So breeding season is over and now the next step is keeping that mare healthly throughout the pregnancy so she produces you a nice healthy foal at the end of her gestation. Everyone has their own ideas of how this is done. Here are The Creekside Farm we have produced many nice foals and this is what we do!
NUTRITION
Make sure that your mare is fed a good quailty diet, most import to include good-quality hay, grass, and a mineral block. You can also discuss this with your veterinarian to decide what is right for your horse.
DEWORMING
We deworm our pregnant mares along with the other horses on an 8 to 12 week cycle. We also give the mare a dose of ivermectin on the day of foaling to decrease the transfer of Strongyloides westeri in the milk.
We also rotate the dewormers that we use. This does not mean change brand names it means switch from Ivermectin, to Pyrantle to Benzimidazole. That way you can target ALL the worms that your horse may carry at that time of the year.
Here is an Ideal Deworming Program:
January/February Pyrantel
March/April Benzimidazole
May/June Ivermectin
July/Aug Pyrantel
Sept/October Benzimidazole
November/
December Ivermectin
At horse.com Generic Ivermectin is on SALE $1.99 per tube. http://www.horse.com/item/generic-ivermectin-dewormer-187/SLT500400/?srccode=11JUN23I&emid=11JUN23I
VACCINES
We administer the EHV-1 vaccination to prevent early abortion in the mare, we administer the vaccination at 3 months, 5 months, 7 months and 9 months.
Around 30 days prior to her due date, vaccinate the mare with all the usual annual vaccines you give, like EWV and Tetanus, Potomac Fever, WNV, rabies, whatever you normally give in your area. This allows the mare to pass on antibodies at their fullest potency in the colostrum (first milk) to the foal. If you do this, you may not need to give the foal a tetanus shot or vaccination until age 6 months.
ULTRASOUNDS AND PALPATIONS
We ultrasound our mares at 14 days to verifiy the pregnancy. Then we palpate at 30, 60 and 90 days. Finally before we hit the harsh winter here in NC we get them palpated around the 6/7 month mark to take us into the 3 trimester.
I hope that this was informative and please consult your veterinarian for your horses personal care needs.
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