What feed for pregnant mare?

[Kirstineridesagain]

My Icelandic mare is due at the end of June. She’s living out 24/7, not in ridden work (planning to take her for some in-hand walks once she’s out of quarantine) and obviously has access to hay, and mineral block. I want to give her a supplementary feed 3-4 times a week (she’s on full livery but any extra feeding will have to be done by me).

I’m a new horse owner and the world of feeds is a new one to me - I’ve never decided what to feed a horse. Most of the stuff I’ve come across is from the US. My mare is a bit on the thin side (I think - hard to see exactly with all that yeti fur!) but I’m not going to over feed her either - I can only feed her a few times per week due to distance to yard/other commitments.

Any specific feed (available in Scotland)that is recommended? How do I know how much to give? Start off with a tiny feed and increase gradually?

 

[TheMule]

She won’t really need much until she's into the 3rd trimester which coincides anyway with improved nutrition in the grazing. She is a breed that is designed to live very frugally! I would add in a small amount of a balancer formulated for broodmare/ youngstock, such as Suregrow

 

[Midlifecrisis]

Ask your vet for advice.

 

[tda]

She won’t really need much until she's into the 3rd trimester which coincides anyway with improved nutrition in the grazing. She is a breed that is designed to live very frugally!

Agree with this, add a balancer if you want

 

[[174627]]

OP, what I would say is when you start to get into grass growing season again, just be very mindful of the difference in grasses in Denmark to the UK. In Denmark I was able to have my 4 natives out on grass all year round with no issues, never muzzled, never restricted, as the grasses there generally are very old grasses (and they don’t seem to have the abundance of Rye grasses grown for cattle like here). My 4 have always had to be muzzled in the UK before we moved to Denmark and when I brought them home to the UK, they were immediately back onto muzzled and restricted, as they’re just not used to the rocket fuel grasses here. Just, so you can be prepared.

 

[Kirstineridesagain]

OP, what I would say is when you start to get into grass growing season again, just be very mindful of the difference in grasses in Denmark to the UK. In Denmark I was able to have my 4 natives out on grass all year round with no issues, never muzzled, never restricted, as the grasses there generally are very old grasses (and they don’t seem to have the abundance of Rye grasses grown for cattle like here). My 4 have always had to be muzzled in the UK before we moved to Denmark and when I brought them home to the UK, they were immediately back onto muzzled and restricted, as they’re just not used to the rocket fuel grasses here. Just, so you can be prepared.

Good point! She’s a little bit thin, but will probably put on more with the richer grass. I may give her a small portion of balancer a few times a week as well.