If the conception rate of dry mares to your stud was not as good as you would have liked this past year, improved feeding techniques might be a partial answer.

Breeders who settle a large percentage of mares each year pay close attention to the “art of feeding” horses. Many successful breeders begin a feeding program for their open mares several months before the onset of breeding season in order to manipulate the nutritional state of the mare into mimicking its evolutionary natural rhythm.

In the wild, mares are dependent on the nutritional sources associated with each season. During the late fall and winter, food becomes increasing scarce. As the herd wanders in search of food, many mares began to tap into their stores of body fat for energy.

Cooler temperatures and shorter days continue to bring on the phase of declining nutrition which results in a weight loss by the members of the equine community. Spring ends all of that. Warmer days with an increasing number of daylight hours, initiates the beginning of a new year’s cycle. As the grasses put up, food becomes plentiful and mares move into a plane of increasing nutrition which eventually leads to weight gain.

Wisely, as planned by Mother Nature, this nutritional change earmarks the beginning of reproductive activity. Although the actual biological changes that occurs during this transition from the reproductive quiescence associated with winter to the breeding activity of spring have yet to be completely described, there is strong evidence that an increasing nutritional state is a factor in getting mare to settle.

Timing mares to be in this gaining condition during breeding begins 60 to 70 days before the beginning of breeding season. Most dry mares coming in from fall pasture need to lose between 60 and 100 pounds of weight in order to get into proper condition before breeding season.

A slow decline in weight throughout the winter of about a pound a day will bring a mare to this slightly underweight condition. The nutritional recommendation for the average 1000 lb barren mare estimates that she is going to need at least 10 lbs a day of a good quality hay to maintain herself.

Of course, there are many factors which will increase the amount of feed an individual mare needs. For example, some mares are hard keepers. Taller, more angular breeds like Thoroughbreds loose more body heat and need more hay to maintain their condtion. The severity of the winter weather both in temperature and moisture will play a huge role in the amount of hay needed.

The key to determining the amount of feed needed by each horse is the "horseman's eye". Keep a close watch on the condition of the mares to determine when they have reached this "ideal" lower nutritional state. What you are looking for is a mare that is free of excess deposits of fat along the backbone, around and over the shoulder and under the skin. There should be a light indention in the rib area where two or three ribs will barely be visible. Sometimes it is necessary to actually feel the mare's body as her winter hair coat can make her look fatter than she actually is.

It is not a good idea to let a mare drop off more weight than this, both for her health and the length of time necessary to return her to a positive nutritional condition. It is not possible to turn the nutritional state of a mare around overnight. A mare will continue to loose weight for approximately two more weeks after the beginning of a diet of increased nutrient intake. It also can take as long as 6 weeks for the mare to return her "normal" weight.

Therefore a watchful and educated eye is necessary to determine when a mare has just about reached her “flushed” condition. Careful timing will bring the mare into a positive graining state as she reaches her minimum optimum weight as breeding season gets underway

.

This mare has almost reached her "flushing" weight. She needs to loose about 50 more pounds but she is close to the point where she is ready to start "regaining". Weather, individualized ease of weight gain and number of days left for the onset of breeding season are factors need to be considered in her feeding program to order to have her in a gaining mode to optimize her reproductive performance.

Ideally the mare should gain back the lost weight at a rate of about a pound a day. If pastures have not yet begun to produce, supplemental feeding of hay and grain will be necessary. Individual mares will vary greatly in the amount of feed required to attain a "gaining" condition. A rule of thumb is to gradually increase the diet up to 15 lbs of hay a day and 6 to 10 pounds of grain for the average 1000 lb mare.

Mares failing to return to a positive state may be due for a deworming or other routine herd health procedures such as teeth floating. Failure of such treatment to return the mare to a gaining state may indicate a more serious problem which should be diagnosed and treated accordingly.

Barring such unforeseen mishaps, conscientious use of the “flushing“program should enhance the biological mechanisms which enable your mare to conceive and maintain a pregnancy.