less with me or working and more with other horses or being slightly more distracted by other horses - but I've known lots of people who blamed every little thing on the horse being a mare.

 

[welsummerchicks]

There is that tendency. There are also owners who encourage it, and delight in bragging about their 'evil mare'. Mares will kick or nip to drive away another mare's foal, or kick to drive a stallion away when not in season, and if allowed, react to people moving around them, especially touching around their flanks, in that way. My experience is that when a new person gets a mare, the mare will 'try out' that behavior ('try out' is how it looks to the casual observer, but it is totally instinctive, and teaching animals to not do it, is basically like teaching someone not to blink when a baseball is coming straight at their eyeballs, NOT doing it will break down quickly if not constantly reinforced).

I think most of the time when mares really do act bad, and aren't just badly trained, they have cystic ovaries, or other painful reproductive problems. Most of the time, it's training. MOST.....

I've seen a few very, very severe cases of cystic ovaries. One was really horrible - the animal would very resignedly stagger along through every ride, and occasionally just couldn't take it any more and would blow up. The owner 'could not afford' a vet appointment. So she longed the horse for an hour or two before every ride. Most people assumed the problems were being exaggerated(you could look in the ring and see this horse shuffling slowly along with its head down most of the time, and completely miss the occasional explosion), or that they were due to the lack of skill of the rider. It was horrible to watch that poor animal stagger along. When the vet was finally called, he said the ovaries were so bad, he wanted to send pics of them to a veterinary journal. He also said the animal would have been in constant, severe pain.

They say 'a mare never forgets' - being ridden in pain for a long time, the animal develops defensive habits that remain long after the pain is removed.

There is a typical form to the muscles of the hind quarters and how the tail is held, a typical way the animal moves off after mounting, and usually, a very typical behavior under saddle - the animal goes from a pretty continuous sullen unresponsiveness or very, very slow response to rider signals, to occasional explosion of bucking or similar reaction. Sudden bucking in a very quiet animal might be due to cystic ovaries or related, painful problems.

 

[theoldchick]

I like spayed mares.

 

[babyblue]

my little mare that I raised from a weanling you never knew she was in heat unless you went looking. a friends mare is nicknamed kujoe for a very good reason. I suspect that mare has some sort of hormonal issues going on. shes built like a brick house with out intense ridding/work and she will attack other horses, particularly my poor old gelding on sight.

 

[michickenwrangler]

Quote:
Yes, this, a LOT!

I've always very much enjoyed mares and known a couple who had a slight variation in temperament during their cycle, generally less with me or working and more with other horses or being slightly more distracted by other horses - but I've known lots of people who blamed every little thing on the horse being a mare.

x2

It's more of an individual horse than a breed.

My Arab/Saddlebred even gets "mare-ish" and amorous if long-legged men ride her. My purebred Arab you could never tell when she was in heat. There was TWH stallion who was pastured near her and he would prance and show off and she would look at him like "Gee, he's being talkative today" and go back to eating where my other mare would run the fenceline "winking" at him.

 

[GalloFino]

Thanks so much for the info, everyone. So...a follow up question. Can you get a good idea of how a mare is in terms of being hormonal/marish by doing your horse shopping in the spring/summer and visiting her a few times? It seems like the answer would be 'well duh', but I always like to double check the conclusions I've leaped to!

 

[bkreugar]

Have to say I totally agree with chickerdoodle.

I have always preferred mares, I can read them easily. I have had a few geldings but they had to be pretty special.

Most QH people I run into though LOVE those QH geldings. To me they seem pretty DULL. I have ridden or owned well over 100 mares and only 1 was "mareish". I think it is highly overstated as said for a lack of training.

Your worry would be solved mostly if you were allowed to take prospective horse on trial. If you could get a 30 day trial in the spring you would probably see said horse in all possible lights. BUT most people don't want to give trials and if they do they do a week to 10 days. If you are that concerned in this market, you could always try a "free lease" where you take over horse for 6 months or a year. Then if you really like horse, you buy it. If not try another.

Right now horse market is so bad people are giving horses away. So I am positive you could possible free leases.

Though if you live in Mexico and not New mexico, anyone desperate enough would take thier unwanted horse to a kill auction I would guess.