A horse gestation period is almost a full year. And it seems to have gone too fast for many owners! Early choices affect what occurs during the final weeks of gestation, getting familiar with quiet first few months can avoid trouble down the road. In fact, most growth occurs long before you see the roundness in your mare’s abdomen; month-by-month the chart details how fetus is developing. It begins tiny but soon has a beating heart and an established body plan. During the second half of months, she will kick (and her lungs even begin practicing breaths). Recognizing what is normal allows you to notice abnormalities, as you learn about expected progression at every step.
Slowly, nutrition grows. In the first trimester, the mare does not need extra grain, just steady access to good forage and a basic mineral supplement. The second trimester require more. By the end, the foal will gain almost a kilogram per day. The change is gradual; many owners underfeed until close to foaling time, when they realize horse has lost weight. Prevent this by regularly checking body condition scores and adding calories at the right time.
How to Care for Your Pregnant Horse
When the foal’s size reduces appetite, there are no feeding problems. The same applies to exercise rules. The middle months are when light exercise improve muscle tone and circulation. Later in the third trimester, it’s about comfort, which means avoiding slips on slick surfaces. Riding gives way to hand-walking, not because the mare is delicate, but simply because a poorly placed foot could injure her. Keeping things gentle protects all those months of preparation.
Labor stages are underestimated by new owners. The cervix opening stage (stage one) will last several hours and may look like mild colic. Water breaking starts stage two, which should conclude in no more than half an hour. If not, there could be trouble; know your vet’s number and use it rather then chart time. After birth, passing the placenta is stage three. It is easy to forget since birth was just done. However, if the placenta isn’t passed, infection occur fast. Watch for this step.
On day one, there are no-nonsense time lines for the foal: stand up in an hour; nurse in three hours; poop out in six hours. Why? These steps confirm that the foal took up antibodies via colostrum and are not random. If it misses one of them, call the vet. Don’t assume things will work out.
This is where 340-day average comes in handy. Since we know when the service was done, we also know approximate timeframe she could deliver. The spread is 320-370 days. That’s wide enough to catch an owner off-guard if they choose one date, but not so wide as to have to watch her like a hawk for a month just hoping something will happen.
Daily decisions made with careful management will pay off if you are patient. They can be either a healthy foal who needs little assistance, or one who would of needed some help. Knowing the chart stages and tracking your decision-making along them helps make those last few hours less a guessing game.