Putting weight on a lactating mare.

a kind of magic

a kind of magic

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Some of you may remember my post a while back about our 3 year old who had an accidental baby this year. She looked well up to a week before the birth then lost all topline and muscle condition. After the birth she perked up a bit but now 4 month on she is still not looking that great.

She is a QH but at the moment could fool anyone she is a TB, she is on the lean side and her muscles are still not coming back. The grass is pretty poor but she is on ad lib good quality hay and about 3kg of stud cubes with about a cup of oil split into 3 feeds. She is shiny and perky but just not putting on the weight.

She has been wormed and worm counted and I am at a loss how to help her gain weight. I have spoken to the vets numerous times and they have quite frankly been useless! We are currently trying to negotiate some more grazing over the winter to help her but I thought I would ask on her what you guys use to keep your lactating mares looking fab.

I am also in the process of moving over to a different vets as I would like bloods run on her but our current vets are not interested. She is normally a porky madam!
 
I agree move vets! How rude, if you want bloods done then they should do it, they work for you and you pay their wages!

I would imagine they will show something, maybe diabetes? Could google it and compare symptoms ...

Sounds like she's being fed enough anyway

Good luck with her xx
 
I'd put her on add lib haylage rather than hay, and if you can get it, a lactating mare really needs good grazing. I think also because she is still a baby herself and still growing she will be hard pushed to put weight on, grow and feed a foal. You may have to wait till next year to see the results as it will take longer than normal to get back to what she should be, having a foal so young will have set her back a year, so I'd wait longer than normal before backing her so she can try and catch up.
 
I would try and get her on some decent grazing ASAP, this is the only thing I find keeps the weight on my mares with a foal at foot. I had one drop a lot of weight as the foal was on box rest and no amount of feed or haylage put it back on her. As soon as i turned her out on good grass she bloomed almost over night.
Your filly has the added complication that she is still growing herself but I have also had a 3 yr old with a foal at foot and she looked great on grass only.
If you can't get weight back on your mare I would also concidering weaning the foal early.
 
Couldn't agree more with Alexart and Imafluffybunny.
TBH, I'm surprised that your vets haven't explained that this happens sometimes especially with a mare that is still growing herself as well as trying to feed a growing baby at the same time to you. It's very hard work feeding a foal let alone still trying to grow herself, she needs a lot of fuel to do both properly at the same time.
I would be willing to eat a hat if the bloods came back as anything different from what's been described by A and I already as well.
 
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Should be able to get some good grazing by the end of the month, and will get some haylage for her in the meantime. I am pregnant myself and was going to leave her completely alone until she's 5 to give her time to catch up etc as has been suggested. :)

Imafluffybunny, when you say wean early, when would you suggest weaning? Her son is incredibly well grown, 4 months 1 week old, he is 13hh already and eating plenty of grass and his own ration of hard feed happily. He spends more time with auntie than mum, to him I think mum is just a milk bar!
 
I'm having the same problem as your self, but my mare is older than 3, but her 1st foal. The foal is doing very, very well and always on the milk bar. She is on average grazing with hay and hard feed. The foal is taking every thing out of her and have been advised by my vet to wean a little early, but not to give the mare any more feed as it will only increase her milk for the foal and could cause him to grow quicker than what necessary. I understand your frustrations for your mare with looking poor, as I too look at my mare and think she's looking not so great at the moment. Not long till weaning tho :)
 
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