From: Leslie
Dear Jessica, I greatly enjoy reading the info. that you pass on to people, and have already been helped in many ways with my own horses just by reading your wonderful advice to others. Perhaps you could share your opinion in this situation. I own 2 horses and board 3. I live in British Columbia, Canada, in a northern area with extreme winter conditions. We bring in 3 tons of hay per horse to carry them through the winter, and provide heated water tubs. We have outdoor shelters as well as a new barn, so the horses come in at night and are turned out every day. My neighbor has two thoroughbred mares. He feels that it is fine to feed them minimal hay and just let them spend most of their time foraging through 1 1/2 feet of snow to get at the dead grass. He also doesn't provide any water to them. He feels that they get enought moisture from the snow. He leaves them on their own from Monday to Friday and returns on the weekends. When he leaves, he puts out two bales of hay and feels that this is enough with the foraging that they do. He says that they are able to pull out bits of hay from an opening in the back of his hay shed if they choose to. I know that he must be away from home from Monday to Friday so I have offered to come over to feed the horses hay through the week free of charge. The local SPCA rep. has also offered a tub and a heater for water. He has turned down both offers. After a conversation with him today, he told me that he doesn't want to feed the horses any extra because he wants them to loose weight. He has tried breeding them 4 times unsuccessfully and is now under the impression that getting them thin will increase his breeding success. Apparently the SPCA rep. agreed with him on this point. The mares have lost weight since being placed on the property at the end of the summer, and are starting to look ribby and quite sloped in the hind quarters. I have always been under the impression that a mare benefits by having a little extra weight for breeding success and for a successful pregnancy. I have been in contact with the SPCA rep. throughout this winter regarding the declining condition of the horses and the fact that they have no water. So far they have done little to rectify the situation. It is extremely frustrating watching these two mares just across the road pawing through snow, while my own horses are provided with more than adequate amounts of feed, lots of water and shelter. Any opinions or comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again for the help you have already given me in your posted reponses. Leslie:)
There is some sound science behind this man's theory of preparing broodmares for breeding, although it's not clear that his methods are very kind. Overfat broodmares are usually much more difficult to get and keep in foal than broodmares in good or even adequate condition.
Oddly enough, some broodmares in good condition - not hugely fat, just in good condition - can be difficult to put in foal! Sometimes these mares can be much easier to put in foal when they are gaining in condition - not THIN and remaining thin, but in the process of going from "on the thin side" toward good condition. In breeder talk, this is called "flushing". A breeder with mares that are hard to settle will keep those mares a little bit thin and ribby coming out of the winter, then start to feed them up in the weeks before (and during, and after) they are bred. It's not entirely clear why this works, but it does often work. I suspect that the additional food and consequent weight gain serves to help "fool" the mares' bodies into producing more hormones and creating a more favourable environment for a foal. It's a case of doing artifically what nature would do naturally. ;)
Left to themselves, many mares don't even cycle in the winter, and almost all mares will begin to cycle in the spring, and come into much stronger heats when there is good green grass and sun. Concidentally (well, not really), this happens at exactly the time of year when horses in the wild would be somewhat thin, and ready to spend the next few months enjoying the sun and the new grass, gaining weight, and getting ready to breed. Nature arranges things neatly, so that mares settle by early summer and then give birth to their foals next spring - when there is sun and green grass, etc. Very clever, isn't it?
Anyway, I expect that this is what's behind your neighbour's notions, and this is why the SPCA rep was agreeing with him on this single point.
As for the horse management issue, I agree with you. Leaving horses unattended all week is bad enough, but those horses should have free-choice access to hay, even if it's not very good hay, just so that they can keep warm. They should also have access to water! Snow is not enough to maintain optimum health, and it takes a great deal of body heat to warm the quantities of snow that a horse would have to eat in the absence of any water. And what exactly does he intend to do when the snow melts?
However.... think of wild horses. They manage to survive, even if not wonderfully well, in much the same condition as these mares: by eating snow and scraping the snow away to reach the dead grass underneath. Your SPCA rep is probably unable to do anything more than make suggestions because the horses technically DO have access to forage, snow, and some hay apparently. It's not an ideal situation by any means, but the law will often not permit the confiscation of horses that have access to any source of feed and water. I don't know how your laws are written, but here in the States it can be quite difficult to confiscate horses or take action against their owners as long as there is feed ON THE PREMISES - even if none of the feed is given to the horses...
If you can manage it, try to stay on civil terms with your neighbour. It's possible that he may learn better by watching how you manage your horses! If he feels that everyone is "against him", he won't learn anything, because he will decide that you and the SPCA rep are "the enemy", and he will not listen. At the moment, it sounds as though you are still able to talk to him - try to keep the lines of communication open, because if they become completely closed, you will never be able to do anything to help those horses.
Perhaps, if the mares do get in foal this spring, he will treat them better in the coming year. Perhaps, if the mares do NOT get in foal this spring, he will give up the idea of trying to breed them - and sell them instead. One can only hope. In the meantime, since breeding is apparently what he is determined to do, it's possible that you or the SPCA rep might be able to convince him to offer the horses water, better hay, salt, and vitamins IF you can persuade him that this is the way to settle mares and maintain successful pregnancies.
In the meantime, go on being a good example, so that anyone driving down the road could point to YOUR farm and say "Oh, what a wonderful place, just see how well they keep their horses!" Your concern does you credit.
Jessica
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