I have a six year old percheron mare that has very obvious heat cycles. When she is in heat, she is IN HEAT. I bred her two times this year, because the first covering did not take. After the second breeding, she missed her cycle, so I had an ultrasound done at 23 days to see if she was pregnant. The vet said that she was not, and that she did not look like she was coming into heat. She has now missed her second cycle. Do you think that the ultra sound could have missed the pregnancy? If not, why did she quit cycling? Any advice would really help. Thanks
The simple answer is yes, the VET doing the ultrasound could have missed it. I had a lovely filly from a mare I had bought as empty. She had been scanned by an experienced stud vet AND injected to bring her back into season.
It really depends on how experienced your vet is and how careful he was. It SHOULDN'T happen though!
As to other reasons why she might have quit cycling (or VISIBLY cycling.) She might have had a 'silent heat', she might have a persistent follicle, there are other possibilities. I would have her scanned again to check for a missed pregnancy, or a persistent follicle, etc.
Janet, I am pretty much a rookie at breeding horses, so could you explain what a persistent follicle is and what happens in a silent heat. Thanks a lot.
I'm far from an expert and others could tell you more but basically a persistent follicle gets to a certain size and sits there - last mare we had with one had a 40 mm follicle, failed to come into season and a week later on scanning it was STILL sitting there. So we gave her a shot of Estrumate to 'dislodge' it and hopefully get her back into season in a week's time.
Another mare had both persistent follicles, and even when she HAD ovulated, she only came into season for less than a day (and didn't take to service.) After last peristent follicle, we gave her Estrumate and sent her to a top AI centre where they scanned her about 5 times and then AI'd her - she is now safely in foal.
I suspect that some 'silent heats' are actually just not enough teasing. I have one mare has to be teased for at least 10 minutes before she'll show - and one visiting mare (who we'd been told was always easy to spot) took a good half hour!)
Jos Posted From: 137.186.22.197
Posted on Thursday, August 05, 2004 - 01:08 pm:
There is an article on this subject on the web site. Click on the link for more information on persistent follicles which are also termed "Anovulatory Hemorrhagic Follicles", "Persistent Anovulatory Follicles", and sometimes "Autumn Follicles".
Joanna Posted From: 12.32.46.220
Posted on Friday, August 13, 2004 - 12:27 pm:
This mare was supposed to have been in heat when I started this thread, so I decided to try and tease her with one of my very cassanova like geldings that she always showed to before. Absolutly nothing happened. She did not show but she also did not pin her ears or squeal. Since that pretty much rules out silent heat, what should I do now?
No - it doesn't rule out a silent heat. Mares having a silent heat won't show - that's why it's called a silent heat - even a stallion does not 'spot' them after repeated teasing. (It should perhaps be called an invisible heat!)
My mare that has regular silent heats shows no reaction whatsoever to the stallion - or him to her! She would show very briefly (and unenthusiastically) for about 12 hours at the end of her heat only. Blink and you'd miss it.
The only way to work out what's going on with this mare is to have her scanned again. That will pick up a missed pregnancy, a persistent follicle, etc.
Once you know what's going on, you can decide whether to inject her to bring her back into season - or whether it's too late for this year - or whatever.
I rescued a mare that was very thin from an abusive home they said she had been bred 30 days beforeI took her. I stopped on the way home to have her checked.My vet said she wasn't preg but had a cyst.She has shown no heat and is starting to bag up,is the chance greater she is pregnant or it's beause of the cyst.I didn't have her checked again because i used to work for that vet and shortly after I left on very bad terms and he is the only one in the area with an ultasound. Then I figured I would just give her till spring to get back in great health .
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