This is not good mare or foal feed, even if it was balanced for horses instead of sheep.
If you’re set on a small amount of “grain”, get a ration balancer instead, or at the very least something meant for horses.
ETA: meant for horses as in backed by credible research and following established guidelines for feeding horses
Surely you’re right. I will stop feeding this grain.
Mares will be on back on good pasture tomorrow…after, what, 6 months of drylot and hay. They will probably bloom. And when they come in, they have really good alfalfa hay. And they’re in good flesh and have good udders.
YMMV, but I would look into a ration balancer or V/M supp to boost your pasture. No pasture is completely perfect for any animal, and broodmares with a foal at their sides need extra of a lot of things. Mom can only pass on what she gets, so making sure you don’t have any gaps or overages will give the babies their best shot.
Others know way more than me about how to pick a supp or balancer so I’ll leave that to them!
No the foals are not skinny but the mares likely will be if they are not already. There are very few mares that can maintain their condition while laxtating on that small amount of poor quality feed.
Foals should be on Rejuvenaide
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t one of the highest calorie and nutritional demand categories a lactating mare? Even above heavy work like racing? That is what I have been led to believe, at least.
Being a momma ain’t no joke
Yes. No horse doing anything has a higher nutritional need than a lactating mare. The mare will give everything to the foal to her detriment. It can take a year to get them back to status quo after letting them use their own body to feed the foal
Yes. Breeders can use a growth feed for the harder keepers, or an increased amount of ration balancer for easier keepers. Same goes for foals once they are eating concentrates.
BTW I’m strongly pro ration balancers!
OCD is not only from over feeding. Yes, fast growing fat foals are at risk from over nutrition but foals also can have issues from mineral imbalances. A skinny foal is not safe even though that was the thought years ago. A ration balancer will supply the nutrients that a mare and foal need. If the mare is on largely alfalfa then you will need a different formulation because of the calcium in the alfalfa.
Was buying Stork a fly rug an absolute frivolous use of $15? Absolutely. Is it so dang cute that it was worth every penny? 100%.
We are still fighting this blasted hock rub. We gave up and are wrapping the leg, so I’m hopeful it will close up soon.
To answer both, likely. I’ve seen worse grow up perfectly fine. Foals tend to change every couple of weeks, if not less. Pasterns tend to take a while to straighten up completely.
$15??? Oh, heck, yeah I’d have bought it too! Kinda like buying the adorable outfit for a baby: they may only wear it once, but AAWWWWWWWW!!!
Wait until you see the whole wardrobe. Someone got rid of their minis and had all the clothes for sale.
SQUEEEEE!!! Yes, that’s a sentence.
So, after hearing from all you guys that my feed, my grain, was all wrong, i’ve reached out to a professor i know who is an equine nutritionist (and teaches equine science classes at SIU). I’ve given her the formula. Plus told her of the hay and the (starting today) pasture they are all getting acclimated onto. She has been to my farm…has seen my horses, has even asked to bring a fieldtrip here (but we have never gotten together on a good time), SIU is a 3.5 hour trip. She asked to see photos of mares and foals. She just got back to me and said to not change what i’m doing and not to worry, mares and foals look peak condition for this time in their growth/lactation stages. And that a pound of my sheep mix twice a day can’t hurt and might help and that there is nothing wrong with whole oats. With cracked corn. With soy meal.
She also said about ration balancer: that do it right, a person needs to test every new batch of hay, and sample the grazed vegetation monthly, then have an adjusted feed balancer for the horse’s needs at that point in time.
We talked about grazing and given forbs and a wide variety of grasses over large acreage the average horse will ingest almost all of it’s needs. Esp if they drink ground water and if minerals are offered free choice. And she kinda LOL’d when i mentioned that one of these mares was 100% BLM range horse and both foals where sired by a range BLM mustang too.
That is just about the cutest thing i’ve ever seen!
A “so far, so good” update on my problem child! She had another follow up ultrasound earlier this week and her placenta is looking good, normal thickness, with only a possible area of separation. Baby is very active and her growth is normal. Clinical signs of placentitis have resolved, but we’ll continue with the medications until birth.
Mom is starting to looking pretty round, but at just 8 months I’m not sure we can blame the baby yet, haha.
Today is Sydney’s 6th birthday. She is looking none the worse for the ordeal she went through two weeks ago.
And, yes, her new grazing muzzle should be here any day now…
Hopefully after one more round of the glue on shoes, Fuego can have some more freedom. For now, I let him do a little jogging in some straight lines since I figure it’s better than spinning and leaping around the stall 
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I can only imagine what he’ll do when he’s first turned out. He looks good.
Will the vet be suggesting a paddock? I wouldn’t want him in a round pen because no matter what space he’s in you know he’s going to GO when he’s let loose and as you say, it’s better if he has room to run straight.
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