I’m looking to have my mare bred, and while I’ve looked in a book or two for this, haven’t found the info.
These are very basic, stupid questions, I know. I’ve only had one other mare bred, and back then, we just told people to “handle it” and they did.
While the mare is carrying, how are worming, sedation for dental and inoculations etc. handled? If these normal procedures are done, how will they affect the developing foal? What needs to be adjusted while she’s carrying?
Thanks in advance!
:o
I would urge you to have a conversation with your vet about appropriate protocol for your mare’s specific situation.
You probably also want to send your mare to the vet or an experienced breeder to foal out.
Have you thought about sending the foal to a breeder to be raised professionally with some other young ones?
Before I breed one of my mares, I have given all of her spring shots and dewormed her. If she needs teeth done, I do it before breeding. It isn’t recommended that shots or deworming be done in the first 90 days. Although some vets say it is okay to do dental procedures in the mid-trimester, I don’t, at the recommendation of my therio. Dentals usually require sedation, and I see no reason to risk it. The only vaccinations done by me are rhino vaccines at 5/7/9 months.
There is a lot of research out there for diet, exercise, etc., for pregnant mares, so enjoy, and good luck getting her in foal.
No deworming or vaccinations in the first 90 days. Get all that done before breeding.
No dentals during pregnancy at all - get that done before breeding. Too much of a risk of infection in the bloodstream and negatively impacting the fetus. You don’t really want them sedated either, though sedation is sometimes necessary for other things. Stack the odds, just don’t do dental work 
Vaccinations while pregnant are the 5/7/9 month anti-abortion EHV-1 vaccine, inactivated virus only such as Pneumabort-K. Never use a modified live virus such as Rhinomune. Then, around Day 310, do the full round of pre-foaling vaccines, spaced as necessary to get them completed by 310/320, to allow time for highest immunity to be present in the colostrum
Deworming during pregnancy (after 90 days) is as-normal. Use FECs to determine if anything is needed, deworm in the Fall/6 months after the Spring deworming as you would a normal horse. Depending on when in the Spring the mare is due, you can either deworm her once temps are reliably above 45*, or wait until right after she foals. Quest Plus or Equimax would be the options, unless there’s a reason she shouldn’t get QP, then just use Equimax.
As for feeding, feed her like normal for the first 5-7 months, but make sure nutrition is HIGH. Optimally high, not just “she’s in great weight on her hay”. if she’s ration balancer type of girl, start increasing from the 1lb-ish to get to the 3-4lb range by the time she foals, depending on her weight. If she’s on a regular feed, I’d honestly switch to a good, low NSC Sr or Growth feed and then increase that as her pregnancy continues. I really like Triple Crown Sr for this, if they’re the type who needs the calories.
Thank you all for your help! This is the sort of stuff I was looking for.
Dressagelvr, I have a line on some places, like you mentioned, and contacts to direct me if I need to go elsewhere. And she will have to go somewhere once she starts getting bigger. although my barn has a “no babies” policy, I know that there has been at least one mare who foaled there. Owner claimed it was a surprise. Couldn’t have been too surprising, though, they let her run around on wide acreage up north in summer, so I guess she had a friend over to visit. And there’s a barn locally that focuses on mare care and foaling.
JB, your info (and other’s!) was great. We are scheduling the exam now with the vet, and I’ll print out these posts for the consult.
And I’m thinking that the mare care barn will be able to point me to a place where a bunch of weanlings can hang out together with some grown up geldings and learn to “horse”.
This is a big gamble for me. These will be from frozen, and the stallion has been gone for a while. But he’s a great stallion, and I want to try.
Breeding is always a risk, but it sounds like you’re mitigating everything you can.
Jingles for a healthy foal and mare!
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