Pregnancy
According to Silver Lining’s expert Mickey Young
I hear a lot of debate about the care of mares while they are pregnant. I was raised on a ranch where we raised a few colts each year. My dad had mostly crossbred mares which he ran a nice thoroughbred stud with to raise colts that were big and stout who could cover a lot of ground in the course of a day. We used them to ride the range for cattle and it was not uncommon to ride 40 to 50 miles a day. I never knew mares ever had problems foaling until after I grew up and moved away from home. It was at this point I started hearing about the problems other people had. I have since come to realize that my father had preserved another page from the past having some very valuable information on it.
Do your mare a favor: use her during pregnancy!
One thing we did then that most people do not do today is, we used them when they were pregnant until it was uncomfortable for us to put the saddle on them and keep our legs where they belonged when we were riding. Once the mares belly got too large for us to put our legs where they belonged we would give the mare some time off to have her colt. When we would quit riding her we would give her room to exercise on her own and we would not over feed her. In other words we did not start treating her any differently from the other horses.
How do you feed a pregnant mare?
She still got what hay it took to keep her in decent flesh and plenty of good fresh water. These mares would also get a quality herbal supplement designed to give the colt a well rounded diet, via the mares system. Today we recommend the #10 Training Mix as the absolute best way to supplement both mares and their babies. We usually fed on the opposite end of the pasture from the water, which would force the mare to travel a little every day, which encouraged the much needed exercise. When the colt was born we would want to see it within the first few hours because we wanted to see what it looked like, and not necessarily because we thought we needed to help it. The mare would usually see us coming to see the new colt and take the colt on a trot the other way to keep us from getting too close. The colt would be at her side on a lope to keep up. I only remember one case in all of my growing up years when this was not the way it happened. In that case the colt was breach and the uterus was twisted. I may also say that this particular mare had been poisoned on loco weed as a colt and was never able to be ridden. We lost that particular mare and colt. I am not sure we could not have done something more to prevent that from happening as well, knowing what we know now. None the less we did lose that one. I guess that goes to show that we will not stop the life/death process, huh?
Let the mare do as much for herself as possible
I think the more money these babies are worth the more we try to keep them from being exposed to what we perceive to be dangerous situations. So we make them spend too much time in confined areas. I also feel we are giving these mares entirely too much medication to keep the mare and the colt healthy. As I have mentioned before, we need to be sure that the horse is given the opportunity to do as much for itself as it can do without interfering with them. I recognize the pastures and feeding environments have changed over the past decade but we still have these feeds available in supplement form. I also know, not all people have the room to turn their mares out on 200 acre pastures to get them exercise, but we can still ride them or pony them every day. This even makes more sense now than when we did it because the colt is so royally bred.
Prepare the parents for a healthier colt
The way I understand it, the way the determination is made on a new born colt to find the condition of the immune system is by what is known as the IG count. If we want the colt to have a high IG count it is going to need to come from the parents. It is at the time of preparing the mare to conceive that the colt is best suited to receive this care. A properly fed mare and stallion will produce a strong fetus. A strong fetus, properly carried, will produce a strong foal. A properly fed mare which is nursing a foal will produce a strong weanling and a properly fed weanling will grow quickly to a strong useful futurity prospect with less leg and joint problems and less of the other issues such as colic, ulcers, tying up, navicular, etc. You can see this difference as soon as the foal hits the ground in both the mare and the colt. It is a simple matter of proper nutrition, water and exercise. These same foals are generally more easily trained as they have a better outlook on life and feel a lot more like working. Once again, Silver Lining highly recommends #10 Training Mix for your mares and colts.
Remember: the #10 Training Mix is the supplement you can count on for healthy colts, weanlings and young horses!
Silver Lining’s supplements combined with a healthy feeding program will provide important natural nutrients to build your horse’s system, increase fertility and keep your mares in top performing condition.
Our natural nutrition prevention and healing program ensures you that your horse is getting the proper nutrition to prevent a diseased horse and promote natural health. The West Nile Virus is definitely a threat to your horse’s health. Silver Lining’s feed supplements will build up your horse’s immune system and help him resist this disease without chemicals.
Silver Lining’s 26 formulations of natural human quality herbs are designed to be combined with your care and feeding program to provide proper nutrition and health for your equine and maintain his top performance capabilities and health with out the use of damaging chemicals.
Silver Lining’s herbal training performance enhancer for the horses is a wonderful all-natural herbal nutritional supplement. Silver Lining’s natural wormer helps rid the protozoa associated with EPM, as well as rids the horse of other worms they may have making it a great natural herbal wormer. Also Silver Lining supplements will provide healing of hoof and foot problems, navicular, ring bone, reverse calcium deposits, improves mare and stallion fertility. Prevention of horse health problems such as colic, joints problems, equine cataracts and moon blindness. Silver lining herbs can remove toxins, acts as a blood cleanser, immune builder, infection fighter and helps thyroid, liver, pituitary, equine ulcers, moody mares, herpes, weak kidneys, lymphatic system and will assist in prevention of the West Nile Virus. If you are having healing problems our equine diet supplements and natural healing equine performance diet and health improving products will make a huge contribution to your horse supplements nutrition and performance programs.