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  Discussion on Malnurished pregnant mare
Author Message
Member:
Cjinid

Posted on Tuesday, Feb 15, 2005 - 10:43 am:

Hi everyone, hope you can help me out. There was about 50 horses confiscated last month from a local ranch and just put up for sale. We aquired a malnurished very pregnant mare from this lot. The only thing we know about her is she was born on the range and left. She is very leary of humans at the moment so haven't been able to have a vet examine her. We don't know her age (looks about 1 1/2 to 2 years) or her due date. We are feeding small amounts of good alfalfa hay 6 times a day (she won't eat oats or sweet feed). My question is: Is there any special things I should be watching for to tell me delivery time? I know the signs for a normal mare, but what about a very malnurished one (rated 2-3 on scale)? Do these mares tend to delivery early, will they still develop milk, can I vaccinate and worm if we don't know a delivery date, any info on these special horses would be greatly appreciated. (Her teats are extended but not dripping any milk. Her stomach is huge and looks like she could deliver anytime.)

Cathy @ Windancer Equine Rescue & Sanctuary
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Feb 16, 2005 - 6:04 am:

Hello Cathy,
We have an article that addresses your non-reproductive questions (feeding, deworming, vaccination) in detail at, Care for Horses » Nutrition » Rehabilitating Malnourished Horses.

There is one odd thing in your post: it is very unlikely that a 1 1/2 to 2 year mare is very pregnant as she has not been cycling but a short while. Either the age is not right or she is not as pregnant as you think.

The signs of impending parturition will be the same see, Equine Reproduction » Pregnancy, Foaling, & Neonatal Care » Normal Birth (Parturition). They do not have an increased incidence of early foaling. If the development of the foal is delayed he may even come late. If she is a "3" on the scale she should not have problems with producing milk but if less she may not produce adequate amounts of colostrum or milk. I strongly suggest you get the vet out to visually assess the mare: he may be able to see things that you don't and make more specific recommendations than we can here.
DrO
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