Ages of Sexual Activity
- female: from 18 months to 25 years
- male: from 2 years (testicular descent can occur up to 2 years)
Cycle in female
Sexual activity occurs from February to August. The duration of the cycle is 3 weeks on average. On this cycle, the duration of estrus (acceptance period of the male) is 6 days on average. The heats are spaced by 15 days. Ovulation takes place at the end of the heat (1 to 2 days before the end).
Season of love
It begins in the spring because horses are sensitive to the lengthening of the days. Indeed, light stimulates the secretion of certain hormones. When a female is in heat, it emits so-called pheromones detectable by a male several kilometers away. The latter usually turns up his upper lip in a characteristic grimace called "flehmen". In the presence of the mare, he starts his court: dilated nostrils, erect ears, head raised, carrying his tail in plume. It emits small neighing neighbors, turns it round and around, laterally to avoid blows, sniff and nibble its rump and flanks
