[notadumbld]

Does anyone know how long it takes to tease a mare into heat? Di VInci's owner has offered to let us take FIona down to her barn where she has a teaser gelding. SHe doesn't tease with Di Vinci because that would affect his temperment. SHe will tease Fiona, give her stall, feed and full turn-out, take her to the vet for an ultrasound to see if she's ready for insemination, do the insemination herself, all for $20 a day. We don't have any gelding at our barn who know how to tease and we don't want to bring her into heat artificially because we think this might be the reason she twinned the last time. Any thoughts, suggestions?

[HalterGirl_88]

The teasing doesnt actually bring the mare into heat, it's just used to tell if the mare is in heat and if so how receptive she is. Teasing should be done a minimum of every other day throughout breeding season. This will let you know when the estrus period begins and ends. Squatting, tail-raising, urinating, and vulvar winking are the usual signs of heat, but some mares may show only subtle changes in their behavior when they are in heat. Signs of heat can be different between mares, but they will usually act the same during each cycle. So it's helpful to know what signs your mare exhibits. You can keep a record of her cycle and that way you will know when she's ready to be bred. It would probably be a good idea to send her to the breeder so they can watch her. They will know best what signs to watch for during teasing and that way she's right there available to be bred immediately.

[mustang_dodger]

teasing is to see if a mare is in heat. a good way to bring a mare in to heat. is to put her under lights. that's what a few of my friends do with there mares.

[Bubba]

Most mares' cycles shut down for the winter; putting them on a specific lighting program can jump start their cycles in the late winter/early spring (but it has to be done gradually, like the natural longer days are gradual).

Once they start (and sometimes the first couple of cycles in the spring will be irregular), mares usually have about a three week cycle. So you might expect to wait as long as three weeks for her to come into heat, though depending where she might be in the cycle, it could be less .

[notadumbld]

Thanks for the info.

[harli36]

I would just like to add a bit to what haltergirl said...

Twinning can be genetic in horses just like it is in humans. If a mare ovulates twice in one heat cycle once she is liable to do it again. True a horse may ovulate twice because of medications used to bring them into heat but there is no way of knowing if it was the medications fault or the mares genetics. I'm not trying to scare you here but when fiona is breed next time make sure she is ultrasounded like you did last time. But if there are twins present again and the vet has to pinch one of them maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to have the vet come out a day or two later and do another ultrasound just to make sure that the pinching process worked. Normally you wouldn't have to do this but I don't think it would be a bad idea taking the extra precaution.

Also mares usually do cycle throughout the winter it's just that their cycles are more irregular and the signs that they are in heat are not as strong. On most mares their heat cycles may not be perceptible in the winter time without either an ultrasound machine and/or a speculum. A mares heat cycle will last usually around 21-24 days. Ovulation occurs anywhere from 24-48 hours before the end of estrus, which is the receptive to the male part of the heat cycle. Now remeber this is a normal cycle and an irregular winter cycle may not follow those exact rules.

Also just for FYI the reason that they don't tease Da Vinci isn't because it will change his temperment. It is because if a stallion is constantly being teased and is not able to ejaculate then his ejaculate will become higher in volume and lower in sperm numbers. Basically less concentrated which is not a good thing in a breeding stallion.
http://www.das.psu.edu/user/equine/a.../lowntease.htm

That is a link to a project I had to do for a class of mine it is on the detection of estrus in mares. It was the first link that came up when I did a search (pretty cool ) you may find some of it helpful to you. There are also some other breeding related projects which were done that may be beneficial to you. We all worked very hard on our projects and the teacher also worked closely with us to insure the information was correct.