Just because your lactating mare has a grass belly doesn’t mean that she’s fat — check your mare’s body condition score to avoid future troubles.

Question:

I have a 9-year-old lactating mare, whose foal is 9 weeks old. The mare is thinning on her back bone and ribs area but her abdomen is large. She is fed grain twice a day and is on pasture 24/7. Does this sound like a grass belly to you, or is it normal for her to be big because of her milk production? I just don’t want her to become an overweight horse.

Thanks!
Patricia

Answer:

Daily turned to AQHA Corporate Partner Nutrena for advice.

If your lactating mare is thinning on her backbone and ribs, but her abdomen is large, she is actually losing body condition. The energy (calorie) intake for a lactating mare increases tremendously (it actually doubles!) when she goes from being pregnant to producing milk. Her requirement for protein and minerals also increases a great deal.

She will graze as much as possible, which will increase the size of her abdomen (grass belly). If she is still in a negative energy balance (not enough calories), she will draw down her fat reserves from her neck, back and over her rib cage to provide energy to produce milk.  She will also use some of the protein and minerals from her body.

It is extremely important to increase her energy intake as well as provide adequate protein (amino acids) and minerals.  If she does not maintain her body condition, she may produce a little bit less milk, and she may not settle if she is re-bred or she may experience early embryo loss if she does become pregnant.  She should be receiving a diet formulated for lactating mares with foals at side according to the feeding directions and may need to feed her three times per day.  You may also want to get a weight tape and a body condition scorecard to use to monitor both weight and condition score.

– Roy A. Johnson, Nutrena Technology Deployment Manager of Horse and Specialty