First time foal owner...advice please

[Miramis]

Hi everyone, ive just joined the forum as im about to become a horse owner again after a 3 year break due to family commitments.

Ive owned and worked with horses since a kid (25 years in all) but never raised a foal so its all new to me and i want to get it right.

I am soon to be the proud owner of a 4 year old coloured mare (she's by Puzzles ltd edition) and also her 4 month coloured colt. I just wanted some advice regards weaning as im completely confused as i have been given such mixed advice

I have been told to wean at various ages between 5 and 11 months and ive been told about the abrupt method of just an instant seperation and then ive been told about a gentler approach that is presumably less stressful on both mare and foal.

From my point of view i have no rush to wean him and im quite happy to leave it until spring and just spend the winter getting to know the pair of them but is this going to be at detriment to the mare??Ive also been told it will make seperation harder? I do have the option of a clean break and running him with the foals on the yard im moving them to (he will be 5/6 m at this point), but im worried moving home and then weaning shortly after will be stressfull for the both of them?? I think i need someone to say 'this is what to do' lol!!!

Another Q is when to add grain to foals diet..should i be doing this shortly? And if so what is best to give (i read about Baileys stud balancer on here i think?).

Any other advice you can think of, helpful tips etc that can help me will be much appreciated. Ive got 2 weeks to prepare myself but im nervously looking forwards to it

Thanks in advance, Ang x

 

[JanetGeorge]

First consideration about weaning is whether the mare is in foal again. If she is, then weaning should happen at about 6 months to give her time to recover from rearing a foal and put energy into the developing foal. If she's NOT in foal, weaning a little later won't hurt at all as long as she's carrying enough condition.

Whether to use abrupt weaning or gradual weaning is a decision you should make based on the facilities you have. If I was moving the mare and foal to a new place I would prefer to delay weaning until they settled down (which would normally take a very short while.) Gradual weaning can be less stressful if done right.

The drawback of later weaning can be a management one if you need to stable through the winter and don't have a big enough stable for mare and foal.

I don't give foals any feed (other than haylage) until weaning - then they get Bailey's stud balancer with a little palatable chaff (I use Graze-on which is pure dried grass.) Over-feeding foals at this stage is very dangerous in terms of growth problems (OCD etc.)

If you're going to geld the colt, then it would be worth checking if he's ready yet. Gelding a colt while he's still with his Mum is a great help in recovery/reducing stress.

And leaving him with his Mum for a little longer WILL help you to get to know him better (assuming she's sensible) than if you chuck him out with a herd of foals, particularly if they're not well handled and 'tame', although other foals will be the best companions for him once he's weaned.

People can get very opinionated about how other people should manage their horses. There is no absolutely RIGHT way - foals generally happily survive all sorts of regimes! Listen to the advice, make your own decisions and then enjoy your foal!!

 

[Magicmadge]

welcome to the forum

I have a 2 1/2 month old filly foal her grandsire is also puzzles limited edition and mum is an ID. I am keeping the foal and had planned to wean at around christmas time. However, mum is losing condition so i may have to do it sooner. I have another foal here and she is 4 1/2 months so i intend to put them together then they will be in at night and out during the day when the mares will be in. I'm hoping this will be less stressful as they are independant little girls already. This is my filly, rapidly greying out

 

[Enfys]

Excellent advice from JG.

I have an arab mare that does her foals very well to the detriment of her own condition, in fact, despite being fed daily and being on good grazing she still looks like a hat rack. As our winters are pretty extreme I will be weaning her late May colt at the end of October. I have no choice, he is big and healthy, and she desperately needs some flesh on her bones before she goes to her new home.

I have just bought another mare with a 6 week filly at foot, but this mare is holding condition well and hopefully I will be able to leave her filly on her until Spring. I think you really have to play it by ear, no hard and fast rules and all horses are different.

As for weaning, I put mares in one field and the foals (with an aunt/uncle) in another. They can see each other but not feed, I've tried all kinds of methods before, this one works best for my set up and the horses accept it without problem, the mares generally seem quite relieved not to have those teeth chomping at them anymore. As soon as the mares dry up they all go back in together again.

 

[dom09]

We weaned our foals this weekend. We have 2 foals that are 5 months and one orphan foal of 3 months. We only chose to wean now to try and help the younger foal. We took both our broodmares away to a field up the road from us and kept the foals stabled overnight. On sat morn we led the foals out and let them go, it was carnage so we caught them and stood with them for about an hour then we let them go. They were fine then, just ate the occasional trot but no blind panic. It's definately easier with other foals to put them with and with 3 hopefully they won't get too attached to each other.