Mares and their foals...

[Paintedhorsegirl]

Im just wondering what your experiences have been with weaning mares and their foals? Ive never had a mare with a foal before and Im looking for life experiences help guide...

 

[hennyannie]

We have two farms and we always tried to have foals born close together so we could wean together, moms on one farm, foals on the other. Also my brother firmly believes in following the almanac. He looked up the best signs to wean in, we had good luck. We just found it is better to have a companion with them and house apart for a while. I also tried separating them for short periods of time daily, this did not work out for me.

 

[lockedhearts]

I have only been breeding for 30 years, so this may not mean much.
I have weaned foals together and I have weaned single foals alone.
I have never had any problems with either method.
I wean based on different things. Independence of the foal, if they are bringing their mothers down.
My oldest foal is a month old, he will be weaned about 90 days, his mother is older and gives 200% to her
babies, she will begin to lose weight soon, no matter how much she gets fed. She has always been this way and I
have always weaned her foals at 3 months. She also begins to wean them about 2 1/2 months on her own.

Knowing the mare and foal is key. Last years foal was a single foal, I chose a step down method, starting separating her at night from her mother, then after a week or so, sent her mother off. She fussed some, until I moved her back to the stall she had been born in and she was fine.

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

When it is time to wean, I generally haul the mare to my brother's place. That way they cannot see or hear one another. Makes it a lot easier on both of them. And I make sure I have either an old horse or another foal available to the weanling to help ease them through the trauma. The day I move mama, I lock the baby in the stall so that it cannot hurt itself because it WILL panic when it realizes mama is gone. I do not put it out for 24-28 hours until I am sure it is calm and settled and eating (sometimes it will quit eating for a meal or 2 from the stress) and then turn it out with the old timer or other foal. Doing it this way, I have not had one try to run through a fence, altho I did have a stud colt try to jump the fence once. Try to have help available to you the first few times you take the baby out and bring it back in. That seems to be when they want mama the most and get the most anxious. Expect to keep mama and baby apart for at least 2-3 months before they can run together again safely.

HTH

Rusty

 

[Akane]

We wean at 6-8months and try to breed 2-3 foals for within a month of each other to give them someone to play with and learn from growing up. Sending them off to another farm is the easiest. We've had mares snap 2x4's in their stalls and go through fences to get back to their foals if they were within hearing range. We've never had any luck doing slow weaning like some do where they remove them for an increasing time every day. They just velcro back to the mare when they finally do get together again. We pasture 24/7 in a herd or 2. Usually one large herd on 42 acres but when we have a new horse or I'm working one that hasn't had much attention I'll split off a few to the pasture and connected arena near the barn. When mares get close to their due date they are separated in to their own herd until the last foal is sturdy enough (only a week or 2) to join the rest of the herd. That's how they stay until they are weaned and when they come back (sometimes we send off mares and sometimes foals) they will again be their own herd for a short while until they are reintegrated.

 

[Paintedhorsegirl]

Thank you all for all the information and i love hearing about your experiences!

 

[Paintedhorsegirl]

I have a beautiful Paint due to foal in about a week or two. Im so excited to have a foal, this will be my first experience with having a foal.

 

[Sangeeth10]

Quote:
I'm also having a same first experience.It is really exciting.....

 

[lockedhearts]

Quote:
Purchase the book
"The Complete Foaling Manual" by Teresa Jones one of the best preparation books by far.

 

[Paintedhorsegirl]

Thanx for the help