help feeding young foal

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AlexC

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hi, well we rescued a foal 2days ago, hes 5months, welsh section A, we dont know how long he has been away from his mother, we had to take him, we couldnt walk by and let him go to someone else, hes living in obviously, has a stable rug on and its very friendly, already a favourite at the yard, we have ordered foal food from millers, and they said to get "jsut grass" but the lady at the yard said it is to rough for hi and says happy hoof would be good?
any help and advice you can share would be great
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we plan to do in hand showing
 
i cant rem, its a foal mix, but i spoke to the ppl in millers and they looked in the books to see if it was ok to feed at his age
 
I wouldnt recommend feeding a mix to a recently weaned section a. Too much starch, cereals arent good for a newly weaned stomach and native ponies shouldnt have cereals at any age.

You would be better off with grass, ad lib hay and something like soaked fibre nuts. Remember that your foal may not eat the nuts or hay at first as he may not know what they are. Just leave them in with him and throw out the soaked nuts after 12 hours if not eaten and replace with fresh.

Once the pony is eating ok you could add a vit/min supplement specifically for youngstock, such as dodson and horrell suregrow.

Is there a reason why you are keeping him in?
 
hi
i duno wat food it is it might not be a mix, hes been eating hay, and drinking, has eaten a full hay net, hes been gettin 2 small feeds aday and is eaten them fine,
we are keeping him in, as he is so young and we want to bond with him and tht, we dont want him getting hurt and not to catch, its just to keep him warm, we will turn himm out after he has settled for a while but we want him stabled every night and most of the day, as its very cold up there
 
Pop this in Breeding as well, because you'll get a lot more responses.

What kind of condition is he in? If he's in good condition, a good stud balancer, hay and good grazing may be fine.

What turnout arrangements have you made for him? He'll need a companion, but not turned out within a group of older shod horses.
 
he is in very gd condition, just a bit young to be away from his mum we think
were not turning him out until he is settled in and is used to us, but when he does there are plenty of fields to go out in and he will go out with 1 of the little shetland, he is gd friend with my m8s big horse which is next to him at night,
we have been told tht at his age we need to keep a very close eye on him as he is more susceptible to pneumonia and tht, so im abit :S about putting him out, hes defo not goin out at night as its freezing already
 
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we have been told tht at his age we need to keep a very close eye on him as he is more susceptible to pneumonia and tht, so im abit :S about putting him out, hes defo not goin out at night as its freezing already

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He's only susceptible to pneumonia if he becomes ill - and if he's in good nick, and you look after him, then I'm sure he'll be just fine. Infact, respitory problems are more likely if he is in for too long. But can understand that you need to get him handled and used to you before turning out just yet.

It's also the wet that really knocks youngsters condition - not dry, cold weather.

Fantastic to hear that you have a companion all lined up for him.

Really, really good luck with him
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he was turned out in teh skul today with the shetland and they were playin apparently i got a text in maths lol

it has been very cold and very wet today, once he has been here a week or so i will turn him out during the day

he has made friends with every1 lol, the stallion shetland gets excited when he sees him lol, and his stable neighbour a 16.1 are always neighing to each other, ill upload some pictures soon, he is very cute lol
and thanks
 
Sounds like your gradual approach is a good idea. Great news that hes got a playmate, they do need one. Pictures would be nice!
 
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