Dry Rot
Well-Known Member
Oh, you poor thing! Been there, done that. Hope you are getting enough sleep.
Is the foal sucking from a bottle at all? I've had just one like this but plenty of lambs. With lambs, we stomach tube (horses have to be tubed nasally as you are doing) or they become fixated on the bottle. I'm told horses are different again and (apparently) do not develop the fixation.
Rightly or wrongly, I assumed that my foal should be encouraged to suck, didn't tube, so would milk the mare out every three hours and then bottle feed. Then gradually got the foal sucking from the mare, which was the difficult part! It surprised me how easy it was to milk the mare and after the first day I did not even bother to tie her up.
It is worth persisting as it can be done. You'll get an incredible buzz when it all comes together and you succeed -- as I'm sure you will! But until then it is frustrating, tiring, and exasperating. Good luck.
Is the foal sucking from a bottle at all? I've had just one like this but plenty of lambs. With lambs, we stomach tube (horses have to be tubed nasally as you are doing) or they become fixated on the bottle. I'm told horses are different again and (apparently) do not develop the fixation.
Rightly or wrongly, I assumed that my foal should be encouraged to suck, didn't tube, so would milk the mare out every three hours and then bottle feed. Then gradually got the foal sucking from the mare, which was the difficult part! It surprised me how easy it was to milk the mare and after the first day I did not even bother to tie her up.
It is worth persisting as it can be done. You'll get an incredible buzz when it all comes together and you succeed -- as I'm sure you will! But until then it is frustrating, tiring, and exasperating. Good luck.
