Mare and Foal feed for thin Nursing Mare?

[barnchick277]

Hi,

I’m picking up a 3 year old warmblood mare with a 2 month old filly and the mare is pretty thin with prominent hip bones and visible ribs. Trying to figure out what to add feed wise to help her out. She is currently on grass pasture only however we have been in a drought so the pasture appears to be more weeds than grass at this point. She will be getting free choice mixed grass/alfalfa(20%-30% alfalfa) hay once she arrives. I’m looking at various mare and foal feeds but the NSC just seems high on a lot of them. Is there one that is recommended over others? I feed Triple Crown senior, Triple Crown ration balancer, alfalfa pellets, and flax seed to my current horses but wasn’t sure if some combination of those would be a good option over a mare and foal feed for this situation. She’s around 16.1 hands and not super heavily built so I would guess she should be in the 1,000lbs-1,100lbs range if she were in good weight

I’ve looked through posts on the forum and found a few helpful ones but they were from several years ago so I wasn’t sure if anything had changed recommendation wise since

Thanks!

[JB]

The hay improvement alone will do wonders.

Triple Crown Sr is an excellent choice for more calories. If/when she gets to a good weight, then if she’s heading into overweight territory, drop to the ration balancer. I’d guess that will be several months though.

Since you already have the TC products, even better.

I would aim to get her on 8lb of the Sr, over the next 10-14 days, and let that ride for a few weeks to see how it’s going. You can add more, 10-15lb total (obviously 3 feedings if you get to more than 10lb) but I bet you won’t have to go quite that far.

[barnchick277]

Thanks JB!

Just the answer I was hoping for! How much of the Sr would you recommend starting with to get up to the 8lbs? I just don’t want to overload her too quickly. She will also be coming from the farm and herd she was born into so the move will most likely be stressful itself

[candyappy]

She doesn’t sound like you need to worry about NSC? She needs a good high quality feed specifically formulated for a mare raising a foal. I would start at 3 pounds split into 2 feedings and gradually increase by a pound until you are up to where she should be.

It will take a couple of weeks.

[JB]

@barnchick277

How much of the Sr would you recommend starting with to get up to the 8lbs?

I’d probably start at 1-2lb a day, and add 1-2lb every 2-3 days.

TC SR is 1.08lb/quart, so even half of a 3qt scoop, twice a day, and increasing by that much each time, should be fine.

@candyappy

She doesn’t sound like you need to worry about NSC?

High NSC feeds aren’t the best choice for a nursing mare. They can work, but at least if you stay below 20% there aren’t likely to be any issues for either of them.

@candyappy

She needs a good high quality feed specifically formulated for a mare raising a foal.

Thankfully the TC Sr is a great mare/foal/growth feed and already on hand

[barnchick277]

Thank you for the information!

I’ll start working her up on the TC Senior and reevaluate if she doesn’t start picking up weight

Can’t wait to get this mare home and get some groceries into her!

[Montanas_Girl]

Triple Crown Senior or Growth could work nicely for this mare. If you’re already feeding Senior to your other horses, I’d start with that.

Just an FYI: If the mare is 16.1, “lightly built” or not, her ideal weight is probably more along the lines of 1,300 pounds, not 1,000. Most horses in the 1,000-1,100 pounds range are actually large ponies.

[barnchick277]

Good to know! My current horses are all under 15hh so not surprised my estimate was off on this bigger girl

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get them this past weekend but we have rescheduled for next

[endlessclimb]

Eh… this really depends on the build. My 15h appendix, who isn’t slight built but isn’t a tank either, scaled in at 850lbs at the clinic when he was fit and in work. No ribs, no lacking in muscle tone. I’m guessing he would roll in at 950 now.

My 16.3h OTTB tank scaled in at 1300. He looked like a warmblood.

My 16h finer mare scaled in at 1000 almost on the money. Again, fit but not ribby.

[S1969]

I was in this very same situation many years ago with my now 26 year old TB mare. She was extremely thin, and the previous home was feeding her buckets of grain but not enough hay. So she probably had terrible ulcers as well as a big colt taking all her nutrition.

Free choice hay is the best thing, and if she’s not very thin, it might be just about all you need plus time (and some grain, but nothing crazy). I fed TC Senior, and can’t remember how much, but probably in the 8lb range, split over two feedings.

The grass/alfalfa mix will probably be a big help. I added alfalfa for my mare because she wouldn’t eat enough grass hay and/or it just didn’t offer enough calories. If you really need to add more and/or she isn’t gaining on the free choice hay, you might consider another meal of alfalfa cubes or even beet pulp. But I would give the free choice hay some time.

Take pictures - it helps to see the changes better than the naked eye.

[lenapesadie]

@endlessclimb

Eh… this really depends on the build. My 15h appendix, who isn’t slight built but isn’t a tank either, scaled in at 850lbs at the clinic when he was fit and in work. No ribs, no lacking in muscle tone. I’m guessing he would roll in at 950 now.

I think it must be very dependent! My almost 15h grade stock mare stepped off the vet school scale at 1030. She was in moderate flesh and lightly muscled.

[JB]

@Montanas_Girl

Just an FYI: If the mare is 16.1, “lightly built” or not, her ideal weight is probably more along the lines of 1,300 pounds, not 1,000. Most horses in the 1,000-1,100 pounds range are actually large ponies.

Hmmm, we usually see so much eye to eye, but on this, not so much LOL!

I would not expect a lightly built 16.1 TB mare to be 1300. Mine is fairly fine-boned, cob-sized bridle/halter that suits her body well, at 16.2 (and only because of honkin’ withers) and is “only” in the 1200/1250lb range

The real JB (TB gelding) was 16.2, looked QH or Appendix, and was 1320 scale weight.

1000lb could be large pony, but it would be a hefty large pony, like a pony-sized QH built like a stereotypical QH. Most light horse breeds of pony size are more like 800-900lb. Even small horse sizes of several breeds, like Arabians, 15/15.1 or so, are still only around 900 or so, maybe pushing 1000 if they’re heftier.

[Montanas_Girl]

@JB

. Even small horse sizes of several breeds, like Arabians, 15/15.1 or so, are still only around 900 or so, maybe pushing 1000 if they’re heftier.

You’d be surprised. I’ve weighed hundreds of horses in my career, and the only ones that have ever come in under 1,000 pounds were also under 14 hands. My old Half Arab gelding (15.1) weighed over 1100 pounds at a BCS of 4.5.

My two “scale toppers” were a 15.3 hand TB mare at 1,500+ (BCS 7), and a 17 hand TB-type Appy gelding at 1,450 (BCS 3.5!).

I currently have at my place a 13.2 Arab mare (787 pounds, BCS 4.5), a 13.3 Half Arab three year old filly (812 pounds, BCS 7) and a 14 hand draft cross long yearling (959 pounds, BCS 5.5).

You have to remember that the “average” horse is 500 kg (~1,100 pounds), but the “average” horse is a 14-15 hand Quarter Horse!

[barnchick277]

All good information!

Take pictures - it helps to see the changes better than the naked eye

Great idea!

[ThreeWishes]

I think it also helps to gauge a horses weight via a veterinary scale vs a weight tape. Tape can be useful as a ballpark to assess gains and loses. But it’s not accurate like a scale.