AQHA Magazine September / October 2019 AQHA Sept-Oct 2019 WEB | Page 24

PG.22
HORSE HEALTH
Breeding
NUTRITION
GUIDING GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF FOALS BEGINS WITH THE LATE PREGNANT
MARE. AS WELL AS SIZE AND WEIGHT AT BIRTH, WE MUST BE CONCERNED ABOUT
SOUNDNESS, BECAUSE WE ARE PRODUCING AN ATHLETE.
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ARTICLE: DR JENNIFER STEWART - EQUINE
VETERINARIAN AND CONSULTANT NUTRITIONIST
evelopmental orthopaedic disease is the term
used to describe the debilitating bone diseases
which afflict an increasing number of young horses,
including:
Angular limb deformities
- including bent and twisted legs in foals
Contracted tendons and club feet
Epiphysitis and joint enlargements
Bone cysts and OCD
Thin and poor-quality bone
Cartilage damage
The potential to develop DOD develops in late pregnancy
and one factor is imbalanced diets. Borderline imbalances,
excesses and deficiencies are often difficult to detect and the
effects may only present years later as vague syndromes of
poor performance, failure to reach potential, breakdowns and
injuries – many of which may not show up for years until the
young horse is in work.
The nutrition of the late pregnant mare affects:
• the risk of laminitis and colic before
and after foaling
• the foal’s immunity against diseases
• the risk of diarrhoea in the young foal
• foal growth rate
• bone growth, the risk of bone and joint
diseases in the weanling and yearling.
Pregnant mares have increased incidence of laminitis. Insulin
resistance underpins laminitis in all horses, but the pregnant
mare is a high risk. The definition of insulin resistance is ‘..an
inability of insulin to promote glucose uptake by the cells..’. Insulin
resistance develops at around 28 weeks gestation. It ensures
the mare doesn’t remove all the nutrients into her own cells
and that blood glucose remains high to supply the foetal foal.
Ongoing work into this devastating condition has consistently
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