STUD NOTES

DRY MARES AND LIGHT THERAPY

Placing mares under lights is often regarded as a costly procedure - I hear it all the time, BUT I hear even louder "why isn't my mare served yet?" Put simply, if you want to almost guarantee an earlier service date in September, and you do not live in a warm climate, then you should put your mare under lights. For aged and problem mares' extending the season gives us greater opportunity to investigate and resolve any issues she has, and extra cycle/s to get a pregnant result.

PLACING MARES UNDER LIGHTS
Placing mares under lights is an extremely successful method of getting mares fully cyclic within certain time frames. In other words we can set up for an early September serve in most cases. Fortunately, light therapy is very simple to do, and is an option that many private breeders can do themselves with a little setting up and forethought. Most dry mares do not turn up at stud until early September anyway, so why not send them "ready to go"!

From the time of commencing light therapy to having nearly all mares cycling properly takes about 60 -70 days if done correctly. That means for an early September serve, mares need to commence going under lights at the beginning of JULY. For those who are not so fussed with an August foal the starting date is not so critical, however the option of lights in cool climates should be unreservedly considered. There are still many dry mares that are unable to be covered before mid October.

To get the best from light therapy we try and imitate late August/September weather conditions sooner to fool the mare's brain that Spring is on it's way. We then time and start the procedure at a date where the result would see us expecting a normal mare to be covered within the first three weeks of September. We provide a nutritional upswing, extension of daylight length, and warmer temperatures.

It is natural that horses, along with sheep and cattle (and many other animals) to loose weight during the Winter months and gain it with the onset of Spring - its part of the deal. So it makes sense to me that we allow some form of moderate weight loss during the winter and let her grow a coat.

The Method
For the purpose of these notes, I am only going to outline old "tried & true" practices that are simply done in most home environments.

The mare requires:

• 16 hours of light, but more importantly 8 hours of darkness
• Light intensity strong enough that from any area of the mare's available space, a newspaper can be comfortably read.
• While we're at it, we may as well increase temperature, and put a rug on the mare.

The ideal situation is access to a powered stable. The lights used can be normal fluorescent or incandescent lights, as long as they do not shadow too much in the corners. The accuracy of darkness/light ratio is critical - and yes, leaving the lights on all night or forgetting to turn them on occasionally is detrimental. Please, do not consider placing mares under lights unless you use a timer switch - it is the only way to guarantee that the process is done properly. The best ones are those that can be set twice in a 24 hour period. This way the lights can be set to go on at say 5:30pm, switch off at 9pm, on again at 5:00am, and off when it is quite definitely light, or for dark stables, after the mare has been turned outside for the day.

At Yallambee when we bring the mares in, we give them a little night feed of pellets and oats. The mare is then let out into a well pastured and sheltered paddock during the day and receives a biscuit of lucerne hay. The aim is not too much weight gain too quickly. You may or may not choose to rug the mare as temperature is increased by the fact she is out of the weather overnight. To my mind we are accomplishing our mission on all 3 fronts and by far the most reliable course of action to achieve the desired outcome.

We have a stable complex we use for mares underlights that has 2 fully enclosed barns, one with 6 stables, and the other with 12. The remaining 12 stables are single row open front stables so the horse's heads are over door to the open. Farm boarding mares all commence light therapy at the same time; the first Monday of July as a rule. Every year those in the open front boxes are generally slower by a week or two to demonstrate estrous and have their first ovulation.

A yard can be used for lights, but the power of the light, and placement of light (possibly lights, plural) need to be carefully looked at to meet the required criteria. It must be also remembered that yards are prone to bogging, and if in together, the bossing of mares and so on. Certainly the mare would require a rug. Otherwise the same principles apply.

If you are NOT going to use lights there are a few things you can do: allow the mare to feel the winter weather a little and loose a little weight during the winter months. Come July 1st, increase her nutrition, throw a rug or 2 on her, certainly place her in a warmer well sheltered paddock and lastly hold back on sending her to stud a little longer and lower your expectations of first date of service.