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.

Mares carry their young, called foals, for approximately 11 months from conception to birth. (Average range 320–370 days.) Usually just one young is born; twins are rare. When a domesticated mare foals, she nurses the foal for at least four to six months before it is weaned, though mares in the wild may allow a foal to nurse for up to a year.

The estrous cycle, also known as "season" or "heat" of a mare occurs roughly every 19–22 days and occurs from early spring into autumn. As the days shorten, most mares enter an anestrus period during the winter and thus do not cycle in this period. The reproductive cycle in a mare is controlled by the photoperiod (length of the day), the cycle first triggered when the days begin to lengthen. As the days shorten, the mare returns to the anestrus period when she is not sexually receptive. Anestrus prevents the mare from conceiving in the winter months, as that would result in her foaling during the harshest part of the year, a time when it would be most difficult for the foal to survive.

Florin Stoian (born 1979, Bucharest), better known under the stage name of Florin Salam and (previously) Florin Fermecătoru, is a Gypsy singer of manele from Romania. He is one of the best known and appreciated manele performers.

Stoian has been singing since he was a child; his first contact with music took place at age of four. His father and uncle were well-known lăutari. He debuted in 2002 with help from bandleader Dan Bursuc. His first hit single was "Ce gagică şmecherită" (Romanian: "Such a picky chick"). He played an important part when the smash hit "Of, viaţa mea" (Romanian: "Oh, my life") was released in 2000, sung by Adrian Minune and Costi Ioniţă. In 2002 Florin Stoian changed his stage name from Fermecătoru (Romanian: "The Glamorous") to Salam (Arabian: "peace", cf. Hebrew "shalom", and Romanian: "salami" ).

In 2008 he performed a song together with pop singer Paula Seling and the Bucharest Symphonic Orchestra. The show host described their performance as a reconciliation between manele and mainstream pop music; in the same respect, the song's lyrics raised the problem of ethnic intolerance.

Fiorella Mannoia (born April 4, 1954) is an Italian singer.

Fiorella Mannoia's father Luigi was an Italian film stuntman, and Fiorella, her brother Maurizio and sister Patrizia began work in this area as children. Fiorella Mannoia's first film role as stuntwoman was at the age of 13 in the film Non cantare, spara! ("Don't Sing, Shoot!") (1968). She often acted as a stand-in for Monica Vitti, e.g., in Amore mio aiutami ("Help Me, My Love"), and was also a stand-in for Candice Bergen in The Hunting Party. She debuted in the world of music at the Festival of Castrocaro in 1968, singing Un bambino sul leone (“A Child on the Lion”) by Adriano Celentano. Although she didn't win, she obtained a record contract with Carisch, with whom she recorded her first 45, Ho saputo che partivi ("I Knew You Were Leaving"), which had on the B-side Le ciliegie ("The Cherries"), written by the young guitarist Riccardo Zappa.

In the Spring of 1968, she participated in Un disco per l'estate ("A Record for Summer"), a Summer song festival broadcast on RAI, with the song Gente qua, gente là ("People Here, People There"), the music for which was written by Bruno De Filippi, while the lyrics were written by her producer, Alberto Testa. Her third 45 featured Mi piace quel ragazzo lì ("I Like That Boy Over There"), whose text is dedicated to Adriano Celentano, with Occhi negli occhi ("Eyes Into Eyes") on the B-side, reutilized from the previous record. These discs, while still being influenced by certain "beat" sounds, presented evidence of Mannoia's vocal qualities, although they did not sell well. The tracks are available on the collection I primi passi ("The First Steps")(1998), containing songs by Fiorella Mannoia and Carla Bissi, published by On Sale Music.

Laura Alice Rossella Pausini, omri (Italian pronunciation: [pauˈziːni]; born 16 May 1974) is an Italian soul singer-songwriter. She debuted in 1993, winning the newcomer artists' section of the 43rd Sanremo Music Festival with the song "La solitudine", which became an Italian standard and an international hit, reaching the top spot on the Italian Singles Chart and the top 10 in France and the Netherlands.

Her eponymous debut album was released in Italy on 18 May 1993 and later became an international success, selling two million copies worldwide. Her second studio album, Laura, was released in 1994 and confirmed her success, selling 3,000,000 copies worldwide and spawning the hit singles "Strani amori" and "Gente". In November 1994 she released her first Spanish language album, titled Laura Pausini and composed of ten songs included in her previous works. The album was certified Diamond by the Association of Phonographic and Videographic of Spain, making her the first non-Spanish artist to sell more than 1,000,000 copies in Spain.

Luca Carboni (born 12 October 1962) is an Italian singer-songwriter. He debuted in 1981 as guitarist in the band Teobaldi Rock, publishing his first solo album in 1983. He always distinguished for his intimistic style.

Carboni was born in Bologna.

In 1976, at 14, he founded the band Teobaldi Rock, with the role of guitarist and songwriter. In 1980 the band took part in the Bologna Rock 80 festival; the following year they released the first and last single, "L.N."/"Odore d'inverno".

Carboni's road changed when the Stadio read his lyrics and asked him a song for their first album. The song was entitled "Navigando controvento" and appeared in the album Stadio (1982). The band's leader, Gaetano Curreri, helped him in realizing his first album, published in January 1984 and entitled ...intanto Dustin Hoffman non sbaglia un film: it was co-produced by Curreri and included collaborations with Ron and Lucio Dalla. The album sold 30,000 copies and the single "Ci stiamo sbagliando" more than 50,000, establishing Carboni in the Italian music panorama. In that year he won the Festivalbar for the category Youngs.