Help - just bought a foal

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winnie111

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I have bought a foal. He will be 7 month when I collect him. 2 questions.
Firstly what is the safest way to transport the foal to his new home approx 160 miles away.

The current owner of the foal is saying I collect the foal from the field whilst he is still with his mother ie not weaned.

I am disputting this and saying he either needs to be weaned or his mother travels with him to his new home and then she returns home.

Would it be safe for the foal to be turned out with an adult geilding ?
 
Where the hell are you getting him from? Would be really unimpressed if they wanted you to take him away un-weaned!!

We transported our 9month old home just as you would an adult, its only a problem if they're really really young babies.

No idea about the gelding but we turned our mare our with an adult mare and she was fine xxx
 
I would travel him loose in any case, with a deep bed BUT I would not travel an unweaned foal that had just been ripped away from it's mother, it is an accident waiting to happen. I know people do this from auctions and things but I would not be willing to take the risk. If they refuse to wean, or travel the mare, then I would not buy.
 
You will have dreadful trouble if you rip this foal from its mother. Please dont even consider it. The stress of being put into a trailer and being on its own for the first time in its life, taken to a new environment with out being prepared for it is just rediculous. I would question anyone that would condone such a sale!
 
Good point about halter broken. But travelling a baby loose, when its just been ripped from its mum.......have a vet on standby methinks!
 
Poor poor foal - not because you are buying him but because of his useless money grabbing breeders. That is an appalling way to wean anything, they should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.
I've always found the best way is to bring mare and foal to the new premises, let them settle for a week or two so foal can meet his new company and get used to the new bacteria, then mare can be removed back to her home, job done. But to do it the way they propose is barbaric.
 
Maesfen said:
Poor poor foal - not because you are buying him but because of his useless money grabbing breeders. That is an appalling way to wean anything, they should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.
I've always found the best way is to bring mare and foal to the new premises, let them settle for a week or two so foal can meet his new company and get used to the new bacteria, then mare can be removed back to her home, job done. But to do it the way they propose is barbaric.
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Quite right Maesfen, they are too idle to wean the poor thing themselves, welfare of this foal is clearly of no importance to these breeders.
 
i wouldnt dream of traveling the foal with it only just being weaned from its mother, youl be lucky for it to still be in one piece when you get home, you need to ask if you can travel the mare with the foal and wean at your yard and then she goes back. i would prefer that option as i wouldt like to think of there method if thats how they want to do it.
 
Hi,

After having the stress of transporting a weaned yearling a few days ago away from it's weaning buddy to her permanent home I wouldn't even consider taking on a foal thats not been weaned. You need to have a serious chat with the owner and not purchase if its not been done. You will also be better off to collect with a traveling companion, esp if little one hasn't been loaded before. Most youngsters will follow another up the ramp and you dont want first loading experience to be a bad one.
 
lots of people do that where the first time they are away from their mum is when travelling to new home and i know people who have bought horses this way and have no issues with going in a trailer as soon as a few weeks later.

however, i wouldn't do it myself.
 
I watched a foal at mart a couple of years ago literally throw itself around the pen, try to get out, fall over backwards--WHY because it was separated from Mum at mart.
Weaning can be stressful if done at home much more so in a strange situation.
 
I did this with my girl (now 10). She had been bred by an 80yr chap who "just liked to see foals in the field" never been touched. Mum was a retired racing TB, dad a big ID. Mum was heavily in foal again when we took my girly away at 9 months old. Not the way I'd have chosen but just couldn't see her being left untouched / unloved in a field.

She travelled home - 70 miles - loose in a big trailer with an very deep bed of shavings and was absolutely brilliant bless her.

I had a pony yearling waiting for her in the field at home and thankfully all was well - she didn't even call for her mum after the first hour home just got stuck into eating grass (there was a lot of it!!) and playing with her new pal.

However, we have had more than our fair share of behavioural problems since and I have no doubt a good deal of this was because she was left unhandled for the first 9 months and not properly weaned.
 
Maesfen said:
Poor poor foal - not because you are buying him but because of his useless money grabbing breeders. That is an appalling way to wean anything, they should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.
I've always found the best way is to bring mare and foal to the new premises, let them settle for a week or two so foal can meet his new company and get used to the new bacteria, then mare can be removed back to her home, job done. But to do it the way they propose is barbaric.
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Agree 100%
 
I have seen it done once by people who should know better.
Horse was put into lorry with his weaning buddy (they had been turned out together for a month and were mates)
One horse stood silently terrified, whilst the other horse went ABSOLUTELY crazy, resulting in one slicing its leg open at an artery and nearly bleeding to death.
I think you are mad if you do it.
 
No serious offence intended,but if you are unsure on how to travel a foal then i dont think that a youngster is for you and your not ready maybe you have had a foal before but i seem to get the impression that you are not to sure,like a lot of people have said it is a recipe for disaster and i think you are just as bad if you decide to buy this foal bearing in mind with what the so called breeders have said.i am sorry and no offence to be taken but i just think that this is dangerous and a risk to an innocent baby.
 
Blacksabbeth that is a little unfair, I had absolutely no idea how to travel a foal when I got my baby, and I asked for advice on here, and she came back fine! And if I say so myself, shes doing great with me and im doing a great job.

Clearly the weaning bit is horrific, but dont assume because shes not sure how to travel a baby. Everyone has to start soemwhere!

Obviously the weaning thing is stupid though...
 
I tried to word it without being over offensive,i just get the impression that not only just going by the travelling,but they dont sound to sure but like i said they could have done this all before and i have just got it wrong,just like other people have said on here.i didnt mean to offend people and i dont mean to offend the person in question,but like i said i could be wrong and i do apologise.
 
in reply to op, I think you are quite right in telling owner/breeder to wean before you attempt to transport him home. It isnt fair on the foal nor you and could result in tears. My oh has been hired to transport many a Quarter horse and has turned up to discover that he's transporting a mare leaving her unweaned foal at home! Not very nice but thats how many do it here in Italy. So far all has gone well but I hate to think what could happen, specially if it were the foal to be driven away. I certainly wouldnt do it if using a trailor but if there is no other way out of it, hire a horsebox and travel loose. Good luck!
 
Lol,thats ok like you said everyone starts somewhere!i was seriously concerned about foalys welfare thats all and it just makes me mad that people are happy to do that and i dont know reading it made it feel like something doesnt add up but i cant put my finger on it,if that makes sense?but i suppose welcome to the real world.x
 
unfortunately some people still practice this barbaric method when weaning, i was foal shopping for a client and went to a rather large stud, and purchased a foal.
Sadly to this day over a month later the foal is still at the stud as she is still on her dam at 12 months of age and the stud state the bast way of weaning is to take her from the dam when i turn up with the lorry to collect, which i totally refuse to do. they practice this with every foal they sell.
I will not condone this method of weaning so hence the foal is still there eating their grass and hay until they weaning her
 
I don't know the OP or their situation/level of experience etc, but I think everyone's been a bit quick and harsh jumping on their back about this. No, the foal not being weaned before hand isn't ideal, but this is how a lot of breeders still wean their foals. I picked my colt 18 months ago in a similar situation, mane and foal were still in the field together with another mare and foal. We walked the mare onto our trailer and colt followed her on. The mare was then walked off, leaving him inside. His breeder is experienced and this is the way she wanted to do it, so I trusted her and went with it. We took the partition out of the trailer and put straw down on the floor with banks at the sides.

I'd never had a foal before, but does that make me a bad mum? We all have to start somewhere. And without sounding big headed, my lad - now 2 - is fantastic, all I'd ever hoped for. He's certainly not permanently scarred or traumatised from being weaned or transported in this way. Loading him into the trailer since has been far from problematic either, as he walks straight on and stands patiently.

What I would say is that his breeder had spent a lot of time with him handling him and getting him used to a head collar etc before we picked him up. We also visited him countless times between putting a deposit down on him and collecting him, so he was used to human contact and loved the attention. We collected him at 7 months of age, which is a little sooner than the breeder usually lets them go, however the mare's condition was starting to drop and we decided it was the best timing for both of them.

When we got him home we turned him out with our miniature shetland gelding who was fantastic with him. We kept my older cob separated but alongside them for the first 4 weeks as he can be a bit of a bully until he gets to know other horses over a fence.
 
Before it gets nasty, if OP had to transport and had no option to transport an unweaned foal...thinking of solutions could a trailer with no partitions, deep shavings bed and vet on hand to sedate work?

Just trying to think of solutions rather than telling OP she is evil and nuts :D
 
blacksabbeth said:
Whow,i am now slowly dissapearing off this topic.R2R good ideas and fabby horse by the way!x
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Aw thank you. I think he is delicious.

Would sedation work? 160m @ 30 miles per hour average will take 5 hours - so maybe she should speak to a vet and see if sedation would last that long?
If not, travel a travelling buddy?

Oh I have no clue, my 5 year old got dragged from the field he was weaned too when he was 3 and I bought him - and went straight on the lorry like a lamb. It was the "when I got him home" part when all the trouble began! Naughty pony!!!
 
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