A mare that experiences a straightforward birth should be ready to go back under saddle six to eight weeks after foaling. However, if your mare had a complicated birth, it might take far longer.
A healthy pregnant horse can be ridden during much of her pregnancy. However, there are periods when riding should be avoided, don't ride a mare for at least 30 days following conception or during the final two to three months before her due date.
You can comfortably continue to ride your mare until she is about 8 months into her pregnancy and even compete safely, however after about 6 months you may just want to reduce her workload and slow things down a bit.
Exercise and riding during pregnancy
So stick to light exercise for the first month or two. But after that point, most experts believe you can saddle her up and ride her as normal for the middle stages of her pregnancy.
After weaning, Lucy suggests waiting for a week or two to allow the mare to settle before starting a gradual exercise programme. “The saddle fit will need to be checked, as she will be a different shape after foaling,” says Lucy.
Traditional wisdom is that a horse should begin his or her ridden career at three years of age, for other riders it is to wait a few years more, whereas in areas such as the racing industry horses are commonly under saddle and on the track by two years of age.
Encourage the mare and foal to rest as long as possible. Give them an opportunity to bond undisturbed. Treat the umbilical cord with an antiseptic solution, recommended by your veterinarian, soon after the cord breaks and for several days thereafter to prevent bacterial infection.
It doesn't happen very often, but sometimes a mare will refuse to care for her newborn foal. Walking away and ignoring the foal is a mild form of rejection; not allowing the baby to nurse is more serious; and in the worst cases, some mares kick, bite, and have even been known to kill their foals.
Riding your broodmare before, during, and after her pregnancy is extremely beneficial for her conditioning.
Mares also share a special and intimate connection with their foals. In honor of Mother's Day, enjoy these precious moments between moms and their little ones. It doesn't matter if they have feet or hooves- there is nothing quite like motherly love!
After a period of days or weeks, once the weaned foals have settled down and are eating well, they can be turned back out together in a group. Although the abrupt method sounds harsh, if done right it's easier on everyone involved: mare, foal and handlers.
“Many people also use acepromazine, which is more of a calming agent (tranquilizer) than a sedative.” While none of these are labeled for use in pregnant mares, she says they typically don't cause serious side effects. Still, ask yourself why you are giving sedation and if it's necessary.
Most breeders will start breeding a mare as young as five. Any mare who will be a broodmare should have her first foal between 5 and 10, during her optimum fertility years. Mares who have had foals their whole lives can continue to have foals into their early 20s.
Optimal breeding is every other day while she is in estrus and before she ovulates. A mare will normally ovulate about 24 to 48 hours before the end of estrus.
A stallion can typically cover one to three mares a day and about 30 to 40 mares in one year.
Generally, mares are past their reproductive prime when they reach 15 to 16 years old. There are mares that can carry and deliver healthy foals into their 20s, but the majority of them have had multiple successful pregnancies before.
Mares may suffer from a variety of genital injuries including vulval separations, vaginal lacerations and, less commonly, vaginal rupture. Possible sequelae to, and management of, these injuries are described, with additional mention of false entry by the stallion and persistent hymen in maiden mares.
Mares can safely be ridden until they deliver, as long as the rider is careful,” said Callahan. Most people who ride pregnant mares do so with young mares that will be put back into competition after weaning the foal—and those mares usually don't have much abdominal enlargement.
Mares: Can have 0 to 20, with an average broodmare producing around 15 to 20 foals in her life. Stallions: Most stallions are bred 30 to 50 times a year. If 40 of those attempts result in a live foal, a stallion could have 600 foals in his life.
As a result, stallions have evolved strategies to safeguard against raising other stallions' offspring. And one of these instincts is to kill young foals – especially males – that are probably not their own, if the opportunity arises.
While this may result in many sleep-deprived nights for stable staff, night-time foaling has important physiological relevance. It makes sense that a prey animal out on the open plains would seek the safety of darkness hiding their vulnerability during the birthing process to avoid the attention of predators.
Dr. Ben Espy says most mares can begin working again six to eight weeks after a complication-free foaling. However, some mares may experience pregnancy-related circulatory side effects, like edema in the legs and belly.
Remember the 1-2-3 rule.
1: Foals should stand by one hour of age. 2: Foals should successfully nurse by two hours of age. 3: Mares should pass her fetal membranes within three hours of delivery.
Post-partum mares seem to be at increased risk for several types of gastrointestinal problems. These include cecal rupture, rectal prolapse, trauma to the small colon or mesocolon, trauma to the small intes- tine, and large-colon volvulus.
Eating manure is considered to be an abnormal behaviour in horses (other than foals) and is rarely seen. The most common reasons mature horses eat manure is inappropriate diet and poor nutrition.