Is it impossible to raise foal with no mother?

[Chicken Charlotte]

Hey guys,

Please dont get confused I do not have a foal to raise my little bubby has a mum but every time I look at him I do wonder Is it impossible to raise foal with no mother?
Has anyone in the world done it before? I know it is a funny question but I see it on movies and I just always wonder.

Thanks
Charlotte

 

[KellyHM]

It's easy - you can bottle feed them just like a calf.

 

[Chicken Charlotte]

Quote:
Dont they drink like every 20 minutes though?

 

[KellyHM]

They do because mom is standing right there, just like a calf or a puppy will take advantage of the fact that mom is nearby, but they can go quite a long time in between if they have to.

 

[hcppam]

Quote:
yep and it's a big bottle.

 

[Chicken Charlotte]

Hmmm Thats cool, I have a potty calf it was hard work having to feed him from a bottle morning, lunch and night!
Guess its the same for a foal.

 

[Peaches Lee]

Yes, it's possible. You must take precautions to avoid the foal taking to you as its actual mother which can lead to dangerous behaviour to humans. It's definitely not an idealistic situation. A lot of times if someone ends up a with an orphan foal, they will fervently try to find a nurse mare. Having a horse raise a foal is the best case scenario--it's a lot different than hand-raising puppies or kittens.

 

[Jasmine1998]

I know some people that have done it & used an igloo mom. Here is a link to the igloo mom.....
http://www.shortassets.com/igloo.htm

 

[Chicken Charlotte]

Quote:
AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW adorable!

 

[welsummerchicks]

It is not easy. Sure you can give them a bottle every 2 hours or so, but without their mother, there are a lot of problems.

First, immunity. The mother's first milk is what stimulates the foal's immune system to fight off disease. Without that, the life of the foal is in jeapardy.

Secondly, it is the mother that teaches them to behave and being around other foals and other horses. A foal does NOT benefit from spending all its time around humans. If it does not learn the herd behavior it will be mentally abnormal and very difficult to train.

It is really difficult to try and train most orphan foals. They can get really spoiled and be even dangerous. Because they do not spend enough time with other horses they can get almost impossible to train, they have no respect for people.

I have seen some really horrible results, even a youngster can do a lot of damage.

The best possible results are if a nurse mare can be found - a mare that is making milk and lost her own foal recently.

This mare can teach the foal how to behave as well as supplye the first milk. In the big horse breeding areas of the US word goes around about nurse mares and they are in demand each spring.

In other areas it can be impossible to find a nurse mare.

There has to be some way found to get the foal in with other horses - not all adults - they will harrass it and perhaps in injure it fatally. The foal needs to be with other mares and foals, if a nurse mare is not available he should be fed his milk from a BUCKET, not a bottle(it only takes a short time for them to get swwitched over to a bucket). The feeding from the bottle is where a lot of the trouble starts.

An orphan foal can seem so cute and sweet and the idea of giving it a bottle is so cute and sweet, but the reality is a lot different.