The exciting breeding season is well under way! Many of us have spent long months eagerly awaiting the birth of a beautiful new foal. They are gorgeous to look at and time can quickly pass watching their first wobbly walk progress to a confident canter; but at the same time, we need to pay attention to their dams, our hard-working broodmares. A broodmare carries the foal for between 320 and 365+ days, and then gives birth before feeding her foal around the clock (and puts up with the playful youngster racing off or jumping all over her!). The day-to-day life of broodmares varies between those that are pampered and taken extra special care of, to those that mainly turned out with simply routine management.
In either situation, what are the important things we need to be doing to take care of our broodmares? And are there any specific veterinary problems we need to be aware of? If you have bred your mare this season, or are considering doing so, what do you need to know?
A lot of the routine care of a broodmare is the same as the routine care of any horse with the important things being hoof and dental care, nutrition, worming and vaccination. We will look at these things each in a little detail.
Hoof care
Regular trims are important to keep the feet in great condition and prevent cracks leading to hoof abscesses. If there is anything you can do to avoid infections in pregnancy, then you should do it. It also ensures that the feet are correctly supporting the mare’s body weight, which will of course increase considerably towards the end of pregnancy. Feet that are poorly balanced will mean more strain is put on joints and ligaments, and this will be exacerbated with the increased weight of pregnancy.
Dental care
Again, regular dental care is important to try and prevent infections and to allow the mare to get the most nutrition out of her diet. It is easy to think if a mare’s condition is good then she has no problems, but until the mouth is examined properly we just don’t know. It is important to prevent any serious dental issues occurring while she is carrying a foal, as infection can carry a risk to the pregnancy. Obviously, we don’t want to stress a pregnant mare, either. Ideally, the dental treatment should be done after the birth of a foal and before the mare goes back in foal, but in some cases treatment needs to be done during the pregnancy. A discussion with your veterinarian is needed to work out the best plan of action for your mare.
Nutrition and body condition
As with any horse; a broodmare needs a plentiful supply of good fibre in her diet. It is also recommended that her diet is supplemented with either a commercial broodmare feed at the correct weight to ensure she receives the right amounts of vitamins and minerals or, if the mare does not need extra energy/calories, then a vitamin and mineral broodmare balancer. Nutrients including copper, zinc, selenium, calcium and phosphorous are all important in a broodmare’s diet for the health of the future foal and its joints, but these must be fed at the correct levels.
Keep an eye on your mare’s condition; she should be neither too fat nor too thin. She will be changing shape of course, so seek advice if you find it difficult to judge her body condition during pregnancy. Looking at the shape of her rump and comparing this with diagrams showing body condition score may help. If she starts to lose condition as she gets further on in pregnancy (and some do due to both the energy requirements of the foal and the growing foal taking up space in the abdomen) then adding or increasing her commercial broodmare feed is recommended.
Vaccination
Here, broodmares are treated a bit differently to the rest of our horses. There are a few different vaccines available for pregnant mares. The important one for all broodmares is to have a tetanus booster two to four weeks before foaling. If they haven’t been vaccinated previously, they will need two injections four weeks apart with the second one two to four weeks before foaling.
There are four other vaccinations that can be used for broodmares. If you are sending her away to foal down, discuss with the stud you are using as to their requirements, or with your vet if she will be foaling at home.
(either a sidebar/panel within the vaccination section OR a smaller type of sub head/bullet point list)
The vaccines are:
Strangles. Most horse owners are aware of the horrible looking, highly infectious respiratory disease called strangles. It is a highly recommended vaccine when horses are mixing with other horses (as they do at studs) but also, very importantly, vaccinating the mare correctly will give a good level of immunity to the foal for the first two to three months of age through antibodies in the colostrum.
Herpes vaccine. This vaccine is recommended for broodmares to prevent abortion due to equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1). EHV-1 is also is a very common respiratory virus in young horses so there may be a particular risk when youngsters are in the same place as pregnant mares.
Salmonella. Salmonella causes a very severe and serious diarrhoea in horses. It may be more commonly diagnosed in some areas and those high-risk areas may consider vaccinating the mare to boost antibodies in her colostrum to help protect her foal.
Rotavirus. This vaccine is designed to boost the levels of antibodies against rotavirus in the mare’s colostrum. In this way it gives the foal a good level of immunity against the virus which is quite a common cause of diarrhoea in the young foal, and is very contagious.
Worming
Most wormers in New Zeaaland are safe for pregnant mares at all stages of pregnancy, but do always check the packet to make sure it says this. It is recommended that a broodmare is dewormed on your usual programme, depending on your situation (but make sure you get worm egg counts done regularly if you are not on a frequent programme, as her immunity to worms may decrease due to pregnancy). In addition, a wormer should be given around 2 weeks before she is expected to foal.
Specific veterinary problems
There are several veterinary problems that we need to be aware of when breeding a mare. We usually think about the problems that can occur around foaling time, but there are conditions that can happen much earlier on in pregnancy.
Premature lactation (dripping milk/developing a large udder earlier than expected) should be taken very seriously. In an experienced broodmare, the udder will usually just start to develop a little between four and two weeks before foaling with then a rapid increase in size happening in the last two weeks. With a maiden mare, there may be no change in the udder at all until right before foaling. If there is an obvious change in the udder and/or dripping milk and foaling is not expected for more than two weeks, this is called premature lactation and it indicates that the pregnancy is at high risk. The most common underlying causes are a twin pregnancy or an infection of the placenta (placentitis). Both, unfortunately, often result in abortion. There are treatments for placentitis which can save the foal and mare, but they ned to be started as soon as possible. Call your veterinarian if you see this.
Colic. Pregnant mares can get colic the same as any other horse, but they can also get signs of colic due to a twisted uterus. In horses this can happen from as early as seven months into the pregnancy up until foaling (in one study, 9.6 months into pregnancy was the most common time for it to happen). It is important that any veterinarian who attends a colicking mare is told if she is in-foal, so a twisted uterus can be considered as a possibility. It can be corrected, although surgery may be recommended.
Varicose veins. Some pregnant mares develop varicose veins inside the vagina. Obviously, we cannot see these, but they may bleed every so often, and this will be very concerning. Of course, it is very important that your mare is examined by a veterinarian if you see bleeding from there, as there can be other, much more serious causes of bleeding.
Around foaling time
**Please remember if your mare has a Caslicks (stitches in the top of her vulva usually to prevent infection) that this will need opening before she foals, otherwise there could be a nasty tear**
It is strongly recommended that a mare foals at a facility where she will be monitored 24 hours a day and there are staff experienced in foaling present. If your mare does foal at home though, here is a brief reminder of the stages of foaling and when a veterinarian needs to be called urgently.
There are three stages to the birth of a foal:
Stage 1: The mare becomes unsettled; she may paw the ground or lie down and get up. This stage can take from 10 minutes to five hours. Stage one ends with the waters breaking. The vet should be called if stage one is taking more than three hours.
Stage 2: This is the exciting birth itself. The stage only lasts 15-30 minutes as the mare uses strong contractions to push out the foal. You should see one foot appearing (the right way up) at the vulva slightly in front of another foot, and then after a few more pushes the nose of the foal will appear on top. The vet should be called urgently if stage two is taking more than 20 minutes, if a red bag appears at the vulva, if the foal’s feet are upside down, if only one foot appears, if the head appears with no feet or the feet with no head, if the feet are on top of the head or if the foal is coming out backwards.
Stage 3: This is the passing of the placenta (afterbirth) and should happen within three hours of the foal being born. The vet should be called if the placenta hasn’t been passed by three hours after birth; call urgently if it has been six hours.
Problems after foaling
A retained placenta is one of the more common problems after foaling, this is when the placenta has not been passed in the three hours following foaling and happens in between 2-10% of all foalings. It can rapidly start to cause toxins in the mare’s bloodstream, and she can become very sick and also develop laminitis, which in itself can be life-threatening. Even if you see some of the placenta on the ground it is very important to check that all of it is there by examining it carefully (or asking your vet to do this) as occasionally a small piece will be left behind, and this can cause the same issues. In either case, your veterinarian will need to treat your mare both to remove the placenta and to treat for any toxins in her bloodstream before she gets too sick.
Prolapsed uterus. Occasionally a mare’s uterus can prolapse after foaling (and can happen up to several hours later). This means that the uterus turns inside out and hangs out of her back end. This needs urgent veterinary attention to replace it before it become damaged. Unfortunately, in some cases there is too much internal damage and internal bleeding and the mare needs to be euthanised, but in a lot of cases the uterus can be replaced successfully despite it looking awful. If this happens to your mare, your vet will advise you what to do while they are on the way, but it is important to keep your mare as calm and quiet as possible, so she doesn’t panic and cause further damage to her uterus.
Colic. Any signs of colic (pawing, kicking at their belly, lying down and getting up, stretching out, rolling etc) in a recently-foaled mare needs veterinary attention urgently. There are some types of colic (including a twist of the large intestine) that are more common in a recently-foaled mare, and which need immediate help. Sometimes the colic signs are because of a problem in the reproductive system too; for example a tear, an internal bleed or an infection.
An internal bleed can occur from a ruptured artery and this is a very serious problem. It may be so severe that nothing that can be done, and we end up with the sad case of an orphan foal (almost 40% of mares that die around foaling do so due to an internal bleed from a ruptured artery). In other cases, the mare may lose a lot of blood, but a clot is able to form and although she may be very lethargic, trembling and showing signs of pain, there is a chance she will pull through with good veterinary management and owner care.
Udder problems
There are two main concerns with the udder; one is whether the mare is producing enough milk (and the foal can drink it) and the other is mastitis.
To know if the foal is getting enough milk we tend to look at the foal rather than the udder, as mares clearly don’t have the huge udders we see on some cows! If the foal is behaving normally and going through regular frequent cycles of sleeping, waking, drinking (and you can watch it suck and swallow), playing and urinating often (every two hours with clear urine) then it is likely to be receiving enough milk despite the mare’s udder not seeming really full.
In fact, if you see milk dripping from your mare’s udder, then it is very important to get your foal examined by a vet as it very likely has not been drinking enough. Remember, foals can get dehydrated and very sick very quickly.
Mares can get mastitis, which is inflammation and infection in the udder. This is very painful and sometimes the first thing you will notice is the mare looks lame or stiff as she is walking in a strange way to try and avoid causing more pain from her udder. The udder can also look swollen and feel hot to the touch. Be extremely careful of your own safety if you try to feel your mare’s udder. Call your vet right away if you are concerned your mare may have mastitis.
Breeding your mare again?
You may have just got over the excitement (and worry) of one foal being born but if you are planning to breed again this season a plan needs to be put in place almost straight away! A reproductive and ultrasound examination will check that everything is recovering as it should be from the previous pregnancy and foaling or, if not, whatever treatment that is needed can be started as soon as possible.
Summary
Breeding a mare can bring a lot of excitement and enjoyment and, most of the time, things all go to plan. There are, however, extra health risks to the mare during pregnancy, foaling and afterwards. It is important to keep your broodmare in the best health possible and to be aware of the warning signs to look out for. Don’t hesitate to ask your veterinarian for advice if you are at all concerned. Good luck!
