Feeding the dragged down brood mare?

[Rosehip]

Im a bit worried about my little broodmare although her filly foal is growing well, and looks great, she looks a shadow of her former self!
This is her when Maisie was about 3 weeks old:

And this was is her now - taken a couple of weeks ago - Maisie is now 4 months old:

On pictures she doesnt 'look' that thin, but I can feel every rib - on her bad days you can see them - and I can feel every bone along her spine, as well as her scapulas being very prominant.

I have upped her feed - quantity and frequency - and both of them are wormed to date and have clear worm counts.

She is currently on:

AM - 1/2 kg Mare&Youngstock mix, 250g horse and pony nuts, 100g fast fibre, and a scoop of chaff. plus a gloop of oil.

Mid-day - 250g H&P nuts, 100g fast fibre, 1 scp chaff and 5lb haylage

(both shared with the foal, although mum gets the majority)

PM (This is her own feed, foal has a bucket too, obv not as much!)
1/2kg Mare&Youngstock, 250g H&P nuts, 100g Fast Fibre, scoop of chaff, gloop of oil and glucosamine. Another 5lb haylage.

I completely understand that by increasing Seren's feed, her milk will be better quality for the foal, but I cant not feed her, she is barely maintaining 260kg, and is 12.2hh

Any help or advice will be very appreciated! x

 

[eventrider23]

Personally based on that picture she doesn't look too bad at all and the problem with upping her feed is that the milk just gets richer and higher quality and so the foal gets it not her. She will bounce back at weaning.

 

[cundlegreen]

I had a TB mare of mine get so run down that I was convinced that she had cancer. She looked like an RSPCA case. I had a urine sample sent to a homeopathic practice that I used, and the report came back with various deficiencies. Within 10 days of being on a made up supplement, her coat was back to its best, and after a month, she looked like her old self. I did wean as well though.

 

[Rosehip]

Thats really interesting Cundlegreen, I really like homeopathic and herbal remedies, so that would be something I would like to look into. Thanks for that suggestion.

I have moved them onto better grass today, so Im hoping that will help them too. Im a bit reluctant to wean this early, but I will if I need to. Grr, blooming horses!! xx

 

[a kind of magic]

Ours have been on fresh grass for a week and we've secured another field for them that they are moving to next week, that will see us through winter. I have put a few posts on here about our mare and foal, she is only 3 and a half and the foal was an accidental baby, she was the one that crossed fences etc to get in with the colt oddly, not the other way around!

She coped very well throughout the pregnancy but dropped off mid summer very quickly, foal was growing well and basically sucking her dry no matter how much hay and hard feed she was getting. The grass seems to have really helped her, where nothing else was really making a difference! She is having the recommended quantity of Baileys Stud Cubes and foalie has his own ration, I was also recommended Barley Rings by several people so we are just adding them into her feed now, she loves the mash. I will wean baby once they have settled in the new field properly, due to various reasons we are having to wean him gradually rather than abruptly but he will be 6 months anyway by the time we do actually get around to the weaning process.

I will see what pics I can find of her, she is QH and normally has loads of muscle which of course is all gone at the moment, plan on long reining her to try and build some topline back up, I think that is mainly what makes her look worse, she is not 'poor' anymore but just really lacking in muscle, looks to be the same really for your mare too, she doesn't look too bad at all.

 

[PennyJ]

Well in my limited experience, I would suggest the best thing you can do is wean the foal. I had one I was giving 3 fine meals a day, outshine, stud nuts, alfalfa etc and it just stopped her getting any thinner, rather than her gaining weight (had also been wormed of course). Best thing I did for her was take the foal away and move her to a field full of grass. No hard feed for a week then just a minimal amount of chaff plus balancer once a day, the weight has been piling on ever since. (3 weeks since weaning). I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself.

Mine is 13.1 ish NF pony.

 

[Miss L Toe]

I would feed her some linseed meal or other oil type feed, as she has a dull coat, otherwise is not really losing weight, assuming she has plenty of forage, the FF is a forage substitute with vits and mins.
Seven and a half months is now the recommended weaning tine, which is a long way from four months

 

[tikino]

i have the same problem and i would also wean her. i am feeding my mare 4 times a day and still no joy. i had my vet check her over the other day and although one of mine is not 4 months till next week she has told me to wean them so next weekend when he is 4 months he will be weaned he is doing very well and eating hay and feeding and drinking water so him and my filly will be weaned together

 

[Blacklist]

The mare and foal look to be in good order, just keep giving the mare good quality feed.

 

[Rosehip]

Thanks again for all the replies.
I have added some Horse&Pony nuts to Serens diet, and upped the oil, as well as having put them on better grazing again - the winter field that I was saving! - so Im hoping that will all help. Seren is looking better coat wise, and does have more of a spring in her step. Fingers crossed! xx

 

[Alexart]

I'd put her on add lib haylage, you don't look like you have much in the way of grazing so I'd just up the fibre intake, I'd cut out the chaff and replace with speedi beet, you may find you can start to cut back a bit on the hard feed with a month or so on that - really good quality add lib fibre is by far the best thing to put weight on any gg that needs it - far better than hard feed. I always just have my youngstock and broodies on add lib good quality haylage and a vitamin lick, no hard feed, and they winter out just fine on that even the TB's - I'm paranoid about OCD in youngsters so don't feed mine hard feed at all I'd would rather they were a bit on the slim side than fat - they soon blob on spring grass!!!

I would definitely not wean the foal - 4 months is far too young to wean, the foals digestive system is no where near mature enough yet to exist on a purely adult diet - studies have shown that 6 months is the absolute earliest when they have the full gut flora and enzymes to absorb all they need from their food, under that and you risk them not getting all they need to grow no matter how much hard feed you stuff into them they simply can't absorb it! Not to mention 4 months is mentally too young too - 6 months is the very youngest I'd wean.
If she were mine I wouldn't be too worried she doesn't look too bad at all - I think it is just we are all so used to seeing fat horses!! - she'll bounce back after weaning anyway especially if she is not in foal again for next year! - cute foal by the way!!

 

[Rosehip]

Hi Alexart, thanks for your reply. No, I have zero grass! I have always struggled with having too much grass and having to restrict everyone, but now, just when i need it, all the grass has gone!!
They are now on a paddock that has a bit more on it, but its still not a vast amount.
I have Seri on FastFibre/kwikbeet as well as her mare&foal mix, do you think i should be cutting down the hard feed and upping the haylage? She is having 10lb approx Equilage high fibre a day at the moment. I dont mind telling you its costing me a fortune!
Ive gone from strip grazing good doers and feeding a handful of chaff, to having one on 3 big feeds a day, and the other on box rest on 3 fibre feeds and quarter bale soaked hay (at £5 a small bale!!) a day. Its killing me financially, and I cant seem to make them look any better! Me, stressy, nooooo. xx

 

[Alexart]

You'll definitely get better results if you have them on add lib hay/haylage, a small horse should be on one of those small bales a day minimum - there should be some left in the morning then you know they are getting enough, if they have eaten it all within a few hours and there is no grass that is quite a bit of time they have to burn calories to keep warm, and if stabled you risk ulcers - they are not cheap animals to keep unfortunately!!
Mine will eat 2 of those little bales a day each, a foal probably half a bale a day upwards as the winter goes on. I just chuck them into one of those big round bale feeders to help cut down the amount they play with and then poop on - or tie half a feeder to a fence where it is easy to put the hay in without having to trudge through the field! Or if you have a nice local farmer get them to plonk a big round bale out in a paddock - they are usually a good bit cheaper than the small ones weight for weight.

Some hay is as good as haylage - just less water - so doesn't really matter which you feed as long as it is good stuff - the little haylage bales do tend to work out far more expensive than one large one, if you have enough gg's to feed then as the weather gets cooler a big bale will last a week once opened and is the equivilant roughly of 12 small bales so worth thinking about - maybe a local livery yard might be able to help you as they tend to buy them in bulk!!! You then just need a vitamin lick of some sort or a small fibre based feed with vitamins added - will probably work out a bit cheaper than feeding lots of hard feed, will also keep them warm internally in winter so will help them keep the weight on then too.

 

[JanetGeorge]

I have Seri on FastFibre/kwikbeet as well as her mare&foal mix, do you think i should be cutting down the hard feed and upping the haylage? She is having 10lb approx Equilage high fibre a day at the moment. I dont mind telling you its costing me a fortune!

Definitely!! I have no grass either - we've had about half-an-inch of rain since April - and all my (big) mares and foals are doing VERY well on plenty of haylage and a min/vit lick! (Most of the mares are 16hh + with foals to match.) Only the young mares are on TRUE ad-lib haylage - 5 of them (and foals) polish off two large round bales in a week - at £27 a bale - so costing me about a tenner per week per mare & foal!

The others get a full slice of big square bale haylage each twice a day, plus an extra slice for the foals (about 10kgs a day per mare.)

 

[kerilli]

i'd have her on ad-lib hay, and give her sugarbeet - this was advised for my pulled-down mare. the sb has low protein levels so won't affect the quality of the milk apparently - i was worried that my foal was growing too fast and being done too well.
oh, and rug up with a light rug if you aren't already, so she's not wasting calories to keep warm, that's what i've done now the weather's changed.