Loss of Libido - How to Cope!

Introduction
A stallion should become interested in a mare in oestrus immediately and interact with vocal, olfactory and tactile investigation. He will achieve an erection very quickly, within 2 min of contact, and be ready to mount soon after this. Once mounted, he will enter the mare and begin thrusting. After 6–8 intravaginal thrusts most stallions will ejaculate. The stallion will usually ejaculate on the first mount with a total breeding time of 2–5 min. A novice stallion that has never mated before may take longer to mount and gain intromission. He may mount the mare before gaining an erection or mount inappropriately from the side; he will, however, display good libido. The characteristics of a particular stallion’s reactions are dependent upon previous breeding experience, management and season. Some stallions breed efficiently with little contact with a mare, others require considerable teasing time.

Libido problems
Specific libido problems include slow starting novices, slow or ‘sour’ experienced stallions and specific aversions or preferences. In a summary of 250 cases of sexual behaviour dysfunction by McDonnell (1992), libido problems accounted for 50% of cases. Of these 26% were slow starting novices, 12% were experienced stallions with inadequate libido and 12% were unruly or over- aggressive breeders. The other 50% of behaviour dysfunctions were: erection problems 5%, mounting problems 6%, ejaculatory dysfunction 25%, sexual aggression and fertility limiting general behaviour problems 14%. [...]