What to feed 17 year old Broodmare

LazyS

LazyS

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I have a mare on breeding loan who has been kept rather feral. She has dreadful feet and have been giving her a little biotin in with her h&p nuts and Alfa A (unmollassed). She has just scanned likely in foal (on the second attempt) and so I want to give her some feed that will help her and her system and her feet without causing undue strain on her, as she is not used to hard feed. Since she has been with me her coat has started to shine and she is looking better. I asked my farrier about what to feed her and he suggested farriers formula - I haven't needed to feed this to any of my horses in years. Does anyone know if this is ok to feed to an aged mare who is not used to things like this? The stud vet thought that she may have had laminitis in the last year so I am being doubly wary.
 
How is her weight?

If you think she looks fine condition wise, just choose a nice all round supplement or balancer. She'll only need something specific for pregnancy on the last trimester - until then, feed her like you would any other horse.
 
Thank you for your reply. Her weight is fine, perhaps a bit round on the butt (but then she has a fair bit of quarter horse in her). What I am concerned about are her feet.
 
If she was in a bad situation before, her feed will take a while to recover.

Meanwhile, make sure she's on a low starch/sugar feed. You don't need to be concerned with omega 3's while she's on grass. Biotin and every other supplement will only help if there is a deficiency, but it will take a while to notice any difference.

I've always used farriers formula when wanting to improve feet - but you'll still need to feed a general balancer.
 
out of interest, how old is too old to breed from a mare? I thought 17 was quite elderly for a horse and you say earlier you consider her 'aged'....
 
There is no age limit. Of course as you get older you incur in more risks, but if they have been broodmares all their life 17 is fine. I would never consider breeding a 17 year old mare if she hasn't been bred (and foaled without complications) for 2 or more years, but if she had a healthy foal the year before I wouldn't be too concerned.
 
She has bred 8 foals in her life. The last one in 2011. She has always run with the stallion previously so we experienced a little difficulty doing it 'scientifically' (with scans) but hopefully got there now. She is an Appaloosa with a great bloodline and produces 'cracking' foals.
 
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