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Equilume Performance Lighting helps breeders meet industry-imposed foal birth dates by increasing the hours of light a horse is exposed to daily. It is widely understood that providing longer day-length for approximately 90 days beginning on either fifteenth of November (Northern Hemisphere) or the fifteenth of June (Southern Hemisphere) acts to reduce the production of the hormone melatonin and stimulates the mare’s reproductive system to activate earlier in the year. Therefore, foals of the same official age can be produced that are older in actual age and have a competitive advantage.

Calculate your recommended mask activation date

The Old Way

To achieve early success, many breeders stable horses indoors under extended barn lighting and incur substantial costs associated with bedding, lighting and labour. For example, the average keep fee for a barren mare in Ireland is €22.80 per day*. Therefore, standard indoor light therapy for 100 days equates to approximately €2200 per mare per season. Painful!

*Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association Cost Survey 2014

The Equilume Way

Providing each broodmare with an Equilume Light Mask allows the completely mobile flexibility of indoor or outdoor living as conditions permit. Enjoying a mild winter? Leave them outdoors 24/7 and the mask handles light delivery for you. Bring them inside,  or even travel, as needed, knowing that the Light Mask is automated, delivering optimum light stimulation to the eye right on schedule, every day. This not only saves you a significant amount of money, but it has been proven that field-kept mares are happier, and happy mares have greater success with all aspects of fertility and pregnancy.

  • “I loved having​ the light mask this past winter for my mare. It worked SO well. She is an older mare, and absolutely hates being stalled. So I had no choice than to either wait til summer to start breeding her, or use the light mask. I took a chance and used the light mask. It worked like a charm! She started cycling early (March), kept her weight on beautifully, and most importantly, she was HAPPY to be outside. The mask held up great! I never had any issues with her rubbing it off, or it falling apart, etc. I would love to have another one!"

    Kaylah Gilkey, Barrel Racing Competitor, Oregon

  • "We decided to give Equilume a try for the first time this year (2017) as winters in the Northwest are dark, wet and cold. It can be a real challenge to get mares to build follicles and ovulate in a timely manner up here. We found Equilume at the Fort Worth Futurity in December last year and brought home a few and put them on our mares in Mid December and by February they were cycling as if it were May. The horses that weren't wearing the masks didn't build follicles as fast and in some cases we couldn't get a good heat cycle. We found it so convenient, no need for lights, out in their paddocks with the masks was all we needed."

    Michele Schimmel, Prestige Farms, USA

  • "I initially used the Equilume Light Mask on "The Job is Right" during the darkest days of winter as I felt the horse just wasn't thriving. A month later he started to look and feel a lot better in himself and was enjoying his work more. I also used a mask on a barren mare who shortly afterwards started cycling and went in foal on her first cover."

    Micheal Hourigan, Racehorse Trainer

  • Equilume is the best lighting program I have ever experienced! We used it on 100% of our mares (including Recipient mares). My mares were cycling better than ever before on February 1st. I always said that mares that lived outside had less uterine fluid, this was the proof! This year my mares were outside grazing and playing with their buddies 16 more hours a day than they had in the past. My old mares this year had minimal problems with poor uterine clearance and urine pooling. I have no doubt that is because of being outside 24/7.

    Kurt W Harris DVM, Fulton Quien Sabe Ranch, USA

  • We at Taylor Made used the Equilume Light Masks on over 50 barren and maiden mares this season (2016) to bring forward seasonal reproductive activity. We found that the light masks worked just as well as conventional stable lighting at ensuring early cyclicity. In addition we believe that there are significant advantages to extended turn-out for mares that Equilume facilitates.

    Frank Taylor, Vice President, Taylor Made Farms, Kentucky, USA

  • “We have been using Equilume masks on barren and maiden mares for the last three years and the results have been fantastic! The mares cycle just as well as if they were boxed under lights and pregnancy rates on first cover have also noticeably increased. The masks have become a big part of our breeding season preparation.”

    Shane Wright, Yarraman Park, Australia

  • “We have been using the Equilume light masks for the last few seasons on all our barren and maiden mares and are delighted with the results. Our mares winter out and cycle early, so can be bred from the paddock with considerably reduced labour costs. This year we had a 75% first service conception rate. We will happily continue to use Equilume masks as a reproductive aid to our breeding operation at Redmonstown.”

    Ken Bolger, Redmonstown Stud, Ireland

  • "I think that Equilume Light Masks will open the eyes of the horse industry to the benefits of light manipulation in the same way that deslorelin brought focus to ovulation-inducing drugs"

    Dr. Angus McKinnon B.V.Sc., M.Sc., Diplomate A.C.T., Dip.Vet.Med., Diplomate A.B.V.P, Director, Goulburn Valley Equine Hospital, Shepparton, VIC, AUS.

Help Your Pregnant Mares
Foal On Time with Optimum Birth Weights

An unfortunate side effect for mares with foaling dates that occur unnaturally early in the year is longer gestations and smaller foals. Environmental light influences the development of the foal in utero and regulates when a mare will foal. Nature intended that foals be born during the longer days of late spring and summer – and nature tends to have her way. Stimulating the longer day lengths associated with the natural breeding season by fitting pregnant mares with Equilume Light Masks has been shown in clinical trials to eliminate these side effects in most mares, instead helping the mare deliver her foal on-time and with an optimum birth weight.

Late-foaling mares represent economic loss to the breeder by reducing the number of foals a mare can produce in consecutive years. Mares that foal during the darker days prior to the natural breeding season (e.g. Thoroughbreds) have longer gestation lengths by an average of 10 days. However, 20% of Thoroughbred mares experience annual gestation lengths that exceed 355 days.

Light is the primary influencer of gestation length. Light therapy prior to foaling has been scientifically shown to increase average foal birth weights and prevent prolonged gestation. See our research here.