Do horses (stallions) respond to women's reproductive cycles? I work with a group of stallions, and some days they seem more interested in me. They come right up to me and seem to sniff at me. Could it be in response to my period or to ovulation?

This is a very common question. Women sometimes ask if it is safe to be around a stallion during menses, having heard that stallions can sense this stage of the cycle and might attack. On a theoretical level, it would seem unlikely that menses would be of interest or cause a non-predator such as a stallion to attack. And on a practical experience level, we know of no evidence that stallion behavior is affected by menses of a handler.

The question of working safely around stallions during menses might stem from some of the old-fashioned ideas in some cultures about what women should be doing when menstruating. With a quick Internet search, I found several activities that in the past women have been advised to avoid during menstruation, including gardening, canning, pickling of certain vegetables, and working with or riding stallions and sometimes even geldings. These comments were followed by many women saying that they had never experienced a problem doing these things at any time in their cycle.

More than one noted that their grandfathers always said something like that, but their grandmothers told them privately that it was silly, but she let him think it was true because it meant she got a few days off from some of the chores