A bran mash as a preventative measure to post-foaling colic?

[EquusMagnificus]

Huh Brian? I am not following you here. Could you explain what you mean?

This 30-60 day period is interesting, although it DOES work given that’s also equivalent to the time it takes for all those joyful high levels of pregnancy hormones to leave the body and for the body to recoup entirely from it.

Ie, after pregnancy, the body not only needs to clear out its hormone levels, but also destroy extra blood cells, extra muscle cells, extra skin cells, etc… It’s hard work. It takes 6 weeks in a women for the majority of this work to be done, but we consider it takes a whole year to be 100% back from pregnancy.

[Brian]

[QUOTE=EquusMagnificus;5535532]
Huh Brian? I am not following you here. Could you explain what you mean?

This 30-60 day period is interesting, although it DOES work given that’s also equivalent to the time it takes for all those joyful high levels of pregnancy hormones to leave the body and for the body to recoup entirely from it.

Ie, after pregnancy, the body not only needs to clear out its hormone levels, but also destroy extra blood cells, extra muscle cells, extra skin cells, etc… It’s hard work. It takes 6 weeks in a women for the majority of this work to be done, but we consider it takes a whole year to be 100% back from pregnancy.[/QUOTE]

By “losing body condition”, I was referring to weight loss. I’ve seen this scenario on more than one occasion…

After a mare foals, she’s expected to lose a little weight, especially since she isn’t carrying a 90-100 foal in her anymore. The first 50 lbs or so of weight loss is usually associated with foaling and the fact she now looks thinner. The next 50 lb weight loss is probably noticed, but associated with foaling and milk production. The next 50 lb weight loss is when you really take notice. Now, it’s as if the mare has lost 150 lbs overnight.

The time frame it takes for this to occur is usually the first 30-60 days of lactation. As soon as weight loss is detected, most people will start adding more grain at each meal to prevent further weight loss or in an attempt to put the weight back on.

The problem lies in the length of time it takes for this meal to pass from the stomach through the small intestine and into the cecum. This duration can be as few as ~ 90 minutes, which isn’t a lot of time to digest and absorb a large grain meal. Any undigested starches & sugars will ferment in the hind gut (cecum). Two byproducts of fermentation of starches & sugars are lactic acid (which lowers the pH) and gas. IMO, this is the primary cause of gas colics in post foaling mares. Not to mention the lower pH triggering a whole list of other problems beginning with acidosis.

So basically…

IMO, the coinciding time frame of 30-60 days to correct a “displaced digestive tract” is also approximately the same time frame it takes a mare to drop enough weight to cause someone to increase the amount of grain at each meal. The “increase of grain” in the diet can cause excess gas (from starch bypass). Most gases are lighter than air, (i.e. methane, nitrogen, ammonia). If there is “space” within the body cavity for the digestive tract to displace, the risk of a gas colic or in severe cases, a torsion in the digestive tract is greater.

[Ladybug_Hill]

A halter and shank should allow you to control your mare. The paddock should be small. The foal will figure out after dashing about to come be with mom.

I hate foaling out before there is any grass on the ground. Seems too early to me. But I live in Virginia. We usually have to mow once in March.

[QUOTE=JB;5534818]
LOL, unless you have a foal with a mind of his own who wants to dash off, and a frantic mare who is insistent she follow him everywhere :lol:

Bran is not inherently bad. Wheat bran is less nutritional than rice bran, both are high in phosphorous, but in small amounts neither are harmful. Many horses REALLY love the taste of wheat bran, so a cup or a pound a day can be very helpful and not at all harmful.

It’s the once a week or once a month many pounds of wheat bran that replaces a meal that is more likely to get a horse into trouble.[/QUOTE]

[Fairview_Horse_Cente]

[QUOTE=Brian;5536541]
By “losing body condition”, I was referring to weight loss. I’ve seen this scenario on more than one occasion…

After a mare foals, she’s expected to lose a little weight, especially since she isn’t carrying a 90-100 foal in her anymore. The first 50 lbs or so of weight loss is usually associated with foaling and the fact she now looks thinner. The next 50 lb weight loss is probably noticed, but associated with foaling and milk production. The next 50 lb weight loss is when you really take notice. Now, it’s as if the mare has lost 150 lbs overnight. [/QUOTE]

This would assume that those people don’t know very much, and can’t tell that the horse is dropping weight gradually, and also didn’t take steps to make up for the calories lost by nursing mares.

In your scenario, I would be more inclined to think poor management of feeding practices rather than post foaling causes the colic.

When my mares foal, I continue to give them their regular amounts of grain, plus free choice hay for just about a week to 10 days. The milk supply is just getting up to speed during this time, and things are settling back into place, so I dont want to make any changes. Then I GRADUALLY begin to increase the grain - maybe 2 lbs a week. If I know I have a mare that drops a lot of weight, I add soaked alfalfa hay cubes.

I find that in 60 days, my mares that have been on the thin side at birth are beginning to look much better. The mares that are super easy keepers, are back to their usual 1 to 2 lbs a day, and have gained back from their thinner foaling weight to approaching fat.

What I TRULY think happens to cause most colicks is that people can’t tell their horse IS thin at foaling time, and once the foaling happens, they are shocked at how awful their mare looks, and begin to make drastic changes immediately.

There are the other, true post foaling colics, but I think many are preventable.

DON’T make changes immediately after foaling (one to 2 weeks)

Make any changes VERY gradually. A thin mare that is producing good milk will not die if she is not given lots of extra grain. SLOWLY increase, expecting her to get back up to speed in a few months, not weeks.

Check the milk supply after the foal has drank his fill. Look at the body score of the foal, and development.

[Brian]

@Fairview Horse Center;5536612

In your scenario, I would be more inclined to think poor management of feeding practices rather than post foaling causes the colic.

Agreed. I think this is also true of most colics (outside of foaling).

[EquusMagnificus]

I get what you two are saying, but perhaps my OP wasn’t clear; I meant post-foaling as in… 24-48 hours afterwards.

My post-foaling colic situation was barely 8 hours post-foaling. Mare looked colicky very quickly after foaling and it clearly wasn’t going away on its own a few hours later.

[Concetta]

Post foaling colic or foal heat??

My mare is 5 days post foaling and for the past day or 2 has looked and acted a bit dull and quiet-although she still has her appetite and is eating all of her meals/hay,drinking,peeing/pooping she just looks like she doesn’t feel well-temp is normal,she does have some discharge from the vulva but the vet told me that is normal discharge after foaling…last night during night check she was standing in the corner,pawing a little bit,would park out,urinate,paw some more,pass some discharge,then lay down and groan a little…baby was jumping all over her so she would get back up…this went on for about 15min-1/2hr …so i then gave her some banamine and w/ in minutes she was brighter,and happily eating her hay

i’m wondering what the cause could be for this as she’s been fine up until this point…she might be getting close to her first foal heat…could that be making her uncomfortable enough to feel colicky?..i’m sure it also doesn’t help much that she hasn’t gotten out in a few days due to the weather and thunderstorms