The broodmare body. No top line?

[wesley]

I need some help with my broodmare’s body condition.

Mare had late foal we are about to wean her foal. Mare is a very mild cribber.

Mare looks to have a big belly, but NO top line. Same with her bum. She has covering over the sides of her bum, but not as much along the top.

I feed this mare. She get purina maternity twice a day. She gets premium hay outside, and a bale at night. She is also out on a 4 acre paddock all summer.

If she has hay in front of her always she does not crib on my water bucket, ruining them. It is cheaper to feed her hay, then a new water bucket everyday.

She has been wormed all throughout the year.

She should look fat. Her tummy looks fat, but nothing on top. Foal looks great. Is this lack of exercise and having the baby? Once baby is weaned, should it come back? What do you do to bring it back?

[Molly_Malone]

She’s feeding the foal, not herself. Keep up the rations post weaning and gradually bring her back into work - top line is muscle, not fat and a program of gradually increasing walk/trot on the lunge for a couple of weeks followed by riding should see her back to normal within 6 months.

(having a baby is hard! Wait 'till you have one!)

[siegi_b]

I agree that feeding the foal is tough on the mare… My mares get up to 6 lbs of ration balancer a day when they have a foal by their side, and sometimes I supplement that with other feed.
The more babies a mare has the less topline she’s going to have - their whole body changes because the only muscles they use on a regular basis are the ones supporting an ever-growing fetus.
In my opinion, age, number of foals, and quality of turn-out (i. e. hills and lots of room) affect the looks of a broodmare.

[Chestnut_Run]

If your mare has her ribs covered, but is lacking on her topline, it’s been my experience that she needs more protein in her diet. Ribs lacking=needs more calories. Top line lacking=needs more protein. If she’s an easy keeper you can add a ration balancer. MOst of them, IIRC, are 30% protein. I usually just add alfalfa hay to their diet, as much as they will tolerate. I have one mare, who has had 7 foals, that I have to really keep a close eye on. If she’s not getting enough protein (in the form of alfalfa hay), she drops topline FAST.

Sheila

[Home_Again_Farm]

I agree that topline loss can be effected by too little protein in the mare’s diet. However, I also agree with Siegi that multiple pregnancies can change a mare’s topline fairly permanently. I also have some mares that never seem to lose topline and others that lose topline as soon as they are pregnant. The second category takes a long time to recondition if going back under saddle after a pregnancy.

[szipi]

Wean the foal - its that simple.