Let's Talk About Feeding

     I've been meaning to do a post about feeding for a while as there are many facets to Pebbles particular case. When she arrived in quarantine she was by far in the best weight of the three mares that were pulled from Sexton's. The absolute worst thing you can do to poorly nourished and stressed horses is to start pumping them full of grain. It is tempting to think that because they are pregnant that their caloric need is greatly increased as well but truthfully foals do most of their in utero growing during the last 3 months or so of the pregnancy and therefore you don't feed them more until that point. Without a breeding date I chose to make an educated guess that the mares would most likely be due in March at the earliest. In her video at Sexton's they said "bred for an early spring foal" and they mentioned that the mares were "out running with a black QH stud". These mares originated from somewhere in the Carolinas before being shipped to Tennessee according to their Coggins test. While the weather during Carolina winters and spring is not terribly cold most mares left in a natural environment don't cycle when the daylight hours are short. A mare is pregnant for roughly 11 months, or 330-345 days. It sounds as if these mares were pasture bred, and at nature's prompting, so for me April makes sense and that would give us a March due date. I should also add that Pebbles had zero udder development when she arrived and I am doing daily checks with no sign of any changes. She did have the most belly of the three mares but I think that had more to do with worms than it did with a foal (more about that later). 

    When she arrived at my farm in December I started the feeding plan I intend to keep her on until the end of this month. I feed Tribute feeds, hay pellets, and various supplements to my 3 horses in addition to free choice locally grown Orchard Grass hay. Two of my guys are easy keepers and the young TB is growing still so I have 4 types of feed. The main ration is Tribute Wholesome Blends Balancer which is a great compliment to free choice hay and all an easy keeper needs. In addition to the Balancer I also provide all of the horses with Vermont Blend vitamin and mineral supplement. This further balances out hay and the extra zinc and copper balance the iron content of the hay and water. During non peak grazing months my horses all get 2400 IU of natural liquid Vitamin E. Horses that are not grazing on 12 hours or more of quality grass are often deficient in Vitamin E and this deficiency can cause serious problems. Hay once cut quickly looses it's vitamin E content so that is not a reliable source. We are starting to approach the point where I will be gradually increasing Pebbles feed through the addition of Tribute's Growth Pelleted feed. This is a great feed for the late gestation, lactating mare, and a growing foal/weanling. Pebbles will also move to 3 meals, and later 4 a day, to help her get in those calories with the decreased space in her stomach.  So here is Pebbles current feed amounts...

AM Feeding:

1.5 lbs of Alfalfa Pellets (soaked)

1lb of Tribute Wholesome Blends Balancer

1 cup of Coolstance Copra (a fat supplement)

1/4 cup of Vermont Blend

2 TBS. of loose salt

2400 IU Vitamin E

PM Feeding:

1.5lbs of Alfalfa Pellets (soaked)

1lb of Tribute Wholesome Blends Balancer

1 cup of Coolstance Copra

1/4 cup of Vermont Blend

2 TBS of loose salt

    Pebbles has access to unlimited free choice hay as well as 24/7 access to a pasture. The grass in that pasture is mostly dormant at this point so I do not count it as part of her calories. She however LOVES to be out and grazing so it's benefits are immense to her physical and emotional well being. She is turned out alone (sharing a fenceline with my boys) which gives her 1.5 acres to herself. The movement is excellent for her and she gallops in for her meals when I call. 

    Before I wrap up I wanted to discuss deworming Pebbles and the result of that. Of course when she first came to my farm we were not yet at the point where I could touch her let alone give her an oral dewormer. This didn't mean I could overlook this very important part of her care though and so I purchased a pelleted Fenbendazole dewormer. When you deworm a horse with an unknown history is is safest to start with a type of dewormer that will not only kill Small Stronglys that are active in the intestinal tract but that will also kill the encysted Small Strongyls. If you use a dewormer that just kills the active worms it can cause a mass die off and subsequent hatching of the encysted worms that can cause major damage to the intestinal tract. This can cause sever symptoms and even death. In Pebbles case this choice was a savior. About 12 hours after I dewormed her I started seeing massive amounts of tiny red worms in her manure (Small Strongyls). When I say massive I truly mean that. I have a pretty strong stomach and it still made me a bit queasy. Due to this I decided to wait 2 weeks and give her a second dose to make sure we got them all. I also decided to pick the manure out of her pasture as opposed to dragging it as I normally do. This created a lot of extra work but it was best for the farm and the horses.