Weaning is an incredibly stressful period for foals and mares, but also for horse owners. The following are various weaning methods and rules to follow to ensure that the experience is positive and safe.

What type of weaning to choose

The choice of type of weaning depends on several factors: the number of foals to wean, the available facilities, the behaviour of the horses to be separated, their health, their overall condition, and the time and energy that owners have at their disposal.

Maintaining adequate body condition is essential for the health of horses. Here is a brief explanation of what can lead to obesity and some practical tips to help your horse lose weight.

Competition horses must demonstrate endurance and power several days a year. What can be done to reduce muscle fatigue and promote recovery? Developing a good feed program is the key to a performance horse’s success.

Most horses are happy to live outside in winter. To ensure their well-being in inclement weather and a cold climate, it’s important to monitor a few basic elements and adapt stable management accordingly.

Reorganizing outdoor facilities

Horses that live outside in winter must have shelter for protection from wind, rain and snow.

Hay is an important part of a horse’s diet. That’s why it’s important for all horse owners to know how to choose the right type of hay for their horses’ needs.

Composition

It’s important to remember that forages are not all the same. Their digestibility, nutritional value and voluntary intake vary greatly depending on their composition, maturity and the quality of the harvest and storage conditions.

A foal’s diet begins in its mother’s womb and changes throughout its development. For that reason, it’s essential to adjust the nutrition of the broodmare and the foal at each new growth stage.

Newborns

Colostrum, the first milk produced by the mare, contains a significant amount of antibodies that protect a foal from pathogens in its environment. It also contains enzymes, hormones and growth factors responsible for the development of the foal’s gastrointestinal system.

Many equestrian centres prefer to keep horses in their stalls for part of the day to make management easier. However, there are a number of advantages to raising herds of horses outdoors. Here’s an overview of the benefits and challenges of this raising method.

Learning how to analyze hay will help you to make informed decisions when buying forage and to build balanced rations based on your horse’s needs. Here’s an overview of how to carry out this essential exercise.

Make observations

1. Observe the colour of the hay

Before you have your hay analyzed, you must first assess it in the simplest way possible—through your senses. Ideally, you should be looking for beautiful greenish forage. Brown hay is often a sign of poor storage or bad weather at harvest.

A horse at maintenance is one that is required to do very little exercise. Whether the horse is enjoying a vacation or recovering from an injury, the following are some basic principles for ensuring that it receives a suitable diet according to its nutritional needs.

At each stage of gestation, a broodmare has specific nutritional requirements. Providing a balanced diet and appropriate management is therefore essential to its well-being and the foal’s health.

The broodmare’s gestation period is 11 months, and the lactation period ranges from 6 months to 1 year, depending on management at the farm.

The nutritional requirements of broodmares can be divided into several distinct steps.