Mare in heat = OK alone; misbehaves with gelding

My mare lives alone and honestly, she is at her best when she is alone. I ride on and off with a friend. If my friend takes a lead mare rather than a submissive mare, I have to be careful as my mare wants to ensure her own spot as boss. Usually this means just reminding her that I'm there and she needs to not worry about the other horse. Then it's over and the ride is all good.

With one of my friend's geldings, it's not a problem. He's a laid back, lazy kind of guy. My mare just ignores him basically.

My friend has a new gelding. He's upbeat and keeps up to my mare's fast walk. (So nice for a change not to have to rein my mare back!) However, the last time we went out, my mare was just a total flirt and I was constantly after her to pick up the pace (which is really odd for her), listen to me, and quit stopping to wink. It was sooo annoying. Get this though, before we met up with my friend, my mare was perfectly fine. As soon as we dropped them off, my mare was fine again. Not 5 minutes difference, but immediately! So, I know the cause. What I don't know is how to fix it.

I was after her the entire time. She would listen to me when I demanded, but it was just completely unpleasant. I had no warning before we went out. She didn't appear to be in heat before we left. If I know she's in heat beforehand, I can just ask my friend to take another horse, but that doesn't solve the problem.

Ideas?

(Sorry it's so long. Seems like I tend to get long-winded when I explain things.)

It's why cowboys ride geldings. Make yourself up a calander and know that every 21 days, you will have to deal with it for 5-6 days.

Once out of season, your mare will probably act just fine.

It's a problem and good luck fixing it. I have a gelding that is "proud cut", ie gelded and doesn't know it and the ladies don't know it either. To keep from constant interruptions on a ride I either put him in the lead or 2-3 horses back from the harlots. Luckily he is a gentleman while being ridden so not causing any issues himself.

Have to also say it can become a serious saftey issue. I've had mares going 8-9mph pull a sudden stop and squat. Their rider nearly gets unseated while a 1300lb, 16.2 gelding is doing his best to not go over the top of the two in front of him. Few times it became real dicey situation but luckily, so far, no injuries.

I have found that most mares will get over worrying about being in heat once they are ridden a lot of miles. Hopefully she will get over it. All the mares that I have owned have been a pain around that time for the first few months or so of riding. After they found that I insisted that they behave, they always seemed to do so. I rarely notice whether my mare is in heat or not now.

The thing is though, that this is the first time she has ever given me that amount of trouble over it when riding with a gelding. With at least three other geldings I've been out when she's been in heat and while it's bothersome, it was not nearly so bad as this time with this particular gelding. It's like this guy is her windup key.

Maybe it was just the day... I'll try again with the same gelding and see how it goes, but if it's as troublesome as last time, I'm going home early :)

A friend of ours rides an old Arabian mare that is TOTALLY in love with my cousin's black Quarab, Elan. OMG the old girl comes totally unglued around him - squirting like mad, winking, dang, she was swishing her tail through her squirting one day flinging urine EVERYWHERE.

She only does this with Elan. She couldn't care less if Biscuit is there. LOL I guess horses can have a crush on a toyboy too!!

First I have to say sorry but this is funny. My mare is a total hussy, more so with other mares. She has mastered winking and walking at the same time. She gets her backside washed after every trail ride. I put her on Mare magic over a week ago and it has done wonders. She still winks and does her thing but she's so much more calm and actually listens now.

Also if a new gelding is on a ride, my mare has to be by him and have her normal hussy attitude. After a few weeks with this new gelding, she's over him and moved on.

Mare magic takes almost a week to build up in the system, or well that's how long it took my mare. It says to double the dose for the first 10 days as the loading dose. It's super cheap, about $8 a month, so it's worth a try.

My mare "could" be quite the hussy and a royal pain during "her time", but I too put her on "Mare Magic" and have seen a huge change. One note: Mare Magic is actually kind of spendy when you compare it to just plain Organic Raspberry leaves. I buy them through Amazon usually supplied by Frontier botanicals for about 1/3 the cost I usually buy 3 - 2# bags and get free shipping. All Mare Magic is is 100% dried raspberry leaves.

^^^ Yeap, I just bought the small bag at the local feed store to see if it worked first before messing with shipping. Also nice that it's not a drug but a natural remedy. It certainly is amazing. But I've been told it doesn't always work. It's really a love it or leave it thing.

I have also heard that it doesn't always work, I guess I'm lucky. I have heard some people feed it to there unruly gelding too, again with mixed results.

The massage therapist I use on my girl did recommend using twice the suggested dosage as it "can't hurt". So I've been feeding my girl between 1/3 and 1/2 fluffy cup daily.