Thin TB Broodmare *recently purchased

[Kholoured]

Ok, so I just purchased a pregnant ×3 months 7 yr old TB broodmare. Based on her photos shes id say maybe 100-200 lbs underweight. Not a skeleton but ribs are showing, hips are a bit prominent, and her neck is thin. She was recently (last week) weaned off her current foal. I was under the impression that this mare was getting grain and hay thru out her pregnancy. However she ships this week and I just got told shes not been on grain or hay for the good majority of her pregnancy. The original owner can’t send a bale of hay and/or a half bag of grain with her seen as how shes not currently getting any of these things atm in her care…

I’m surprised she looks as good as she does coming off weaning lol but my dilemma is when i get her what do I feed her? Shes not on any hay or grain and the last thing i want is, after a 12+ hr drive, to have her colic when she gets a flake of grass hay.

1. Shes obviously probably hungry and is liable to scarf it down
2. She hasn’t had hay in a while so she may have some sensitivity to new food
   ** I plan to put her hay (when I start her on it) in a slow feeder to prevent her scarfing it down too fast and impact

Do I give her a couple of days before i start weaning her onto hay (1 flake at a time) then after a week on hay start weaning her onto some grain? I’ve never run into this situation before… I could use some advise. Do i talk to my Vet and ask her or do i just slowly start her on hay and grain after shes settled in.

[Helen_S]

I would start her on hay right away, but in SMALL amounts (like, a half pound at a time) and soak it before she eats it.

Since she’s pregnant, was lactating, and hasn’t been fed grain OR hay, consider getting her some alfalfa cubes/pellets in addition to grass hay and soak them into soup before feeding them. To start out with, a half pound of hay and a double handful of pellets. Then talk to a vet about getting her onto hard feeds.

How are her teeth? If they haven’t been floated lately and she’s underweight, that’s something else to do soon.

[Scribbler]

What are you going to feed if not hay? Do you have excellent pasture?

”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹This is not a starvation situation, but obviously you don’t want to deprive her.

I would just start her on free choice grass hay, a salt block, and lots of water. Honestly I’ve never had major problems with horses going from grass pasture to grass hay. Sometimes diarrhea, in which case probiotics and maybe Yeassac.

Don’t worry about grain yet. Give her free choice hay for a couple weeks then add in a vitamin mineral supplement in a small mash of hay cubes or s ration balancer. This will take care of nutrition.

Monitor her weight and if she isn’t gaining nicely on free choice hay add some alfalfa. If she still isn’t gaining then start looking at extra calories.

[Helen_S]

@Scribbler

Honestly I’ve never had major problems with horses going from grass pasture to grass hay. Sometimes diarrhea, in which case probiotics and maybe Yeassac.

Depends on where she’s been and where she’s going, I think. Taking a hungry mare from an area with orchard grass to coastal bermuda hay…I would want to increase that slowly.

[Scribbler]

@Helen_S

Depends on where she’s been and where she’s going, I think. Taking a hungry mare from an area with orchard grass to coastal bermuda hay…I would want to increase that slowly.

Ah good point.

”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹Our horses would be going from mixed grass pasture to similar hay or to good Timothy. Not a huge difference.

[Laurierace]

I think you are going to find she is a very easy keeper in the end. My TB mare is a relatively easy keeper but even she got ribby towards weaning time despite being stuffed with anything I could get her to eat. She had a ration balancer, fat supplement, cooked oats and free choice timothy and alfalfa and ate constantly but that just wasn’t enough to meet her needs while nursing a huge foal. Your mare should rebound quickly. I would start with a ration balancer and grass hay and add alfalfa in a week or two and go from there.

[Kholoured]

Shes coming from the south and going to the north. The pasture quality where shes going is terrible which is my concern.

**As part of my contract she needs to be preg checked within 2 weeks of ship date so I had planned on having them take a look at her teeth while shes getting preg checked.

I just dont want, with winter right around the corner, for her to lose anymore weight. And with this hay shortage this yr we are having to put in orders at out hay supplier earlier then expected so I can’t give her more then X amount per day to make the hay last even though where purchasing 100 more bales then we think we might need. I’ve been on the hunt for round bales and they are no where to be found here in MN… were already having issues with weight loss on the farm in the other horses due to lack of available horse quality hay we have resorted to alfalfa pellets and cubes… so this yr has been tuff already. Now with her coming in just a bit thin I dont want to make life harder by her losing more weight when our hay supply is limited.

So I’m just trying to get a game plan on how to get her on hay, and/or hay pellets, and grain to help prevent more weight loss. So I appreciate any guidance or tips for anyone.

[Kholoured]

@Helen_S

I would start her on hay right away, but in SMALL amounts (like, a half pound at a time) and soak it before she eats it.

Since she’s pregnant, was lactating, and hasn’t been fed grain OR hay, consider getting her some alfalfa cubes/pellets in addition to grass hay and soak them into soup before feeding them. To start out with, a half pound of hay and a double handful of pellets. Then talk to a vet about getting her onto hard feeds.

How are her teeth? If they haven’t been floated lately and she’s underweight, that’s something else to do soon.

This was more or less my plan at first to just get her slowly on good quality roughage, as she doesn’t NEED the calories atm seen as how she dry now. Then after ive got her on X amount of hay I’d start her slowly on the grain but hay is by far more important lol. I just wasnt sure if this was an appropriate plan for a early 2nd trimester broodmare. Maybe the 2nd trimester is nutritionally really important and she needs the vit and min of the grain more then the fiber lmao idk I’ve never been the sole caretaker of a prego mare before, I’ve worked on breeding farms but never had this situation before so wasnt sure what the appropriate action would be.

[Laurierace]

It depends upon how early in her pregnancy she is. They need minerals to lay down decent bone structure early in in their pregnancy. I would start her on a pound of ration balancer day one.

[Kholoured]

Shes on her third month about to start her 4th month

[Nevada10]

@Laurierace

I think you are going to find she is a very easy keeper in the end. My TB mare is a relatively easy keeper but even she got ribby towards weaning time despite being stuffed with anything I could get her to eat. She had a ration balancer, fat supplement, cooked oats and free choice timothy and alfalfa and ate constantly but that just wasn’t enough to meet her needs while nursing a huge foal. Your mare should rebound quickly. I would start with a ration balancer and grass hay and add alfalfa in a week or two and go from there.

I agree. I got a mare last year who was extremely thin… so thin that my vet wasn’t sure that she would get pregnant. I fed her free choice grass hay in a slow feed net and slowly added senior feed. She porked up in 3-4 months and has been on a ration balancer ever since… even through month 4 of lactation.

[Helen_S]

@Kholoured

were already having issues with weight loss on the farm in the other horses due to lack of available horse quality hay we have resorted to alfalfa pellets and cubes… so this yr has been tuff already.

Beet pulp is your friend here…you’re in the state where most of it is grown so you should be able to find a supplier to deliver it by the pallet load. Mixing beet pulp and alfalfa or alfalfa/grass cubes 50-50 by weight, plus a ration balancer, and soak into the texture of sloppy oatmeal will help you stretch your hay and it will put weight on anybody who is a little thin. I had a picky eater who didn’t like beet pulp on its own, but with alfalfa pellets and a double handful of Calf Manna he’d eat it right up.

Another advantage of beet pulp is that it costs about 25% less than alfalfa cubes or pellets.

For your new mare, since she’s been on pasture only, start slow and increase.

[Scribbler]

Beet pulp is digested in the hind gut like forage, but has more calories than hay, so it’s a nice choice that won’t overload the foregut with undigested sugars and carbs.