2yo with foal at foot for anyone who thinks it cant happen

Cuffey

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Posted to flag up awareness not a criticism of the seller who looks to have taken good care of the filly and foal.

Advert on Dragon Driving

Filly with Colt Foal - New

2 1/2 year old filly with colt foal ( 3 months old). Lovely filly with plenty of bone and feather as is her colt.

Any questions ring Steve

Price: £550

Location: Rainham, Essex

I know another member on here purchased a young filly and was shocked to realise months later the filly was in foal. The filly nearly died giving birth.
Youngstock are often run in mixed herds-- owners not believing that this can happen when fillies are so young. Or a stallion/colt jumps in with mares and everyone just ''hopes'' nothing happened.
 
I would say shame on the owners. But they, like many people as you say, probably didn't know :/

Just had a look at the filly. That colt is huge! I really hope they both find a good home.
 
I purchased a foal from someone that had bought a filly from melton sales to find she dropped an foal in March. Although she fed the foal her loss of condition resulted in it being weaned at 3 1/2 months( vets supervision). When the foal was weaned it showed no sign of distress and did not whinney once for his dam and bonded quickly with an old pony mare, but is very subservient and can only be tuned out with small ponies even though he is now 14.1.
Its as if his dam was not able to teach him herd manners and when he meets a strange horse in the field cowers to the point of lieing on the ground.
 
My pony had her first foal at 2, second at 3/4 and a third at 5 :( (I didn't own her at this point btw!) She was in a wild herd running with a stallion. I'm not sure if her first foal survived or not but apparantly she was an awful mum to all of her foals and I wonder how much of this was her having one at 2?
 
I bought a mare from a lady who originally got her at two and a half when she'd already had a foal and been broken in :eek:. Don't know the history of how that happened, but the mare is croup high as she obviously never made her growth when she was carrying the foal.

I put her in foal years later and she was a brilliant mother though. She's also the best horse I've ever owned - she tries her heart out for you, but being the shape she is she always has to try so much harder.
 
I know of a Shire horse breeder who deliberately breeds to his 2 year olds - says it would happen in the wild so doesn't see the problem :( Mind you, he also breeds closeish relatives to each other, so 'nuff said IMO.
 
I used to know a lovely little arab mare who foaled at just over 2 and her kidneys were left with permanent damage as a result. I actually wonder about the "it would happen in nature" bit as I suspect that as the nutrition of wild horses and ponies is lower than domestic ones, they would be slower to mature and become ready to reproduce.
 
wow! i couldnt believe this!!! but another point is - people break horses in a 3 (usually - apart from racehorses) because they are not strong enough to carry a rider. sio if it cant carry a rider, how can it carry a foal!!
 
I can't remember the name of the stud, but I read an article once about a renown breeder (of warmbloods if I am remembering correctly) who covers all their fillies a two, they have foals at three and then go on to be competition horses. I think it is cruel to expect a youngster who's skeleton isn't even mature to carry and feed a foal.
 
Covering at 2 and foaling at 3 is not uncommon but this cob must have been covered at around 15/16 months old to be still only 2&1/2 now with a 3 month foal at foot.
 
I don't like 2yos having foals at foot. They aren't mature enough. Accidents happen and when they do you have to help the mare and foal as much as possible but people that deliberately take foals from 2yos annoy me.

People also put 3yo's in foal - to foal at 4yo - to stunt their growth slightly, especially in natives so they don't go over height for their breeds.
 
My arabX had a foal at approx 2 1/2 - 3year old. Very sad IMO. :(
Then was sat on, galloped around and yank around in a bit that he had made himself. Great.

This was her last year at 4 a few months after we got her.
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This is her this year :)

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My mare was put in foal at 2yo and has had a dippy back since I got her as a 5yo (now 23yo), everything appeared to belong to a bigger horse, but she is only 15.1hh and I've always wondered if it affected her growth.
You can almost guarantee 21 years ago it wouldn't have been AI, she was put in foal to a welsh cob, no idea where the foal is or how it got on as she came up to Scotland from Somerset.
 
TuscanBunnyGirl you have done a great job

:D :D :D
Thank you so much! :)
It's been a long road and although she doesn't look 'top notch' yet but she had a while off due to a locking stifle (and me not knowing what it was exactly and neither did one of our vets :confused: who put her on 2 weeks of bute- i stupidly stopped riding her) but she's getting there slowly :D
xx
 
Sadly it is just a 'business' for a lot!
It really angers me how horses are used as commodities.
I was told a couple of years ago by someone that by putting them in foal when young stunts their growth and they won't grow as tall. It was done to keep them dainty. How true this is or not I don't know?
In my opinion a female horse should only be bred from when she is deemed a mare, not when she is just a filly or in some cases a filly rising two!
The story about the ex racer makes me mad too because why the hell did they even contemplate putting her in foal because she didn't make the grade.
As if there are not enough TBs and ex racers out there already that they just think of greed and money and why not put her in foal as she ain't good enough for anything else.
My ex racer was a broodmare for the last few years before I had her. I have mentioned this before and I will do so again just to highlight exactly how these studs perceive horses.
I was given her in a state after losing her third foal on the trot. Covered in lice, really bad skin, awful coat, awful teeth (chewed like a camel) and underweight ( most of the weight she was carrying was due to having foaled recently).
She had been at the stud in that state because due to the life cycle of the lice and the number that she had they would have been on her before she went there.
At no time during her stay was she treated for it. The person who brought her to me didn't know the horse and thought they were scars from being in a fight with her horse. I thought instantly it may be lice due to the moth eaten coat. She had self inflicted wounds and open sores on her body and hind quarters in particular.
Do you know that the stud's advice had been when she lost her third foal ( did have a couple of live ones too) and was no longer viable to produce. "We can have her put to sleep if you like."
The people who had her didn't want that and that is why I had her instead. In fact she has turned out to be a fantastic little mare, who despite now in her teens enjoys hacking and being ridden.
Why the stud thought that pts was an option I have no idea. She could quite easily have been ridden again or become a field companion. Why was it thought that the end to her life should be the bullet because she wasn't producing anymore.
This was a well known stud in Cheshire beginning with M and ending in Y. Owned and run by a Mr K. Check out the website in all its glory. People do not see what goes on behind the scenes.
I have kept quiet about this for over 2 years but now enough is enough.
I am sick and tired of supposed well to do horsey people getting away with things just because people think oh its so and so.
There are always people on here slating the travelling community.
Well wrong doings in the horsey world goes on at every level.
Neglect and cruelty and we don't give a damn unless we will make money from it seems to be the forte in the horse world.
Sorry this is a rant but I am just sick and tired of people turning a blind eye.
There should be a legal age at which horses can be bred from and more inspections should be done undercover at studs and at stables where people breed.
 
I think i am the member cuffey is referring to i dont know how to post a link to my thread about our yearling filly that we bought not knowing she was in foal.

She foaled before she was two lost the foal nearly died we had to get a the fire brigade to winch her up as the foal was large and had compressed the nerves in her pelvic area and by the time feeling came back she had lay down for too long.
Her vagina and vulva were damaged because of size of foal and her not being developed enough.

The whole story is in one of my other threads titled from utter despair to optomistic smile if anyone is interested, it was a 600 pounds vets bill and lots of sleeping in the field nursing her to get her through it.

Although we bought her at a sale I did speak to the man we bought her from he breeds horses has a nice place does not just leave horses to their own devices but did seem shocked she had managed to get in foal so young.

I hate to think how many fillies die or their foals from this happening our girl was in a very bad way and took lots of looking after and our vet says alot of this was purely because she was just too young to be foaling.

Something else that was quite alarming nearly as soon as she was able to move around on her own was the fact she came straight in to season and was presenting herself to one of my bemused geldings, even the vet said if she had been in the position for a colt to even mount her she was not physically capable to have been able to stand up while this happened because of her condition and muscle damage never mind her internal injuries the covering act itself would have killed her.


It just shows that strong urge to reproduce is a driving force, i have to say some comments on a thread on here the other day about broodmares choosing whether they want to be covered or not like it is a decision they make did make me raise an eyebrow to say the least.
And for anyone thinking of putting a colt in even with a very young filly dont
my girl was just short of 23 months when she foaled.:eek:
 
Thanks Cazee34 for your thought provoking post
I dont know studs well enough to recognise the one you have experience of dealing with but that is not a good advert for them.
There is no excuse for lice or lack of tooth care in a 'business', surely prevention of illness saves money in the long term
 
I know it is no excuse but i think lots of people really do not know they can get in foal that young,the guy i bought her from knew his colt had got in the field she was in but hadnt thought it possible she was covered.

When i spoke to him about it he did seem really shocked she could be in foal, quite frankly knowing the size she was when i got her and i have seen a picture now of the colt that covered her it made me feel quite physically sick.


It is sad some people breeding have such a lack of knowledge and quite scary,i did tell him every gory detail and he did seem upset by what had happened and said he would make sure it cannot happen again but who knows.

It is a pity something cannot be done to stop it i dread to think of the suffering when this goes on unsupervised without the intervention of a vet, and the damage or death of such young animals who have had no life themselves.
 
This was a well known stud in Cheshire beginning with M and ending in Y. Owned and run by a Mr K. Check out the website in all its glory. People do not see what goes on behind the scenes.

I can only think of one stud who's initials all tie in to the one you are talking about, but it is in a different county so I don't think I can be right.

Do they stand a NH sire beginning with O?

If it is the place I think H&H did an article on them a few years ago. They made it sounded idyllic but it clearly isn't the horse heaven implied.

Your mare sounds a sweetie, well done for taking her on and giving her a future. I bet your before an after pictures show a remarkable turn around.
 
Cuffey it is a stud that is now also being used a pre training yard for two well known NH trainers. It just makes me mad because I know people that also know and have used this place and yet because of my experience with my mare it has made me angry how it was sweeped under the carpet.
She only went to the stud to be covered and then to have the foal but when she came to me direct from there she was as I have described above.
Her teeth and the lice was a result of the person who had been looking after her and not the stud. However she was at the stud for around 10days to 2 weeks from memory and in that time how anyone could have ignored that she wasn't chewing hay/haylage correctly and that she was extremely itchy and irritated is beyond me.
If it had been some low life or traveller that had kept her in that way we would be up in arms about it.
But I agree with you wholeheartedly that she should have been looked after at that stud.
Within half an hour of getting her I did think it was lice. I got some louse treatment that day and arranged a vet to come out the following day and got spot on for her instead and just used the louse powder and dermoline for her rugs, tail and other parts that the spot on didn't work on.
So I could not work out for the life of me why she was there all that time and no one either recognised her problem or did anything about it. Then to suggest having her pts really psd me off!
I think more inspections should be done at yards/studs and even undercover work would not go amiss either.
Just because a stud stands A,B and C and in its time has produced D, E and F that have gone on to great things does not mean that they are holier than thou.
If this had been someone like Jamie Gray for instance gosh the whole world would know about it.
But as it is this mare was last looked after by professional people with a reputation in the racing world. However as we have seen time and time again just because someone or an establishment has achieved great things it does not mean that all the horses in their care are looked after properly or that the animal's best interests are taken care of.
The recent case of Howard Johnson springs to mind as one example.
Tb's in particular are just basically used as commodities from the minute they are born.
Broken in and raced. If not good enough for the track then either shot, bred from or end up at sales after sales.
I think more should be done to safeguard them as animals from neglect and other matters which can affect their well being.
I think that keeping a closer eye on studs and trainers would be a great start to this.

Team Barney yes you are quite right on both counts. I thought it was Cheshire for some reason as it is not that far from there but yes it is the county next door.
She is a real sweetie most of the time except when she has her moments of being marish lol. I wouldn't be without her though and I think she came to me for a reason.
 
In my current search for a ridden shetland I have been so shocked to see so many shetland mares being sold in foal at 2 1/2 or with foal at foot at 2 or 3 yrs old.
 
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