Very commonly, a horse will show the flehmen response when in pain, normally occuring in their flanks or back end. This has been seen during foaling and during colic. It seems to be more frequent in younger horses and varies largely from horse to horse.
While working with some young horses, I myself have experienced this occurrence. A young yearling started showing signs of colic one evening. When referring to the term "colic" in horses, we are talking about any form of abdominal pain. This can range from a simple causation such as gas or become a medical emergency. Over the course of time she was colicing, this filly would repeatedly exhibit the flehmen response seeming to say, "Ouch I hurt."
The flehmen response is also seen during foaling. It can be used as an indicator pre-parturition that a mare is starting to experience the discomfort that signals foaling. The mare will also repeatedly show the flehmen response during foaling. This again is a way for her to say that she is in pain, this time caused from passing a foal. After the birthing process, the smell from the fluids that were passed with the foal can also cause the response to occur.
I found an interesting research article that looks at the rate of occurance of the flehmen response particularly in young horses and their dams. A summary of the paper is presented below:
While working with some young horses, I myself have experienced this occurrence. A young yearling started showing signs of colic one evening. When referring to the term "colic" in horses, we are talking about any form of abdominal pain. This can range from a simple causation such as gas or become a medical emergency. Over the course of time she was colicing, this filly would repeatedly exhibit the flehmen response seeming to say, "Ouch I hurt."
The flehmen response is also seen during foaling. It can be used as an indicator pre-parturition that a mare is starting to experience the discomfort that signals foaling. The mare will also repeatedly show the flehmen response during foaling. This again is a way for her to say that she is in pain, this time caused from passing a foal. After the birthing process, the smell from the fluids that were passed with the foal can also cause the response to occur.
I found an interesting research article that looks at the rate of occurance of the flehmen response particularly in young horses and their dams. A summary of the paper is presented below:
The journal article titled "The ontogeny of the flehmen response in horses" written by Crowell-Davis and Houpt examines the developmental behavior in foals and the occurrence of the flehmen response under observation. The flehmen response was recorded to study the rate of flehmen by each sex at various ages.
A total of 179 flehmen incidents (more than one flehmen in close succession) were recorded throughout the study. Of these 90 were exhibited by colts, 71 by fillies, and 18 by mares. This showed that colts engaged in flehmen incidents 2.4 times more often than fillies. The mares were shown to engage in flehmen incidents much less than either the fillies or colts. It was seen that colts showed flehmen about once every 2 hours, fillies showed flehmen once every 6.3 hours, and mares showed flehmen once every 33.3 hours.
When correlating the rates of flehmen incidents with age it was found that the greatest rate of flehmen was seen during the first 4 weeks of life in colts. Interestingly, the rate of flehmen incidents decreased linearly only in colts from birth to the twentieth week of age. This same pattern did not appear in the rate of flehmen incidents in fillies. It is possible that this decrease in flehmen incident with age could also have been due to the presence of oestrous urine. After the colts were about a month or two in age, their dam's were bred and discontinued their estrous cycles. This could relate the difference between colts and fillies occurrence of the flehmen to that of stallions and mares.
A total of 179 flehmen incidents (more than one flehmen in close succession) were recorded throughout the study. Of these 90 were exhibited by colts, 71 by fillies, and 18 by mares. This showed that colts engaged in flehmen incidents 2.4 times more often than fillies. The mares were shown to engage in flehmen incidents much less than either the fillies or colts. It was seen that colts showed flehmen about once every 2 hours, fillies showed flehmen once every 6.3 hours, and mares showed flehmen once every 33.3 hours.
When correlating the rates of flehmen incidents with age it was found that the greatest rate of flehmen was seen during the first 4 weeks of life in colts. Interestingly, the rate of flehmen incidents decreased linearly only in colts from birth to the twentieth week of age. This same pattern did not appear in the rate of flehmen incidents in fillies. It is possible that this decrease in flehmen incident with age could also have been due to the presence of oestrous urine. After the colts were about a month or two in age, their dam's were bred and discontinued their estrous cycles. This could relate the difference between colts and fillies occurrence of the flehmen to that of stallions and mares.