Mares in season

Hey guys, I have my own little mare who I've had for just over three months now, and she went through a little phase when she was a lot more sensitive with having her girth done up and her belly brushed and things like that.
Im really not used to dealing with mares, so kinda guessed this was her coming into season, but other than that, she didnt act any differently (not calling out for the geldings whenever one came in sight like some mares I know lol!), but I still don't know when and how often mares come into season, and would love anyone to tell me
I also know that some people say not to treat a mare any differently when in season but what do other people do with theirs; is it fair to treat them as normal when there obviouisly more sensitive etc?
Any help would be greeeat

The mare I used to have had what the locals around here called "silent heat," meaning you couldn't tell when she was in heat - she even ignored the stallions living next door to us!

My current mare is a real piece of work. She flirted through the fence with my son-in-law's stallion a time or two when she first arrived, but ignored him after that. When the nimnul SIL let the stallion into the lot, the stallion ignored the mare and attacked our little gelding. Dancer (the mare) jumped in between them and kicked the stallion silly (literally put him on the ground!) However, when nimnul SIL thought it would be cute to let the mare down in the pasture with the stallion - she was IMMEDIATELY in heat and receptive. Nimnul knew I didn't want her bred to his fugly stallion, but he wanted his kids to witness the "miracle of life." Gez - watch the Discovery channel!

But I digress - the two mares were a lot alike in many ways, and I never had to treat them differently when they were in heat. Call me insensative, but we girls have to carry on no matter how we feel when nature comes calling - and I expect my mares to do the same.

Really its up to you and your mare if you'd like to be more sensitive to her during her cycle... I don't see why it could hurt to be a little nicer, I have always had mares and a few would get REALLY grouchy during parts of their cycle, so I would make sure not to do what I know they didn't like (Magic didn't like her teats cleaned during her heat, Brandi didn't like her belly touched, Honey didn't like ANYTHING!!Lol), for me having 2 to 3 mares at a time ( and of course their cycles would sync up!! Ya not fun!) this made things just run smoother, but as I said, its totally up to you.... And the length of the cycle depends on lots of things as well as being individual to each mare but here is a li'l chart that I found that kinda shows how it goes... They usually cycle every 21 to 24 days...

My filly gets a little sore in her back. She does better when on dac Mare Relieve. Otherwise I treat her the same.

My mares act the same in or out of season, so I treat them the same :)

I don't treat my mare any differently, except have more patience with her. I don't reprimand her for her bad behavior, just work through it. She's gotten better over the years. She's also goten better since taking her off all grain and feeds. She's much less sensitive and her heats aren't so noticable.

My mare comes in to season once or more a month from March through December. She's a real hussy, lol.

My mare is HORRIBLE in heat. We recently had a marble put in her because we just couldnt stand it anymore. You couldnt even touch her without ther squatting and peeing. She would pin you against a wall if you got near her and pee on you. Forget shoeing her because she lays over and pees the whole time. Putting a harness on her takes a good half hour and is a total workout for me becuase she's just that bad. The marble has helped, but she still forces herself into heat every once in a while. But now I can give her a blast of regumate and she's out of it within the day. But before the marble she would go into heat almost all the time, she was never on any schedual so ya never knew when it was going to be a bad day. And it would last forever! Regumate was the only thing that kept her semi decent, but it was so expencive and she had to be on it every single day.

That is hillarious!! I'm sure it wasn't to you, but reading that cracked me up!

I'd of done the marble too

ill send her to YOU next time she's in heat and see how much your laughing. As the last guy who had to shoe her when she was in heat said "next time I better wear a raincoat!"

There's some speculation (not proven, but that alone is enough to turn me off of it) that marbling causes scar tissue to form in the uterus.. so for that reason I decided to not go that route with my mare, since there's a chance I'll breed her, or she'll become a broodie later in life.

I use mare magic and it's WONDERFUL at toning down heat cycles. My mare has almost "invisible heats", but can get sore so it helps with that (not moody or squating, just general soreness, can't blame her, I get it too ;] ). I reccomend it to anyone as a starting point with somewhat pissy mares, if it doesn't completely solve the problem there's always more potent stuff to try.

She gets regumate at shows as a precaution, just in case she's stalled near stallions. You never know, I don't want a worked up at a show just because there's a stud close to her, lol. I've never had a problem with her (she did 3 full show seasons w/o regumate, and no issues).. but I'm not willing to take the chance.

I also do NOT reccomend the Depo shot, my vet has told me more often than not it gives mare muscle soreness.. and since performance/show mares are almost always the ones who need it, that's a huge problem.

To the OP: Just give Mare Magic a try and see how it goes, I personally have seen some great results with it, and it's actually the only supplement (besides things like marbling, regumate, etc) my vet will suggest for mares.