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Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica logoLink to Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica
. 1991 Sep 1;32(3):319–325. doi: 10.1186/BF03546961

Onset of Luteal Activity in Non-Foaling Mares during the Early Breeding Season in Finland

Igångsättning av lutealfasen hos icke-fölande ston under den tidiga avelssäsongen i Finland.

Erkki Koskinen 1,, Terttu Katila 1
PMCID: PMC8127913  PMID: 1814181

Abstract

The luteal activity in mares was studied in the Equine Research Station (ERS) and in trotting stables (TS) in South-Finland. The mares were Standardbreeds in the TS and mainly Finnhorses in the ERS. Between January and June blood was collected once a week for serum progesterone determinations. The mares in the ERS were distributed in 1 of 3 groups: three-years old not yet in training (N = 38), brood mares (N = 21) and mares in training (N = 47). A 4th group was the mares in training in the trotting stables (N = 73).

Every 5 th mare in the ERS and every 4th mare in the trotting stables were cycling already at the beginning of the year. Onset of luteal activity in anoestrous mares was most common in the middle of May. Over 95 % of the mares were cycling at the beginning of June.

In the ERS 40 % of the Finnhorse mares in training were cycling through the winter. The three-years old and the brood mares were all anoestrous during winter. They started to cycle on average before the middle of May. Anoestrous training mares started before the middle of April.

Anoestrous Finnhorse mares began to cycle later than warm blooded mares in all of the groups studied. Mares which had foaled the previous year were more often anoestrous during the winter than dry mares.

The time of year when cycling began in a particular mare tended to be the same from year to year (p < 0.01).

Keywords: anoestrus, progesterone determination, ovulation, horses

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