The physiology of horses and reproduction fascinates me – in particular what goes on in the mare’s system as she cycles, conceives, carries a foal and delivers it. It truly is amazing all the little intricacies of varying hormones and signals that are involved to bring about a foal.
One hormone that I have learnt a lot about in my work and studies and come to develop a real fascination for is oxytocin. This hormone is involved in the bonding between mare and foal, the let down of her milk as a foal nurses, the production of milk, the contraction of her uterus during delivery, the expulsion of the placenta after delivery and the contraction of her uterus back to a pre-pregnancy state after expulsion of the foal. It amazes me that one hormone can play such a vital role!
I was recently blessed to have my first child and have been gaining some advice and assistance from a lactation consultant for lactating mothers. Did you know there was such a thing?
This particular consultant informed me that through studies, they have found via ultrasound that as a baby nurses from its mother, there is a let down of milk up to four times within one nursing session. This too is on account of the hormone oxytocin. It seems that much I have learned regarding mothers and babies with horses is the same for another mammal – humans.
Such a discussion got me thinking about a potential honours project for my equine science degree. This in turn led to me questioning if there are lactation specialists for the horse industry. After all, much of the research on lactation for humans first came about in the dairy industry – why should it not be delved into in the horse world?
I’m not sure what your job description would look like if you were a lactation consultant for the equine species, but I envisage it would include:
- educating others about the importance of colostrum
- teaching foals to attach correctly to mares for nursing
- expressing colostrum and studying it’s antibody properties
- knowledge of the different stages of lactation in a mare and when milk is most important in the foal’s diet and when it isn’t necessary
- exploring methods of weaning that don’t result in mastitis to mares or stress to the digestive system of foals
- providing a service in the form of nursing nannies that can be hired out to orphan foals so that they don’t have to be formula fed
Now I know a lot of this work already goes on in the equine industry, but how wonderful to have an advocate in the form of a lactation specialist who could help promote the benefits of a mare feeding a foal and assist stud farms in making sure their foals get the best start in life nutritionally? Just me dreaming up potential horse jobs again 🙂
“A well-bred foal brings joy to the stable.” – Author unknown
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