foal care - The Horse Gal - Horse Training Tips & Videos, product reviews, horse health and management

Managing your foal with imprinting

It’s true that mother knows best, but a little human help doesn’t hurt either. Since Dr. Robert Miller introduced foal imprinting about 20 years ago, breeders, trainers, and owners have embraced this hands-on approach credited with producing more manageable, more trusting, and easier to train horses.

What exactly is foal imprinting? In a nutshell, it is desensitizing the foal to human interaction immediately upon birth. During imprinting the foal is handled by humans before its fight-or-flight instinct kicks in. There are two goals with imprinting: to train a horse to have little or no resistance to veterinary, farrier, and training procedures; and to establish a human dominance in the young foal’s life, leading to a more willing and trainable adult horse.

What does foal imprinting consist of? Immediately following birth, a handler gently probes the baby’s gums, teeth, ears, mouth, nose, and rectum. He or she handles the foal’s feet, applies gentle pressure to the sides and back, and introduces it to distracting sounds like the vibration of clippers, the sounds of crinkling paper, and flapping plastic. The goal is to get the foal to experience sensations it will experience throughout its life, and accept them at the earliest stage.

When is the right time to begin imprint training. Most people begin to imprint train their foal about one hour after birth, right after the foal has stood and nursed. Begin by touching the horse’s body very gently, all over. This will help the foal learn that he can be touched anywhere and it won’t hurt. And best of all, this is a lesson the horse will carry with him throughout his life! Foals who have been touched in this manner shortly after birth learn not to move into or jump away from pressure on their bodies.

One thing that is very important to note. Take care not to desensitize the area around the foal’s sides. You want to preserve sensitivity to the rider’s cues in that area! However, you do want them to understand that they should move away from pressure. You can do this by tapping them until they move. When they finally do move, stop tapping. By teaching the foal the concept of moving away from pressure early on, saddle training will be a breeze later on down the road!

Imprinting is also a great way to get your foal ready for a lifetime of easy farriery. What’s the best way to do this? Pick up and handle each foot. Be sure to lightly tap the hoof and sole with a pick. By doing this, you’ll prepare the foal for foot handling, hoof picking, and other aspects of hoof care it will encounter during its adult life.

To help the foal accept things like accepting the bit, veterinary procedures, teeth floating, and deworming, make sure you pay attention to the baby’s mouth during the imprinting process. Put your fingers in both the mouth and the nose, being sure to feel around the gums and pull the lips back. Desensitizing the mouth will ensure that you foal remains a model patient–one that your vet and dentist enjoy working with–through adulthood.

During imprinting, make sure you only touch one part of the body at a time. Continue to touch that part of the body until the foal accepts what you are doing. Never quit while the foal is resisting! To do so only teaches the horse that resistance leads to you stopping. And that’s not a lesson you want any horse to learn!

Initial imprinting takes about an hour. Over the next 12 hours, do two more five- or 10-minute imprinting sessions. A 10-minute session done once or twice a day thereafter will ensure your horse stays up to speed.

By introducing your young foal to varied stimuli, you can instill a lifetime of trust and willingness!

Getting your mare ready for pregnancy

Every winter, horse breeders try everything to give Mother Nature a little extra push in the right direction. Keeping maiden and barren mares under lights, feeding them a bit extra, stable managers try to fool these mares into thinking it was nearing spring and breeding season.

Timing is the key at thoroughbred nurseries, because all thoroughbreds celebrate their birthdays on January first. Getting mares pregnant as early as possible is one of the keys to success.
Amateur breeders don’t have quite the same tight timeline, but no matter if the mare is a thoroughbred brood mare or a pleasure horse on the family farm, successful breeding takes more than letting nature takes its course. Listening to the pros can give some good advice.

Even when you do all the tricks to help get your mares ‘in the mood,’ many still will not get pregnant early. Still, starting the breeding program early does have some advantages. Mares will need a negative uterine culture before they go to the breeding farm, and veterinarians will want to take that culture when she is in season. Keeping an eye on the mare early allows you to get that taken care of before going to the breeding farm, so you don’t miss out on any breeding cycles. Not only do missed cycles cost money, they also reduce the chances of the mare getting pregnant, especially if she is a maiden.

On professional breeding farms, barren and maiden mares begin the new year with daily visits to the teaser. This is incredibly helpful in determining the mare’s breeding status and determining if she is in season. Even without this help, you can often determine when your mare is coming into season.

Owners who know their mares well will notice when she becomes a little sulky at the start of her season. Also, mares will usually show heat to other horses when they are turned out together. Any time the mare is exposed to another horse, keep your eyes open and you might detect useful signs.

Especially with young maidens, mares who are coming in will usually urinate more frequently, and the urine will be thicker. Mares will also occasionally show a lower appetite than usual.

Your veterinarian can also help give your mare a little push in the right direction. Putting the mare on a ten-day course of progesterone followed with a shot of prostaglandin can help bring her into season. However, you should wait until they have cycled at least once so that the prostaglandin can work on a corpus luteum (an old ovarian follicle) and get the maximum benefit of the treatment.

Your veterinarian will play an important role in helping your mare to get with foal, whether she goes to stay at the breeding farm, is only shipped in for breeding and then brought home, and especially if she is artificially inseminated. Your vet will determine if she is in season, whether or not ovulation is imminent, and any additional assistance that might be required after breeding.

The vet can rectally palpate the mare two days after breeding to see if she has ovulated. If she hasn’t, you will need to return her to the breeding farm. If she has ovulated, the vet might recommend suturing her. Five days after breeding, the vet can check her blood progesterone levels. After eighteen days, tease her if you can to determine if she is in season. If not, the vet can palpate her again.

Pregnancy can be checked by ultrasound. If she is carrying twins, the vet might attempt to abort one fetus at this early stage to reduce the risk of miscarriage and complications. The heartbeat should be visible on the twenty-sixth day after breeding, and the vet will sometimes ultrasound again to check.

Also, blood tests at eighteen days can determine if the mare is pregnant. This is especially important for maiden mares without any pregnancy history to refer to. If the test indicates a need, the mare can begin taking supplemental progesterone at this time. However, oral synthetic progesterone supplements are expensive. One brand, Regumate, could cost between six and seven hundred dollars over the course of the mare’s pregnancy. If it is needed, vets generally recommend a one hundred fifty day course. Some breeders continue the supplementation all the way to term, but there is no evidence that the additional supplementation is helpful.

During the first and second trimesters, weight maintenance is generally the only extra consideration that a pregnant mare requires. An increase in feed is required in the last trimester, because the foal gains sixty-five percent of its overall growth in just this last trimester. Keeping the mare on her usual exercise regimen does no harm and may do a lot of good, at least during the first two trimesters. However, use common sense with any exercise program.

No matter what, making things as clear and easy as possible for the breeding farm makes sure that you get the most for your money and helps to eliminate mistakes. Give them all the information you can, from teasing charts to veterinary information to shot records. Make sure that your mare is de-wormed and has had her hooves trimmed if she is going to stay at the breeding farm for any amount of time. Also, make sure you send her with a good quality halter and, preferably, a neck collar with a name tag. And even if you plan to take her back home right away, make sure to remove her back shoes.

All these considerations will prevent mistakes and give you the best chance of being rewarded with a foal three hundred days from now.

Water! The most important nutrient for a horse

Question: What is the most important nutrient for a horse?
Answer: Water

Horses generally drink about 2 quarts of water for every pound of hay they consume. In higher temperatures, during hard work, or for the lactating mare, the water requirement may be 3-4 times the normal consumption.

Nutrients
Horses require six main classes of nutrients to survive; besides water, they require carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins, and minerals.

•Carbohydrates are the main energy source used in most feeds. The main building block of carbohydrates is glucose.

•Protein is found in every organ and tissue of the body. It is vital for muscle development during growth and exercise. The main building blocks of protein are amino acids. Soybean meal and alfalfa are good sources of protein that can be easily added to the diet. Signs of protein deficiency include a rough or course hair coat, a reduction in growth, weight loss, and performance.

•Fats can be added to a feed to increase the energy density of the diet. Vegetable oil is the most commonly used fat source in horse feeds. Certain fatty acids are also essential in the diet. Rice bran is also a fat supplement that is sometimes added to feeds to increase energy.

•Vitamins are fat-soluble (Vitamins A, D, E and K) or water-soluble (Vitamin C, and B-complex vitamins). Horses at maintenance usually have more than adequate amounts of vitamins in their diet if they are receiving fresh green forage and/or complete feed rations. Some cases where a horse would need a vitamin supplement include when feeding a high-grain diet, or low-quality hay, if a horse is under stress (traveling, showing, racing, etc), prolonged strenuous activity, or not eating well (sick, after surgery, etc.). Most of the vitamins are found in green, leafy forages, however Vitamin D is obtained from sunlight, so, typically horses that are stalled for 24 hours a day would need a supplement with Vitamin D. Severely stressed horses may benefit from B-complex and Vitamin C supplements, during periods of high stress.

•Minerals are required for maintenance of body structure, fluid balance in cells, nerve conduction, and muscle contraction. The macro-minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, chloride, magnesium, and sulfur are needed daily. There are also micro-minerals, such as selenium, which are needed in smaller animals. Sweating increases the horse’s need for sodium, chloride and potassium, which is the reason for supplementing with electrolytes if a horse is sweating a lot.

Energy Sources
Carbohydrates in the forms of fermentable fiber or starch are the most common sources of energy. The densest source of energy, however, is fat (almost three times more than carbohydrates or proteins) and can be a great source for horses that tend to “run hot.” An example of a high fat energy source is Cool Calories 100. Horses exercising, growing, pregnant in late gestation or early lactation need increased energy in their diet.

Forages
Forages are classified as legumes or grasses. The nutrients in the forage vary greatly with maturity of the grasses, fertilization, management, and environmental conditions. In order to determine the nutrient content in forage it is recommended to take samples and get them analyzed by a forage testing lab (contact your local County Extension Office). Some commonly used grasses include orchard grass, timothy, bluegrass, and fescue.

•Legumes, such as clover and alfalfa, are usually higher in protein, calcium, and energy than grasses. They have more leaves than grasses and require optimal growth conditions (warm weather and good soil) to contain the best nutrients.

•Hay is dried forage, harvested, dried, and baled before feeding to horses. The legume hay can contain 2-3 times more protein and calcium than grass hay. Common grass hays include timothy, brome and orchard grass. Appearance is usually a good indicator of the amount of nutrients in the hay. Moldy or dusty hay should not be fed to horses.
Concentrates (Grains)

1.Oats are the most popular grain for horses. Oats have a lower energy value and higher fiber content than most other grains. They are also more palatable and digestible for horses than other grains; however, they can be expensive.

2.Corn is the second most common grain for horses. It provides twice as much energy as an equal volume of oats and is low in fiber. Because it is so energy dense it is easy to over feed corn, causing obesity. Moldy corn should never be fed – it can be lethal to horses.

3.Sorghum is a small hard kernel that needs to be processed (steam flaked, crushed, etc.) for efficient digestion and utilization by the horse. Like corn, sorghum is high in energy and low in fiber.

4.Barley also has hard hulls that should be processed to allow easier digestibility. It has moderate fiber and energy content, and can be a nutritious and palatable feed for horses.

5.Wheat is generally only consumed by humans because of its high cost. Its small kernels should be processed for horses to digest. Wheat is higher in energy than corn and best used in a grain mix because of its low palatability.

As you can see, proper nutrition, including supplementation when needed, is essential for the health of your horse. Knowing what your horse needs is a vital step to feeding him day to day.

Nutrition Needs in Horses: Overview
Drs. Foster & Smith Educational Staff