[RC] nutrition q about pregnant mares - Cindy Stafford
Just recently had my 12 yr old maiden mare bred and am waiting to find if it took. Assuming she is pregnant, i started reading a book my vet recommended to get myself educated on what to expect, trying to soak up what info I can. Never gone thru this before, but I board at a breeding barn, so a few experienced voices around to guide me through this. But I'd like to hear from some of the 'educated' voices out there (i.e. you lurking vets/vet techs/and equine nutritionists out there if you feel inclined to chime in :)) about a couple questions i had about what I just read, that sounded kind of hoaky.
1. recommendation was 8 qrts of grain daily (TB dose, adjust for smaller breeds) and increase by 1 qt a month for each month of gestation, 14 qts max. That seems high to (uneducated) me. My arab mare is an easy keeper, is turned out 24/7 on pasture (average quality) and supplemented with grass hay as needed. She is ridden about 2-3X a week. I do feed her a purina feed about 3X a week, more for vitamins/minerals then for the calories. My question then is should i be really increasing the amount of grain to the level recommended in the book? Of course, I'll give her whatever she needs within my ability to get her a nutritionally balanced diet, but didn't think that she would need those calories..? And I would rather be feeding her beet pulp then grain if she needed the calories...
2. in addition to the above (and i rechecked to make sure i didn't misread) it recommends 8 qts of warm bran mash (50/50 grain/bran split) every evening th elast 2 mos. of gestation. Necessary? Seems like a lot It seems like the book is geared to the breeders aiming for Jan. foals, i'm guessing. Although i would like to see the look my horse would give me if i tried to tempt her to eat a nice warm mash in June when its 90+ here and she's 10 mos. pregnant LOL.
Anyway, just trying to get informed on my horse's nutritional needs for this new adventure of ours. If any vets can chime in, i'd love to hear your recommendations. thanks.
