Care and Management of the broodmare. 

 

     

     Once we have made our decision to breed from our mares, its time to plan the management and feeding schedule that is needed

throughout her pregnancy.  We need to notify our own veterinarian.  He will book us in for the first scan... this works exactly the same as

a human scan.  You will be able to see your foal for the first time, see the heart beating, and the vet is then able, by size of the foal, to tell

you the approximate due date for the birth.  He will come out on several occasions to do the scans, ensure correct growth rate and ensure we still have a heart beat.

 

     The market today ensures we can still worm our infoal mares regularly without any side effects that may hinder your foal. Your vet will tell you which the best wormers to use, and what type of regime you should use.  There are so many different brands on the market today, but the best person to advise you is your vet.

 

      There are several innoculations to be given to your mare.  Vaccinations should be current, as any infectious disease may cause your mare to abort.  A Four-way vaccine for Eastern and Western encephalomyelitis, tetanus and influenze should be administered at the early stages of the pregnancy.  She will require a booster one month before her due date, this will ensure that the mares colostrum has the correct levels of immunisation from the first suckling, this is essential; when the foal takes her first milk, they are temporarily immunised against disease and infection.  The mare will also require a vaccine for equine rhinopneumonitis (virus abortion) at 5, 7 and 9 months  gestation.  There will be other vaccines neccesary for your area, as each area is different, so you need to consult your veterinarian.

 

      Pregnancy lasts approximately 338 to 343 days, though it can be anything from 320 to 380.  Dont panick if they go over because if this does happen and your vet will keep a good eye on her and if he feels she needs to be induced, he will do so.

 

     For approximately the first eight months of pregnancy, you do not need to change her feed, just a normal maintainence diet is neccesary.  The growth of the foal increases 20% during the last 3 months and this is when you require a higher nutrient diet.  She will require higher protien levels, a minimum 15% and above.  A good stud cube or stud mix, will be required, dont cheap out on it as this will effect your mare and foal, buy a good quality feed, these generally have all the extra nutients required for optimum utilisation.   Good quality hay, I would prefer haylage or horsehage and meadow hay mixed, to ensure good rouage.  Her grass intake will also aid in the growth of your foal.  Your grass does count, you must not turn your mare out on a field with ryegrass.  This is stalky and it causes the sack in which your unborn foal lives to become very thick and it is possible that the foal will not be able to get out of the bag and can drown.  I have first hand experience

   with this when my friends mare gave birth and two hours later when she was found, the foal had not been able to get out.  It was devistating.

      Types of grass hays are timothy, coastal bermuda, brome, orchard grass, blue grass, rye grass and canary grass. Timothy hay is the most widely grown hay in North America. Bermuda, timothy and orchard are much prefered for the pregnant mare.

     Golden Rules of feeding.

·         According to age and condition of horse.

·         Feed according to body weight.

·         Feed for current work load. Make sure they have access to fresh clean water at all times.

·         Feed plenty of roughage for healthy gut function.

·         Feed by weight not volume of feed; weigh grain and hay.

·         Feed at the same time each day.

·         Feed little and often so as not to overload the horses’ digestive system. Keep grains to 4 lbs. – 5 lbs. per feeding.

·         Use high quality feeds. Do not feed dusty or moldy feed.

·         Make any changes to the diet gradually so as to reduce the risk of digestive upset like colic.

·         Don’t exercise immediately after feeding. Allow 2 to 3 hours after feeding before working the horse and do not feed until one hour after working.

These are the golden rules of feeding no matter what, and they apply to our infoal mares and aged geldings.

Balancing the Pregnant Mares’ Diet

A horses’ daily diet needs to include a range of nutrients in all the correct amounts of energy, minerals, protein, trace elements, amino acids and vitamins.

Before you can balance your horses diet you need to know a few things:

·         What is your mares condition...too fat...thin...etc.
There are charts available from vets that will show you the correct conditioning for the pregnant mare.

·         Which feeds are you able to aquire.

·         What is your pregnant mares body weight?
You can use a measuring tape sold at feed and tack stores pretty much anywhere..

Know your infoal mares weight because you use it to ensure that she is getting her correct feed levels daily. The total weight of feed per day should be between 1.5% and 3.0%  of the horses’ body weight.

 Nursing foals will only eat between .5% to .75% of their body weight in solid food while they are nursing.

Weanlings might consume up to 3.5% of their body weight per day.

Exercising your mare will be no problem, just because she is in foal doesnt mean to let her just bloat.  She can still be ridden lightly, I usually just walk her gently until shes around 6 months, then I will start to lead her.  She will become bored and stale if you dont give her regular exercise, remember that she is pregnant not ill.

     Other than that, just general everyday management of stable cleaning, scrubbing buckets etc is required.  Dont forget that she may need an axtra rug during winter if the weather drops cold, this is due to her body already doing overtime, and you dont want her to lose condition.

     In the last couple of weeks of pregnancy you will be required to spend more time at the barn than at home, you need to watch closely as she may give birth at any time.  A foal cam is an ideal way of watching her so as not to disturb her, mares will hold onto their foals if they feel uneasy, stressed or fear.  She needs to be watched very closely just incase of difficulty.  If you are at hand then you are able to call the vet immediately.  To watch the miracle of life is amazing.  (dont forget your camera!)