RA, in season?

[Josephus]

Anybody know when fillies are in season?  Would that be factor a factor racing against colts. Would it affect her (RA) performance; and vice-versa could the colts be distracted by her presence in the race?

[sighthound]

Fillies come in season repeatedly, about once every 21 days (unless they are bred) during the spring and summer of every year, once they hit puberty (about yearling age for most).

Colts are trained to (hopefully) not give into their sexual urges.  Especially when a rider is on their back.  

There are certainly plenty of in-season fillies around yearling breaking facilities and in the race track environment, galloping in the morning, etc.  Not all have their estrus seasons supressed.

[ajkreider]

Interesting, I\'d not thought of this as something to take into account when betting.

I know that young female human athletes often have less frequent and even non-existent menstrual cycles when in heavy training.  Does something similar happen to a fillies with their estrus cycles?

(That\'s probably a really stupid question, but I asked anyway.)

[sighthound]

Not stupid, and yes, some don\'t seem to cycle very regularly, but most do.

It\'s not rare to take a race filly to the shed to be bred, then if pregnant continue to race her for a few months, or take her to the farm then.

Some trainers regularly use Regumate as a hormonal treatment in all their fillies to keep them from cycling in the spring and summer (altrenogest is a synthetic progestin).

That prevents the behavioral quirks that can occur with some in-season fillies or mares.  

Some trainers don\'t ever use anything to adjust cycles.  Some trainers only use Regumate if a filly\'s cycle behavioural changes interfer with her training.

Fillies and mares come into season in all horse sports - Olympic levels to backyard horses on a trail ride.  It\'s just the deal with girls.  Some mares are a behavioral pain during their cycle, some are not.  Some seem to have ovarian pain when they ovulate, some do not.  

I don\'t think it\'s a factor in betting.

As all these intact young colts can have sex and dominance on their minds, some more so than others.  In some it\'s a problem, in some it\'s not.