A little problemo..or not?

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nativetyponies

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I bought a foal (she was 3 months and 25 days old) at beaulieu road sales september..and i also bought a 6 yr old mare..who had, most likely, weaned a foal this time.

Now, not being a great fan of fillies/mares..i usually by rule, buy colts/geldings.. i'm not sure if what has happened is "OK"?...

But....the mare seems to have taken the filly on as her own...the filly suckles the mare, they sleep in the barn together, the mare shares her feed with the filly...

Problem is...filly was "weaned"...but now i suppose i'll need to "wean" again...

Would you do it now..or, as i'm inclined, leave "nature" to take its course and do it after xmas when the filly wont need a mum?
 
She was very young to be weaned, so maybe it's natures way of trying to correct or make up for her early weaning? Not that i know anything about it, but i find it interesting, there must be a reason and i can't see it doing any harm if they both look well enough?
 
Leave them to it, leave the filly for another 2 and a half months providing the mare is in good enough condition. Cant do them any harm and the filly was far too young to be weaned in the first place.
How nice that they have found eachother, best of luck to you :)
x
 
I would leave the foal on the mare for a while, at least another 2 months or so. The mare might need a bit of feeding, but it will do the foal a world of good and with a bit of luck, the weaning process won't be very traumatic - you'll grow yourself a nice pony :)
 
Poor little thing being weaned so young.
They have fullfilled a need in each other, no harm can come of it.
Leave them be and give your little filly chance to grow a little older, she clearly needs a "mum" right now.
You say she was depressed when on her own and is now happy - I think this really gives you your answer :)
I've never heard of this happening before, I think its really sweet.

Pics would be lovely xxxxx
 
Its a big bugbear of mine, foals being weaned before they are 6 months old, I think that should be a minimum, not a maximum as it appears to be these days.

Won't be doing either of them any harm, and is more than likely to be doing the foal some good physically, not to mention good for them both mentally. Brilliant solution for them both, i'd say :)
 
nativeponies said:
its not a story..I'll take a few piccies of the girls..

the little filly was really depressed before she was put in with the mare after quarrantine..but they are really happy together..
nothing i've come across myself before
Click to expand...

((When Pearl said it was a lovely story, they weren't implying it was a fictional story))
 
foal is quite poor
Click to expand...

Reason enough to leave her on the mare. Another weaning plus the withdrawal of the mares milk will knock her back again.

Leave them till the New Year, by which time they'll both be in absolute tip top condition, and mentally as well as physically better able to cope.
 
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