What You Can Do to Promote a Healthy Foal

Take steps prior to parturition to ensure your foal enters the world in a clean and healthy environment.
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Reprinted from The Horse Report with permission from the Center for Equine Health, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis.


Many conditions and complications related to foaling are not within your control, but horse owners and breeders can take steps to promote the health of a foal even before it is born. Providing a clean foaling environment and keeping the mare healthy, clean, and current on vaccinations are some ways.

Provide good prenatal mare care. Provide adequate nutrition for the mare, including vitamin E and selenium supplementation to ensure healthy placental function and blood supply to the developing foal. Consult your veterinarian to determine the appropriate dose of supplements. Selenium intake can depend on geographic location. Ensure that your mare is current with vaccinations as this can positively affect the quality of colostrum.

Ensure a healthy foaling environment. Bacteria encountered by the newborn foal in a dirty, poorly ventilated stall can easily override the antibodies received from the mare’s colostrum, even if the foal’s immunoglobulin G (or IgG) is at or above the desired level of 800 mg/dl. In nature, a mare will wander off to a site of her choosing that is free of manure. The ground is baked by the sun, which minimizes pathogen levels. On a farm, it is a different situation

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