Foals and best friends/ herd status.

[Enfys]

Do foals inherit their dams' herd status or does it depend on their individual personality?

I have never had the opportunity to keep mares and foals in a herd situation before, but now with the foal on my doorstep and in with two other horses as well as her dam I am doing an awful lot of horse watching.

Lola is bottom of the pile when it comes to status, she will only push herself forwards if she considers that the foal may come to mischief (well, that's what it looks like) but the foal is a different matter. She is not at all shy or timid, she isn't bullied by the others of course, but seems to choose to spend her time with the big mare (longer tail for fly swatting?) and particularly the stallion. She follows him everywhere and he is remarkably tolerant of her, she was like this with the gelding too, even down to starting mutual grooming sessions, which I never seen Lola give, or get.

Those of you with foals, do yours have a favourite unrelated adult that they spend a lot of time with?

 

[Michelle73]

How old are the others that your foal is spending time with?

When I used to breed, some foals stuck to their mother like glue and others were very independent. One mare sadly produced an ugly foal one year - we knick-named him The Runt - The mare used to break out of the field and leave him behind!!!

Are there any other foals in the field with yours or all older adult horses?

My stallion used to hang round with the foals or vice versa but he was young and he liked the 2 & 3 yr old colts to be with him too.

 

[Enfys]

That's the colt she's grooming.
He's just 3, her mum is 16 and the other mare (a grumpy old moo) is 7. I would love to have had another foal for her to be with but I hadn't planned to buy an in-foal mare and hubby put his foot down when I suggested buying one to keep this one company, so she will just have to make do with what she has.



I love the story about the Runt, he didn't turn into a Swan did he?

 

[zigzag]

When my boss was breeding, she had a TB mare and foal two sec B mares and foals, then we rescued 4 sec A foals who were starved and had been weaned to early being around 4/5 months of age

we introduced the 4 sec A to the others and the big TB mare used to have all the foals with her when out in the field and the other sec B mares would see there foals being babysat and go over to the other sode of field! it did look funny with the TB mare having 7 foals with her

 

[Michelle73]

No unfortunately The Runt stayed a Runt. The last time I saw him he was about 8 years old and was doing pony huntertrials and having a whale of a time. He did have a wonderful nature.

I think your foal is hanging around with the colt because he's only 3 and they're good company for each other and will play together if they're not already doing so. Fab picture, they look lovely. I loved having the foals to play with. Really miss not breeding.

 

[Michelle73]

Our TB mare used to play "Aunty" to all the foals as well. She was a wonderful mother! Sadly very much missed as was put down a few years ago now - she had a huge growth on her face just above her eye but she lived to be around 28-30 yrs of age. And she spent the last few years of her life living with my stallion who had been gelded by then and their daughter. I believe father and daughter are still living together. Father would have been 22yrs in March and daughter must be around 12yrs now. It was good to see them living a happy family life.

 

[Tia]

My 3 month old foal Legacy, spends most of her time with her father and an unrelated pregnant "auntie". Legacy's mother is 2nd in command in this herd and Legacy is definitely going to be "up there" where herd politics are concerned. Legacy is a very self-assured foal and is actually above 2 of the geldings in her field.

 

[vicijp]

My foal (nearly 4 months) is out in a mixed herd. The smallest is a 1yo filly(15hh ish), largest is 10yo gelding (17hh).
There doesnt seem to be much herd politics going on. The mare keeps herself to herself as always, and doesnt really bother about the foal. The big gelding has only been in a few days, but him and the small filly are rarely seen separated.
Little Harry can mostly be seen playing with his 'Uncle Smudge', who is a 3yo 16hh tank of a gelding. Harry quite often bites and boxes at him, but Smudge only playfights back.
TBH, I think people tend to worry unnecessarily about who foals are out with, but thats my opinion about horses in general too. To be out with others is important, teaches them independance and makes weaning that much easier.

 

[Nickymac]

That's really interesting, as we have a mare and two month old foal (we had another mare and foal that were going to keep them company, but they both died during or just after foaling) that I want living out over the winter. I've also got a two and three year old but was planning to keep them separate, but maybe I don't need to do that.

 

[Tia]

If it's any help whatsoever to you; in this herd of mine, the ages are; 14, 8, 5, 12, 3 and 4 years old. By winter the 8 year old will have had her foal so by December we will also have a 4 month old foal alongside the one we have now who will be 8 months by then.