Wild Ridge Stables

For years, horse owners and trainers have often blamed a mare's misbehavior on her hormones. Kicking at the stall wall? Must be her cycle. Refusing to focus under saddle? Probably "hormonal." But research from the University of California, Davis, is challenging that long-held belief — and the results may surprise you.
What They Studied:
Dr. Lauren Huggins and colleagues at UC Davis's Clinical Endocrinology Laboratory examined case histories from mares referred for hormone testing between 2011 and 2020. From tens of thousands of submissions, 2,914 case files specifically mentioned behavioral concerns — words like "misbehaving," "aggressive," or "difficult" showed up in the histories. The team ran a granulosa cell tumor (GCT) hormone panel — testing AMH, inhibin, and testosterone — to see whether these behavioral complaints were actually linked to elevated ovarian hormones. What They Found:
86% of the mares with reported misbehavior had no hormone levels in the GCT-associated range — only 14% did. The one behavior pattern that showed a reliable hormonal connection was stallion-like behavior — things like vocalizing, becoming studdish, or mounting other mares. More common complaints — aggression, kicking, biting, or general "difficult" behavior — showed no significant link to elevated hormone concentrations.
💡 So What Does This Mean?
It means hormones aren't the default explanation for every behavioral quirk a mare displays. The findings challenge a common assumption in the horse world — that misbehavior in mares is usually rooted in her ovaries. According to the data, the large majority of reported misbehavior showed no hormonal signature at all.
🎯 Why This Matters:
Understanding that behavior isn't automatically tied to hormones helps owners and veterinarians take a more holistic approach. If a mare is acting out, the cause might be pain, stress, environment, lack of enrichment, or training confusion — not necessarily her cycle. Huggins also noted this raises questions about ovariectomy (o***y removal) surgery performed for behavior complaints, since owners often report improvement even when no tumor was found beforehand. Takeaway:
Mares aren't inherently moody — and most of the time, when she's "acting up," it's not about her hormones. The exception worth watching for is stallion-like behavior, which remains the one pattern worth investigating hormonally.
Source: Huggins et al., "Abnormal mare behaviour is rarely associated with changes in hormonal markers of granulosa cell tumours," Equine Veterinary Journal, 2024 (findings first presented at AAEP Convention 2022).

Today's Math Lesson is a Review of Percentages.

It seems like this will be the three hundredth-thirty-third time I've covered this subject but based on some posts and comments in my group I should be a nice guy and review it again because it is critical to understand the issue if you are going to choose a feed for your horses.

There are two areas of nutrition that keep coming up as hot buttons relating to percentages listed on the feed tag;

Protein and nonstructural carbohydrates. The problem stems from a lack of understanding of how percentages work to determine the inclusion rate of a nutrient in the feed resulting in an assumption that is not helping your horses even though you believe that it is.

That you care deeply for your horse's wellbeing is commendable, but you should base your concern on accurate information.

The term "inclusion rate" indicates how much of something is included in a feed. This rate is calculated in one of three ways, percentage, ppm and mg. In the US this rate is relative to "per pound".

Today we will focus on "percentage".

Now, I really hated math in school because I never understood what the hell anyone needed it for besides making change at the grocery store.

When I decided I wanted to be a pilot math became a HUUUUGGGGEEE part of my life because without math one is unable to fly an airplane. So, if any of you who hated math in school but did NOT become a pilot I get your lack of understanding of percentages.

Percent is derived from the Latin, "per centum" or "of 100".

Converting pounds to ounces or kilograms to pounds and vice versa is an entirely different lesson so we will just use "units". To make it even easier I will use "Cheerios" as our "unit" since many children first learned math by counting Cheerios.

If you require a teaching aid go to your cabinet and grab the box of Cheerios.

So then if we have 100 cheerios and 1% is 1 of a hundred Cheerios then 5% will be 5 Cheerios. 25%=25 Cheerios. Easy, right?

K then.

Let's start with carbs because everyone with a metabolic horse, including me, hyperventilates about carbs.

Somehow, somewhere in some universe someone decided that 10% was the magical "safe" number for carbs. Totally arbitrary but since we are stuck with it lets run with it.

People believe that any feed at or below 10% NSC is "safe" and anything over 10% NSC will cause pain and woe to our metabolic ponies.

Did anyone see the South Park episode on gluten? If not, expand your horizons and watch it.

I digress..

The problem with this math is the other nutrient values in the feed and the required daily feed rate.

In the photo below I compare Enrich ration balancer to Stabul1 concentrated feed.

Stabul1 is 10% NSC so it is "safe" while Enrich is 15% NSC so Randy is worried about his...oh, wait, that was South Park...NVM.

Here's the problem. You have to feed 3x the amount of Stabul1 to obtain thew same nutritional density as 1 pound of Enrich.

Let's look at this in terms of Cheerios.

Enrich is 100 Cheerios so 15% means that the horse is getting 15 cheerios worth of carbs.

Stabul1 needs 300 Cheerios to provide the same nutrition as Enrich and at 10% NSC which means our horse gets 30 Cheerios of carbs instead of 15!

Capisce? (Ca-pee-shay, unless you're Tony Soprano then its "Gabeesh")

I love speaking Italian but learning it is worse than math since there are seven different meanings of the same word depending on the context and likewise there are seven different words with the same translation in different context. Fun, no?

I digress...

The reality of math is that the terrible "unsafe" feed is actually delivering HALF the Cheerios.

The same goes for protein which is really crazy because everyone is hysterical about it based on a poorly done research study where metabolic horses were fed an unbelievable amount of protein that cause laminitis. There's almost no possible way that a horse could be inadvertently fed as many Cheerios as they were fed in this study.

When you see "32% protein" on a balancer feed tag just remember that it only needs 1,000 Cheerios per day so your horse only gets 32 Cheerios of protein while the "safe" 12% protein feed requires 4,000 Cheerios per day resulting in 48 cheerios per day!!!

Math, unlike Italian, has only one single correct result based on a given operation.

Stop. Think. Understand. This process will help you do the best for your horses.

✔️The Facts About Screwworm from the American Horse Council

The American Horse Council (AHC) is working to share critical information for horse owners regarding the current New World Screwworm (NWS) infestation recently announced in Texas.

On June 3, 2026, the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed New World Screwworm in the umbilical area of a calf in Zavala County, Texas. This expansion into the United States is alarming and AHC wants to make sure you know about the potential risks of this parasitic fly to horses.

While this might seem like an overwhelming and scary situation, we’ve dealt with this before and have confidence in current science based strategies. The United States historically was afflicted with Screwworm for hundreds of years before successfully eliminating it from the country in the 1960s using many of the same methods we use now.

We’ve eliminated it before, and have full faith we’ll do it again, but only if all horse owners do their part to stay vigilant and follow state guidelines for animal movement.

‼️ Read the facts here: https://horsecouncil.org/screwworm/