Foal Shedding

Question
Asked you last fall what to feed our QH mare before she foaled. Did what you said and everything turned out fine. Gave birth to a red roan filly, nice size and healthy. Thank you very much!!!! Fed the Purina's Nature's Essentials Enrich 32 added to our feed. Switched to Omolene 300 after birth. Store here in town picked up Purina Feeds.
Foal is eating on her own. Feed her twice a day by herself. Now the million dollar question? Is there something we can feed to get her to shedd out faster? Believe she is turning BLUE ROAN.  Many breeders in our area have stopped by a they all say she is turning blue. First the mane and tail head started to turn black. Also any little ding on her legs turned black. Now her chest and butt are turning blue.
Once again thank you,

Bill

Answer
HI Bill,

I'm so glad this all worked out for you so well and very glad I could help.  As for the shedding, I'm not sure there's a lot we can do to speed up process a whole lot as they have a bit of an internal clock that controls that.  However, whenever I'm asked about how to improve coat quality I always urge feeding added fat in the diet.  As every cell membrane (including hair) is made up of a fat matrix, fat will help not only improve the cell quality but will also speed up the manufacturing of the cells themselves.

When feeding fat to horses be cautious to feed vegetable fat only.  Since you are already feeding a well formulated complete feed I would suggest sticking with something simple like milled flax seed.  You don't need or want to feed a whole lot, a cup a day is more than enough for a foal.  Again, I'm not sure that this will speed up the process a whole lot but it certainly will make him gleam.  Of course, frequent grooming will help remove baby fuzz that will be replaced by a fantastic new coat.

Thanks, Corlena