This mare illustrates the problems associated with breeding from mares that have Equine Metabolic Syndrome. This is a hormonal disease of horses that causes their tissues to be resistant to the effect of insulin. This mare was an “easy keeper” and when she was pregnant she put on excessive weight very easily. She also had a severely cresty neck, fat pads above her eyes, around her tail head and behind her shoulders.

 

These horses are very prone to laminitis, but the immune system is also affected and they respond to infections abnormally. This means they do not recover from infections well and seem to be prone to post breeding endometritis and maybe more at risk for placentitis. Mares with EMS also have changes in blood pressure and the blood flow through the uterus may be adversely affected.

 

The key to managing these mares and improving their breeding performance is to control their body weight and reduce the amount of green feed and grain they eat. For horses, green grass and grains are like lollies, and just like feeding a person with diabetes a chocolate bar, feeding horses with metabolic syndrome the wrong food makes the problem worse.

 

This mare was in the PPP for her last 3 pregnancies and she produced 3 great foals, before that she had only produced 4 foals from 9 pregnancies.

 

For her last pregnancy a nutritionist was consulted and the mare was kept on a carefully monitored diet of specially formulated pellets which limited the amount of non-structural carbohydrates but provided all the energy, vitamins and minerals she needed. The mare was in great health throughout the pregnancy and the pregnancy was much easy to maintain than the previous two. She produced an excellent foal even though she was maintained in a moderate to low body weight throughout the pregnancy.