A mare is an adult female horse or other equine . In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing , a mare is defined as a female horse more than four years old. The word can also be used for other female equine animals, particularly mules and zebras , but a female donkey is usually called a "jenny". A broodmare is a mare used for breeding.
27-411: Mares carry their young (called foals ) for approximately 11 months from conception to birth. (Average range 320–370 days.) Usually just one young is born; twins are rare. When a domesticated mare foals, she nurses the foal for at least four to six months before it is weaned , though mares in the wild may allow a foal to nurse for up to a year. The estrous cycle , also known as "season" or "heat" of
54-470: A cart or under saddle at that age. The most common age for young horses to begin training under saddle is the age of three. A few breeds and disciplines wait until the animal is four. Mare%27s milk Mare milk is milk lactated by female horses, known as mares , to feed their foals . It is rich in whey protein , polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamin C , and is a key ingredient in kumis . In several European countries, including Germany, it
81-499: A farrier , having hair trimmed with electric clippers, and to become familiar with things it will have to do throughout life, such as loading into a horse trailer or wearing a horse blanket . Horses in general have excellent memories, so a foal must not be taught anything as a young horse that would be undesirable for it to do as a full-grown animal. In either case, foals that have not bonded to their mothers will have difficulty in pasture. The mare will find it more difficult to teach
108-445: A gestation period of approximately 11 months. Birth takes place quickly, consistent with the status of a horse as a prey animal, and more often at night than during the day. Labor lasting over twenty-four hours may be a sign of medical complications. Unlike most predators which are altricial (born helpless), horses are precocial , meaning they come into the world relatively mature and mobile. Healthy foals can typically keep up with
135-498: A foal every year into her twenties, though not all breeders will breed a mare every year. In addition, many mares are kept for riding and so are not bred annually, as a mare in late pregnancy or nursing a foal is not able to perform at as athletic a standard as one who is neither pregnant nor lactating . In addition, some mares become anxious when separated from their foals, even temporarily, and thus are difficult to manage under saddle until their foals are weaned . The formation of
162-591: A foal, regardless of stature, is too young to be ridden or used as a working animal . Foals, whether they grow up to be horse or pony-sized, can be distinguished from adult horses by their extremely long legs and small, slim bodies. Their heads and eyes also exhibit juvenile characteristics . Although ponies exhibit some neoteny with the wide foreheads and small stature, their body proportions are similar to that of an adult horse. Pony foals are proportionally smaller than adults, but like horse foals, they are slimmer and have proportionally longer legs. Foals are born after
189-463: A human infant, it receives nourishment and antibodies from the colostrum in milk that is produced within the first few hours or days following parturition . The mare needs additional water to help her produce milk for the foal and may benefit from supplementary nutrition . A foal may start to eat solids from ten days of age. After eight to ten weeks it will need more nutrition than the mare's milk can supply, requiring supplementary nourishment. It
216-413: A mare occurs roughly every 19–22 days and occurs from early spring into autumn. As the days shorten, most mares enter an anestrus period during the winter and thus do not cycle in this period. The reproductive cycle in a mare is controlled by the photoperiod (length of the day), the cycle first triggered when the days begin to lengthen. As the days shorten, the mare returns to the anestrus period when she
243-780: A small percentage compete against male horses. However, a few fillies and mares have won classic horse races against colts, including the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, the Kentucky Derby , the Preakness Stakes , the Belmont Stakes , the Melbourne Cup and the Breeders' Cup Classic . Mares are used as dairy animals in some cultures, especially by the nomads and formerly nomadic peoples of Central Asia . Fermented mare's milk , known as kumis ,
270-402: Is an equine up to one year old; this term is used mainly for horses , but can be used for donkeys . More specific terms are colt for a male foal and filly for a female foal, and are used until the horse is three or four. When the foal is nursing from its dam (mother), it may also be called a "suckling". After it has been weaned from its dam, it may be called a " weanling ". When a mare
297-504: Is called a mare, and a colt over three is called a stallion . A castrated male horse is called a gelding regardless of age; however, colloquially, the term "gelding colt" is sometimes used until a young gelding is three or four. (There is no specific term for a spayed mare other than a "spayed mare".) Horses that mature at a small stature are called ponies and occasionally confused with foals. However, body proportions are very different. An adult pony can be ridden and put to work, but
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#1732852045633324-547: Is important when adding solid food to the foal's diet to not feed the foal excessively or feed an improperly balanced diet. This can trigger one of several possible growth disorders that can cause lifelong soundness problems. On the other hand, insufficient nutrition to mare or foal can cause stunted growth and other health problems for the foal as it gets older. It is typical for foals under human management to be weaned between four and six months of age, though under natural conditions, they may nurse for longer, occasionally until
351-539: Is not common. Two-year-olds sometimes are deliberately bred, though doing so, particularly with fillies, puts undesirable stress on their still-growing bodies. As a general rule, breeding young horses prior to the age of three is considered undesirable. In spite of rapid growth, a foal is too young to be ridden or driven . However, foals usually receive very basic horse training in the form of being taught to accept being led by humans, called halter -breaking. They may also learn to accept horse grooming , hoof trimming by
378-477: Is not sexually receptive. Anestrus prevents the mare from conceiving in the winter months, as that would result in her foaling during the harshest part of the year, a time when it would be most difficult for the foal to survive. However, for most competitive purposes, foals are given an official "birthday" of January 1 (August 1 in the Southern Hemisphere ), and many breeders want foals to be born as early in
405-434: Is pregnant, she is said to be "in foal". When the mare gives birth, she is "foaling", and the impending birth is usually stated as "to foal". A newborn horse is "foaled". After a horse is one year old, it is no longer a foal, and is a " yearling ". There are no special age-related terms for young horses older than yearlings. When young horses reach breeding maturity, the terms change: a filly over three (four in horse racing )
432-560: Is the national drink of Kyrgyzstan . Some mares, usually of draft horse breeding, are kept in North America for the production of their urine. Pregnant mares' urine is the source of the active ingredient in the hormonal drug Premarin (derived from Pre gnant ma res' u rin e). Until the invention of castration , and even later where there was less cultural acceptance of castration, mares were less difficult to manage than stallions and thus preferred for most ordinary work. Historically,
459-619: The Bedouin nomads of the Arabian Peninsula preferred mares on their raids, because stallions would nicker to the opposing camps' horses, whereas mares would be quiet. However, other cultures preferred male horses over mares either due to a desire for more aggressive behavior in a fighting animal, or to not be inconvenienced with a loss of work ability due to a mare's pregnancy, parturition and lactation . The word mare , meaning "female horse", took several forms before A.D. 900. In Old English
486-576: The Wiktionary entry for морь includes a comparison to possibly related words for horse in Korean, Manchu, Chinese (馬/马 mǎ), Japanese (うま uma), and old formal Arabic is Mahrمهر One possible derived term is a mare's nest , an expression for "excitement over something which does not exist". The term nightmare , is not directly connected etymologically with the word for female horse, but rather to homophones that meant "incubus" or "goblin". Foal A foal
513-473: The bond between a mare and her foal "occurs during the first few hours post-partum , but that of the foal to the mare takes place over a period of days". Mares are considered easier to handle than stallions . Some equestrians consider mares to be more difficult to handle than geldings. The results of a study by the Sydney School of Veterinary Science suggested that women riders have gendered assumptions about
540-705: The foal to follow her. Other horses can have difficulty communicating with the foal and may ostracise it due to speaking a different "language". It can be difficult to lead a foal that has never even been led by its dam. Horses are not fully mature until the age of four or five, but most are started as working animals much younger, though care must be taken not to over-stress the "soft" bones of younger animals. Yearlings are generally too young to be ridden at all, though many race horses are put under saddle as "long" yearlings, in autumn. Physiologically young horses are still not truly mature as two-year-olds, though some breeders and most race horse trainers do start young horses in
567-559: The foal. A mare that is both nursing and pregnant will have increased nutritional demands made upon her in the last months of pregnancy , and therefore most domesticated foals are weaned sometime in the autumn in the Northern Hemisphere if the mare is to be bred again the next season. Weanlings are not capable of reproduction. Puberty occurs in most horses during their yearling year. Therefore, some young horses are capable of reproduction prior to full physical maturity, though it
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#1732852045633594-450: The following year when the mare foals again. Some foals can nurse for up to three years in domesticity because the mare is less likely to conceive another foetus. A foal that has been weaned but is less than one year old is called a weanling . Mare's milk is not a significant source of nutrients for the foal after about four months, though it does no harm to a healthy mare for a foal to nurse longer and may be of some psychological benefit to
621-845: The form was mīere , mere or mȳre , the feminine forms for mearh (horse). The Old German form of the word was Mähre . Similarly, in Irish and Gaelic , the word was marc , in Welsh , march , in Cornish "margh", and in Breton marc'h . The word is "said to be of Gaulish origin." It is said by some writers to derive from Proto-Germanic * marhijō ("female horse"), from Proto-Germanic marhaz ("horse"), from Proto-Indo-European * markos ("horse"). The word has no known cognates beyond Germanic and Celtic . However, an interesting hypothesis links these Indo-European words to Mongolian морь (mori, horse). In addition,
648-482: The herd will move and to where. The herd stallion usually brings up the rear and acts as a defender of the herd against predators and other stallions. Mares are used in every equestrian sport and usually compete equally with stallions and geldings in most events, though some competitions may offer classes open only to one sex of horse or another, particularly in breeding or "in-hand" conformation classes. In horse racing , mares and fillies have their own races and only
675-403: The rest of the herd only a few hours after birth. If a foal has not eaten within twelve hours, it may require assistance. Healthy foals grow quickly and can put on up to three pounds or over a kilo a day. A sound diet improves growth and leads to a healthier adult animal, although genetics also plays a part. In the first weeks of life the foal gets everything it needs from the mare 's milk. Like
702-458: The suitability of mares, geldings and stallions for different disciplines and for different riders and chose different and more negative descriptors for the behavior of mares. This is despite an absence of scientific data confirming the assumptions. This may be significant for the handling and welfare of mares. In wild herds, a "boss mare" or "lead mare" leads the band to grazing, to water, and away from danger. She eats and drinks first, decides when
729-641: The year as possible. Therefore, many breeding farms begin to put mares "under lights" in late winter in order to bring them out of anestrus early and allow conception to occur in February or March. One exception to this general rule is the field of endurance riding , which requires horses to be 60 true calendar months old (5 years) before competing at longer distances. Fillies are sexually mature by age two and are sometimes bred at that age, but generally should not be bred until they have stopped growing, usually by age four or five. A healthy, well-managed mare can produce
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