I am so excited for you, as foals are so much fun. You have already gotten some great advice here. As for Fescue, there are many varieties of it, many are the types used in sod and lawn grass, if you google it, you can get an idea of what it looks like. It varies from region so you should ask the barn manager about it and look out for it when walking/grazing her (although there isn't much green grass out there this time of year). As for her food intake, pregnant minis should consume approx. 3% of their weight daily and 1.5% of that total should be roughage (hay/grass). Now this is just a guideline, every horse is different and you need to do what works for you and your mare. You adjust her diet/exercise according to her individual needs and regimine. For the first part of the pregnancy, keeping her on the normal routine was perfectly fine, and now in the last few months, her nutritional needs are going to become more demanding as the foal develops. As others have suggested, she needs calcium and phosphorus to ensure the foal's bone and cartilage develop properly, she also needs enough copper and ammino acids for tissue development. Diane had an excellent suggestion of using a specific mare and foal feed or adding a supplement such as Mare plus to ensure she is getting all she needs. If you go the supplement route, then you do not have to switch her grain as some horses do not handle feed changes well (even gradually) and Safechoice is a fine feed for a broodmare. To get an accurate idea of her intake need, first calculate her weight. There are a few different formulas out there but this one seems to be the most accurate for minis in ny opinion, as I have had weight tapes off by as much as 30 pounds! If you have access to a scale that would be awesome, but that is not always an option. Her weight in pounds = (9.36× measurement of all the way around her girth in inches) +(5× her length chest to tail in inches) -348.5. Once you get an accurate weight you can figure out what 3% of that is and feed accordingly. I personally feed Purina omolene 300, the mare and foal grain. Safechoice is good too, many of my boarders feed it. For most of my broodmares, I increase their ration from 8 to 10 oz. each to 12 to 14 oz. each 2x day plus a flake of hay 3x day in the 8th month of pregnancy. We adjust this individually for each mare, but this is a rough idea. Two of mine are fatties so they get no grain, just supplement and hay. My mares live outside 24/7 when the weather permits and if it is too wet/icy/muddy for turnout, I lunge each one 10 minutes in the round pen every day. On the days that I have working students, they go for a 30min walk or drive around the corn field behind the barn. Your mare will definitely benefit from more time out, but I realize that is difficult when you board and when the weather doesn't cooperate. Do what you can and what works for you. Please keep everyone posted on her progress and share lots of photos, everyone loves photos. Best of luck to you both!
