Mares and foals require special attention. Mares in foal should be fed high quality feed and dewormed regularly with a dewormer approved for use in pregnant mares.

At five, seven, and nine months of pregnancy, they should be vaccinated to protect against abortion caused by Rhinopneumonitis. Four to six weeks prior to foaling, all vaccinations should be boostered (using only killed viruses). This will maximize the quality of the colostrum, which protects the newborn foal from diseases.

Foaling: Keep the mare in a meticulously clean, draft free, dry environment when she is getting close to foaling. After foaling, wash her udder and the surrounding area if she is manageable and not nervous about her foal. This will keep her fairly clean so while the foal is on its quest for colostrum, he doesn’t ingest a high number of bacteria from the dirt in the region of the udder.

Call if the foal does not stand and nurse within four hours, or if the mare does not pass the entire placenta within two hours. Save the placenta for us to examine.

Following birth, begin dipping the foal’s naval with a dilute nolvasan solution or a softener made of a penetrating iodine. If everything appears normal, wait until the foal is 12 hours old before having an examination performed. At that time, we will evaluate the foal and make certain it has no congenital abnormalities such as crooked legs, cataracts, or hernias. The foal is given penicillin, vitamins, and an enema at this

time. A sample of blood is taken to measure this level of immunoglobins and determine if he received an adequate transfer of immunity through the colostrum.

Deworming: Start the foal on a deworming program at one month of age, and deworm monthly using a rotational schedule. Again, some dewormers should not be given to young horses, so care should be taken to read the labels when deworming foals.

Foals can be started on continuous daily dewormer (Strongid C) as soon as they are eating grain. We strongly suggest feeding Strongid C daily from weaning until at least two years of age.

Immunizations: Recent research has found that early vaccination of foals only gives limited protection against diseases. This is mainly because of maternal antibodies protect the foal from disease until the level falls at two or three months of age. These antibodies not only attack diseases but they also attack the vaccines if give too early in life.