Caring for Mares & Foals

Lesson 2: Caring for the Broodmare

Broodmare Nutrition

Equine nutrition has always been controversial. For as many horseman gather in a room, there will be that many opinions about what is best for feeding horses. This is a result of availability and quality of feedstuffs for any given location, and the fact that horses are individuals and need to be treated as such. Then, each horseman has had different experiences on which they base their preferences. For example, I once had a horse choke on beet pulp because I had not soaked it enough. Now, while beet pulp is an excellent filler for hard to keep horses, I chose to not use it. Others have had great success with no problems. In this case it is just a matter of personal preference.

Some nutritional requirements are universally agreed upon, such as a need for fresh water to be available at all times, the need for salt blocks, and the importance of fiber. Also, most horsemen agree that a horse needs to be fed often. A horse will spend 50 to 60 percent of a 24 hour period grazing or eating hay, and will eat for 30 minute to four-hour periods at a time. The brood mare may have shorter periods but eat more often as the growing foal takes up more abdominal room. Unfortunately, we often make our horses conform to our schedule for feeding. Feeding large amounts of concentrated feed only twice a day increases the risk of poor digestion, resulting in colic or founder. It is better to feed poorer quality hay that the horse can eat continually, and add a balanced vitamin/mineral supplement. If a horse keeps the digestive track moving, there is less chance of digestive upsets.

The nutritional needs of a pregnant mare change most dramatically during the last trimester. She needs increased calcium for bone formation, milk production and muscle contractions during labor. Calcium must be fed in proper proportion with phosphorous, a ratio of 1.5 calcium to 1.0 phosphorous. However, most equine feeds are lacking in proper calcium, and the owner must supplement higher percentages of calcium in order to keep the proper ratio. Alfalfa hay is the most natural source of calcium and should be fed in addition to, not instead of, the grass hay, so the mare can continue to have hay all the time. If that is not available, mineral for horses can be purchased at the local feed store, or you can buy a ground limestone product called calcium carbonate. A tablespoon contains 10 grams and the pregnant mare needs 30 to 40 grams per day. Recommended dosage is three tablespoons a day until the last month, and then increases to 4 a day. Add molasses or oil to make the powdery calcium stick to the grain being fed. Another option is to buy the commercially prepared brood mare supplement. This may be easier, but is definitely more expensive.

The other mineral often overlooked with a pregnant mare is selenium. This is a very touchy mineral to supplement for an overdose is as bad as a deficiency. Too much could potentially be fatal. Therefore, it is important to know the selenium content in your feed and, either the content in your soil if your mare is grazing or you are feeding your own hay, or the content of the hay you are purchasing. Some areas are lacking in selenium. If you are feeding hay made in that area, your hay will be deficient. To remove all guess work, your local government agricultural agency can analyze your feedstuffs, often free of charge or for a nominal fee.

The greatest controversy comes about over the amount of protein in a horse's diet. Basically, you need to consider the entire diet for the percentage of protein, and feed the proper percentage protein grain to even out the protein percentage of the hay to equal 10 to 12 percent. For example, our hay is a lower percentage of protein because it was made late in the year, past the optimum nutritional value time, so we feed a 16 percent protein feed to the pregnant mares. The goal is to reach an overall diet of 12.5 percent protein. Hayes, in her book, ‘The Complete Book of Foaling,’ goes into detail on figuring how to calculate the amount of protein as well as carbohydrates, fiber and calcium in your mare’s ration.

A short word about carbohydrates and fiber. Most feeds contain sufficient carbohydrates; in fact the danger lies in having too much. The amount of carbohydrate needs to be calculated when determining your brood mare’s ration. As for fiber, it is recommended that a horse receive 1 to 2 percent of their body weight in fibrous hay a day. (Good pasture equivalent is approximately two pounds for every hour grazed.) Because grass is not as high in fiber, we choose to keep mares off the pasture for several hours a day (or night) and feed hay.

At this point I will address the question of exactly what to feed your horse, and it is at this point where my personal preferences will show through. A lot of your decision will rest on your locale and what is available. The other factor is your pocketbook. I believe a good horse owner will find what is the best they can afford for their animal. A good quality feed can eliminate the need for a high cost supplement. Often the argument arises between pelleted feed and mixed sweet feed. Basically pelleted feed is more highly digestible so that, while more expensive per pound, you may be able to cut the cost difference by needing to feed less. Some horses find pelleted feeds initially unpalatable so they need to ‘learn’ to like it. The advantage of milled feed is usually its cost and ready availability. One word of caution however - locally mixed feeds contain locally grown grain products that can change quality from mix to mix. This is detrimental to your horse’s digestion, as all changes should be made over a period of time. Also, if the product contains corn it must be properly dried to kill any mold or bacteria in it. Commercially prepared feed generally is more consistent and uses a corn dried at a temperature to kill any present bacteria.

A final word of caution. It has been mentioned numerous times among horsemen that feeding a pregnant mare too well will make her foal grow too large to deliver. Size of a foal is genetically determined. Very rarely is a foal too large for a mare to deliver.

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