Foal proud

[Eyore]

Mare foaled five days ago and is a very good mother to her colt, however she has turned pretty aggressive to us, she is fairly good when the foal is standing but heaven help you if the lad is lying down.
We have foaled down a good few mares in our time and had foal proud mares but she is over the top. Any ideas??

 

[Parrotperson]

let her take her time. Hopefully once she's calmed down she'll relent. and just take it really steady. When you feed her hopefully she'll be more interested in stuffing her face and you can have a good look at the foal. If you have a yard to bring them into maybe tie her up (not the foal obvs) if its safe and groom her and let foal run around and do his thing?

We had one that was the complete opposite. Wouldn't have anything to do with the foal so that was hard work! She accepted him in the end. It just took time.

And ps WHERE"S THE PICTURE! We love a foal picture!

 

[Eyore]

let her take her time. Hopefully once she's calmed down she'll relent. and just take it really steady. When you feed her hopefully she'll be more interested in stuffing her face and you can have a good look at the foal. If you have a yard to bring them into maybe tie her up (not the foal obvs) if its safe and groom her and let foal run around and do his thing?

We had one that was the complete opposite. Wouldn't have anything to do with the foal so that was hard work! She accepted him in the end. It just took time.

And ps WHERE"S THE PICTURE! We love a foal picture!

Thank you, the weather was a lot better this morning so they were able to stay out a bit longer which put mum in a better frame of mind, at least she didn't try to take our heads off.
I am having a few issues with posting a pic, but will keep trying. ?

 

[maya2008]

I am exploring ulcers as a possible reason for our mare’s aggression (the biting and kicking - she was even biting her feed as if she wanted to kill it!). Having the foal seemed to tip ours over the edge.

 

[Parrotperson]

good ideas. Get a good equine vet and they may have plenty of ideas why she is doing it. Let us know how you go.

 

[Caol Ila]

Having a foal turned my mare into a spooky, anxious mess. She was always sharp, because of her breed, but I would not have called her a spooky, nervous horse pre-foaling. She never became aggressive, thank God, but she would run away. If you had a rope or headcollar in hand, you could not get near her. I gave it a month of trying to slowly build her confidence again and hoping the foal proud behaviour would go away, but in the end, we had to get them into a smaller pen. Thankfully, this seems to have rewired her brain and she is coming around to being back to normal.

I also put her on a magnesium calmer and a 'moody mare' supplement that includes St. John's Wort. Not very scientific, since we changed three variables, but I like being able to catch my horse.