A mare is an adult female horse or other equine.
In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse age three and younger. However, in Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four years old. The word can also be used for other female equine animals, particularly mules and zebras, though a female donkey is usually called a "jenny." A broodmare is a mare used for breeding. A horse's female parent is known as its dam.
An adult male horse is called a stallion, or, if castrated, a gelding. Occasionally the term "horse" is used in a restrictive sense to designate only a male horse.
Read more about Mare: Reproductive Cycle, Behavior, Uses, Etymology
Famous quotes containing the word mare:
“It’s a very odd thing—
As odd as can be—
That whatever Miss T. eats
Turns into Miss T.;”
—Walter De La Mare (1873–1956)
“All but blind
In his chambered hole
Gropes for worms
The four-clawed Mole.”
—Walter De La Mare (1873–1956)
“‘What is the world, O soldiers?
It is I,
I, this incessant snow,
This northern sky;”
—Walter De La Mare (1873–1956)