With a rapidly growing unborn foal, the transition time from mid- to late-gestation can pose nutritional challenges for pregnant mares.

Up to 60 percent of an unborn foal’s growth happens during the last three months of pregnancy. As such, late gestation can pose nutritional challenges for pregnant mares.

Comparatively, unborn foals grow very slowly (approximately 0.2 pounds per day) during the first seven to eight months of gestation, causing very little nutritional stress on the mare.

“Dry mares in early gestation can be fed like a mature, idle horse,” says Karen Davison, Ph.D., Director and Nutritionist for Equine Technical Solutions at Purina Animal Nutrition. “Good quality pasture or hay along with a ration balancer or vitamin/mineral supplement may be all that is necessary to meet the mare’s nutritional requirements.”

However, during the last 90 days of pregnancy, the fetus gains approximately 1 pound per day and has a significant impact on the mare’s nutritional requirements for protein, vitamins and minerals.

Read more: Broodmare Nutrition During Late Gestation

by Natalie Voss - from the Paulick Report

Earlier this month, veterinarians and state officials in three Florida counties (Columbia, Bradford, and Hillsborough) publicly announced they were dealing with a small outbreak of strangles, a contagious bacterial infection of the equine upper respiratory tract characterized by swollen lymph nodes. Strangles is a relatively common communicable disease, but in this case, alerts issued via the Equine Disease Communication Center indicated the outbreak's origin was a pen at a horse sale facility in Bastrop, La.

Though the specific location was unnamed in the alerts (it was not the well-known Bastrop Kill Pen, according to the information provided), the distributor's set-up is similar to many other so-called “kill pens” these days: facility operators or independent organizations offer horses destined for the slaughter pipeline for “bail” by rescues or private owners in exchange for a fee which is often higher than fair market value on the animal. When the money is paid, individuals may either own the horse or foster it until a permanent place can be found, and since social media is global, that means horses may leave such pens and travel many states away.

Dr. Angela Pelzel-McCluskey, equine epidemiologist with the United States Department of Agriculture/Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said that type of large-scale movement of horses is a serious biosecurity concern for people who foster or purchase the animals – not just for strangles, but other communicable diseases.

Read more: ‘Anonymous Horses’: Kill Pen Rescues Come With Serious Health Risks