Bran mash after foaling....

After my mare foaled I use to give them hot bran mash.

About 3 pound or, so and hot water stirred up.

They loved and and I never had a mare colic.

They empty their intestines and this really helps thing get moving.

Well in my books its not necessary........bran is an irritant to the bowl......I think hot beet pulp would be a better options.........the biggest risk for a mare post foaling for colic is after foaling and up to and including the first heat cycle....it takes a while for all the insides to find there way back to where they were before being in foal.....and the most likely type of colic is a torsion colic due to the movement of internal organs finding there right place.

Super Nova

I lost a mare to that last year a week after she foaled.

I had good luck with the bran.

Most of my mares foaled in January and February.

I think they liked something warm.

I know your not suppose to make fast changes to a horses diet, so why of all days would you give a mare bran mash (something new to their diet) right after foaling? Bran does not "clean" a horse from the amount of fiber in it, like it does for people, horses get more fiber in a day from a regular amount of hay and grazing than bran will ever give them. It "cleans" them out because it is a change to diet and it causes a mild digestive upset. Mind you this is what my vet(s) and a nutritionist from Purina told me, and it is a major miss conception, sort of like not giving a horse water after a work out because it will get sick. That and the wheat bran is pretty much useless for horses, at least rice bran has oils and higher fats to help gain weight.

Maybe it worked for me because my mare never ate grass, I don't know.

I know the foals I raised were hard to beat in the show ring and IMO, it started with my mares.

Hay is pretty much just fiber so it makes no difference if it is grass or hay. Adding water and maybe a little molasses or something to make it sweet, to their regular food would make it a lot safer though than giving a new food suddenly like that. It still would be warm and taste new to them. That's my opinion from what I've been told and having dealt with many types and times with colic, you get luck once but don't bet on it every time to go so well.

Don't know anything about breeding horses or foals, I don't even own a registered horse so can't comment on that.

But, hay did make a difference to me.......

I fed only second or, third cutting alfalfa.

It keep the butter fat high in the mare's milk.

Like I said....it worked for me to use the mash.

I am looking at two mares to buy now.

I will look further into the current thinking on this.

My arena won't be done until June.