Mr. McFarland Texas A&M University

 Answer the questions below about these categories: Breeding season Reproductive behavior  What do you know?  What do you think you know?  What you don’t know yet

 Identify the equine breeding season and times between cycles  Identify mare behavior when in estrus  Identify ways a stallion can recognize a mare in estrus  Explore field applications of this knowledge

 Horses are long-day breeders  Sexually active during spring & summer  Come into estrus every 21 days  Stay fertile for about 7 days  Breeders can manipulate seasons by using lights

 Visual search – always on the lookout  Flehmen response – stallion checks mare urine for special pheromones  pheromones – chemicals released by repro tract  to be detected by male  causes stimulation/excitement

 Vocalization  High degree of excitement when mare in estrus (heat) is found  Nudging – to check posture

 Seeks out stallion, stays near  Frequent urination in front of stallion  Releases pheromones in urine – triggers Flehmen response in stallions  Flagging  Mare raises tail up & down to “signal” to stallion

 Restlessness, running fence, extra movement  Research proves females of most species are more active when fertile  Lordosis- stands to be mounted, tail aside

 Mare & Stallion  eOyk eOyk

 Farm management  Don’t keep a mare in heat with a stallion if you don’t want her bred!  Semen collection  Use a teaser mare to arouse stallion  Artificial insemination  Signals help breeders know when to palpate and AI  Do other farm animals have similar behaviors?

 Breeding season: spring and summer  Female behavior: frequent urination, flagging, unsoundness, lordosis  Male behavior: flehmen response, very active, vocalization, nudging  Why is this important? farm mgmt, semen collection, AI