Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Heidi -

I fully concur with your comments about nutrition playing a large part in the in 
utero experience of the foal, with these caveats:

1) Big farms usually don't breed 25+ yr old mares.  The gestation rate is too low and 
abortions are much more frequent so it tends to be a waste of stallion and time. 
Then there's the LFG, to add a legal twist :)
2) The proper nutritional requirements for a geriatric brood mare aren't exactly on 
the tip of even a big farm owner's tongue, much less that of the guy down the street. 
 Witness your personal experience, as a vet, with your two foals.
3) The above lead to the conclusion that the majority of foals from *old* mares did 
not benefit from the modalities that might have greatly improved their time in utero 
since they were probably from someone's backyard, as my filly was.  This in turn 
suggests that such horses should not to be preferred over the get of younger mares, 
regardless of conformation.  Now if all you want are the chromosomes for breeding, 
well, that's another story.


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