Can i turn a weanling out on his own

keep him in and get a friend as soon as poss, babies do such stupid things on their own you could end up with a badly damaged one. its a good opportunity to spend time taking him for walks, graze in hand etc to keep him occupied. Wish you were not at the opposite end of the country or i could have given you a friend but we're in Somerset.
 
Don't turn him out on his own - he will do anything to get back to other horses and may panic and end up in a mess trying to get over/through fences etc!!!! Keep him in for a bit until you can find another gelding/colt asap to turn him out with - it doesn't matter what age as long as they are friendly!!!
 
Please do not turn him out on his own............

Are you on a livery yard? As if you are find a youngster for him to play with, if not contact your local stud and ask them if they take on grass liveries for youngsters. Young horses should be out with other youngsters playing, not kept in stables.
 
Firstly if your fencing is safe & secure & he cant get stressed with other horses calling, then turn him out. Secondly get him a companion, there must be someone who can loan you a safe pony or youngster.

This is for anyone who thinks it fine to keep a youngster on its own, would you put a toddler in a room for hours on end? Would you? Then why the hell do it to a young horse or pony who are by nature HERD animals. Who do you suppose teaches these young horses about horse etiquette. My response is harsh, but I am getting saddened by the amount of people who think it is ok. For short bursts like box rest, or you have just bought a weanling/youngster on the spur. Otherwise a companion should already have been planned for.
 
To be fair Simsar no question is stupid as such, but this has been asked before. I am beginning to feel that people dont read, because 1/2 the time the answers are in books, magazines or forums like this. Then this is the internet, sometimes with to much info. It is not fair to shoot someone down for asking a question, no matter how silly it might sound to the knowledgable, but what ever happened to common sense!!
 
his dam was sold on by the owner and the foal was on his own so as i have my own land and stables ive taken him on spur of the moment,got a friend bringing a companion but not for a week yet at least with me he will have lots of attention whereas at his old home he had no one
 
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OK so you have asked the question which I guess that is a start, and then you say you have no knowledge/spur of the moment decision, so don't take it on until you have researched!! These are animal beings not just things you can pick up and play with or things that look nice in you field.
 
S_N said:
Simple answer - can you? Yes. Should you? No.
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Why? If the fencing is safe & he is not being wound up by other horses, then why? He will have been out with his dam, he would have been feeding on grass, hard feed, probably not, hay, probably not, so grass would have been his main diet. He is now deprived of his dam & her milk supply, is stressed by all the changes & now you want to add to it by changing his diet, & restricting his excerise.

We dont know this persons set up, so a blanket no on turn-out is not for us to determine, & that goes for "Yes turn him out". If the paddock is safe, then how is it better for him to spend his time shut into a stable, when he could have access to a paddock even if it was for a few hours? At some point he is going to have to have a companion, it will be far better for him to know his paddock inside before hand.
 
What do I consider safe well you cant beat a good thick hedge, but it is what it respects. Lets assume the circumstances here are that the weanling is going to be on its own. Being on its own there wont be others calling & winding it up. It has already had some time to adjust as the poster has said mum has been sold "his dam was sold on by the owner and the foal was on his own so as i have my own land and stables ive taken him"

You would hope that he has settled enough to be quiet in the stable & is not shut in, ie top door open. He has respected the boundary of the stable door, because he is not trying to jump out over it. The size of the paddock is going to be determined by what is there & what the poster has available. If the foal is used to electric then that is the cheapest & quickest option. 4 strands of either tape of rope, seems to work fine, it gives height (we are talking the longer plastic poles) & the impression of a barrier, & it cant be walked under. This is where the poster goes to graze it in-hand. Once the excitement has gone out of it, then it should be fine to let it loose.

As Flyingbuck has asked "But in your profile, you say you are a livery yard owner - is there nothing in your yard suitable to be turned out with him?" - Confusing because the poster is still waiting for a companion to turn up "got a friend bringing a companion but not for a week yet".

As I said it sounds as if this weanling has been on its own for at least a few days now, so it should be past turning itself inside out, & thats an assumption, because not all of them get stressed out. If it was me, I would rather my weanling had full understanding of his boundaries & paddock before meeting any new horse. At the end of the day, this weanling is going to be turned out, why delay it? Unless it is stressing out, is trying to jump out of the stable, cant be led in-hand because it is trying to get away, is going to be seeing other horses & winding itself up to be with them. Foals seem to lack self presevation, but usually only when they are scared or stressed out.

It is wrong to deprive a baby of exercise & company of other horses for more time then necessary. I understand we dont always plan these things, spur of the moment & all that, but it does not give us the right to take away their rights. A babies stomach takes time to adjust to artificial feeds, including hay. If it is in 24x7 with an hour of in-hand grazing, then you are not giving its guts time to adjust.

It requires excercise to strenghten bones etc, & nothing beats fresh air compared to that of standing in a box most of the day. Again this is an assumption, (as regards the poster) because it could be in an open yard. As a herd animal it needs the company of other horses even if it is not in the same age group. If an owner cant provide the basic needs then why take a baby on?

We all know of incidents where things have gone wrong with fencing & I know there are those that dont like electric, especially with babies. In 20yrs the only time I have seen electric cause a problem is when it is off long enough for the inhabitants to find this out. They then loose respect for it & you are then asking for trouble, like the boy who called wolf.
 
I turned my 8month old out on her own, separated by electric fencing from our mare. They couldnt go in together as our mare was EXTREMELY fat on basically zero grass and the little one needed alot more than marey.

It worked fine, until she put me in A&E as she was SO bored she was desperate to be near people and eventually ended up trampling me (not quite the whole story, she spooked at a hose but it came from the fact that she had no respect for my personal space).

If its a short term solution, then obviously, it'll have to do and I would rather turn out than keep in. But its definitely not a long term solution. I was extremely naive, thinking that I could teach her manners and I could be her friend and it would be fine. I smashed my head so hard I gave myself concussion - and if I'd landed on a rock, I would have died. Luckily, she went in with my mare soon after as the grass was much less good.
 
friskimagic said:
thankyou for all who answered much appreciated...i have owned horses for 40 years now so not a novice just never had a foal before thanks to everyone :D
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Hi, was talking to my vet about this, they are based on a stud farm, so have some idea about weanlings. Unless your paddock is surrounded by barbed wire, broken down bits of fencing, basically a barrier that looks flimsy, he should be safe out. Walk the boundary with him, let him graze & if he has been handled enough to catch let him loose. Hopefully it wont be long before you have a companion for him, but ideally he should be with more then one. Can you post photos of the paddock you are going to be using?

Just seen this post j

ust dony get it....people tell me hes palomino turning grey so why the chocolate face and pale legs? also the chocolate colour is starting to extend to his neck.....what colour is he? http://www.myphotos.yahoo.com/s/21a0llbdlfnvgnw8nm3v his mane and tail are silver white with dark appearing at the base of the mane also pics of his sire

Is this the foal you are on about?
 
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Maesfen said:
TBH, where youngsters are concerned, you can't categorically state a fence is safe as they are such trouble magnets. It might be as safe as you can make it/it can be but a youngster is a sure way of testing it to the limit.

I go with SN's first reply.
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I agree - but was interested in what Magic's definition of safe fencing was, and how they felt they could prevent injury to wanton 'trouble magnets'.

I've seen two terrible accidents with youngsters turned out in the safest of paddocks. And like everyone else, simply wouldn't risk turning this weanling out without a companion.

Good luck OP - hope you manage to sort a companion out quickly. And look forward to updates and piccies of your little one :)
 
I would just never ever turn a youngster out on its own no matter how ''secure'' the field was, its asking for trouble even if its just for a week. Youngsters get bored really easily and should have the stimulus of others around them all the time, it is not fair to keep them on their own. No matter how much human attention you give them they still need their own ''kind'' to play with.
 
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