Foal help

[Frances 74]

My mare has just given birth to a foal 15 days ago everything went well the foals sucking still but mare not that intrested in him much do I give him milk replacement or fry some feed he trys to eat hay but not other keen thanks

 

[millikins]

I only have the experience of one foal but his mum's not overly affectionate towards him, in fact she appears to think he's a bit of a pain most of the time. But he's happy, healthy and growing like a weed so I guess she's doing it right. If you are concerned you should call your vet really.

 

[PurBee]

At 15 days old he’s too young for hay and solids really, though they tend to play at trying to graze and mimic their dam grazing.

When you say she’s not that interested, what do you mean?

Is she not letting him suckle? When he goes to suckle does she walk off and or move her leg in the way to stop him?

Other than letting them suckle and call them when they go too far away - mares alone with their foal tend to not do much else but graze, and eat as much as possible as they need to produce milk for the foal aswell as food for themselves.

They’re not ‘motherly’ with regular grooming their foals and keeping them stuck to their sides. The foal normally stays fairly close-by anyway in the first few weeks especially.

If the dam and foal are grazing in paddocks with other horses she might be more attentive to the foal to keep it close to her, but if there are no other animal threats and theyre alone together grazing, she’ll do her thing of mainly eating and some snoozing and the foal is usually busy leaping around and discovering the world, only going to mum for milk.

 

[TheMule]

If the foal is bright and active then it's getting enough. Good grass is the best things for mare milk production but do make sure she's getting enough quality protein if she isn’t getting that- soaked grass nuts are a really useful feed.

 

[AmyMay]

Providing the goal is getting plenty of milk then there’s no reason to be concerned.

Is she preventing him from drinking?

 

[Frances 74]

Yes he still suckling off her she is with other mare which is good theyve got close bond he is healthy running around zoomies but first foal so just want to make sure im doing things right his growing well curious too thankyou for advice

 

[Equi]

If he’s doing zoomies he’s fine. Foals drink small amounts frequently so you won’t catch him suckle for very long but if you watched for say 6 hours you’d probably see him feed at least 20 times.

 

[Frances 74]

Thankyou for replying its all new so im happy knowing he is alert just want to make sure his getting enough milk

 

[Parrotperson]

Thankyou for replying its all new so im happy knowing he is alert just want to make sure his getting enough milk

If you're at all worried about them get the vet out. He sounds ok but foals can go downhill v quickly so get expert advice quickly. and can we have a picture?! Thanks!

 

[Frances 74]

Ok I send one