If you buy/breed a foal what do you do for company?

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Patchworkpony

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If you buy or breed a foal what do you do for company if you don't want or have room for company of its own age. A great many people buy mini Shetland foals now as pets/companions but probably put them straight out with adult equines. What do you do or have done? We put a spirited welsh D filly foal out years ago with a Shetland mare who not only kept her company but taught her some many needed manners.
 
When my foal was weaned I had his sister who is only a year older and a mini who was only 3 herself at the time. He started off just with them then progressed to the main herd where at the time I had ages ranging from him up to late teens.
 
TelH said:
When my foal was weaned I had his sister who is only a year older and a mini who was only 3 herself at the time. He started off just with them then progressed to the main herd where at the time I had ages ranging from him up to late teens.
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You were very lucky to have that choice of age range.
 
At least with a Shetland for company the foal wouldn't react with horror when confronted with one as an adult:rolleyes4:
 
When my friend bought a foal I was concerned as all the other horses on yard were adults. We put foal out with 16 year old companion pony. Said pony decided to go through a second childhood and the two had a whale of a time together...not sure he taught foal any manners though!
 
I’ve bred one and will be having another next year. They spend time with Mum in a small herd of a shetland a donkey yearling and an older mare. On weaning they go to a yard with a group of other babies and a nanny mare. I think they always need time with other babies
 
IF I ever have another foal/weanling (which I won't, unless it's a rescue), I will buy at least one other to go out with it. Foals need companions of the same age, and ideally sex, to romp and play with.
 
I wouldn't buy or breed a foal unless I was able to provide at least one young companion for it. Youngsters need other youngsters to play with.

I fostered a young pony from the RSPCA to be a weaning companion for my homebred filly. The arrangement worked very well.
 
I have bought quite a few foals, and I put them out on youngstock livery, they go to the stud which is very local to me, where they are turned out in same age/sex groups to be youngsters together. I really think its so important for them to grow up with other foals/youngsters to play with. One of my foals I kept at home as fortunately I had a friend who had another foal of the same age, so they lived together at my yard. But personally I wouldnt have a foal unless I could give it same age/sex company.
 
We've bought a weanling recently and put her out with two oldies who are very steady but put her in her place. Not been a problem, they do play but it doesn't get too rough. I would much rather they learn some manners in the field with older horses than being t*** with a bunch of youngsters and no older one to show them how they should behave.
 
When I bought a weanling ID I also bought another from the same stud so the one I was planning to keep had company. Of course best laid plans etc the purebred grew to 18.2hh so was sold and I kept the companion.
 
My first filly was in with her mum, my other mare and gelding. She made her own fun, but was always an independent type she didn't mind if she was in the stable alone while mum went away to the field, in fact i had to chase her out a few times cause she was more interested in investigating the chickens and cats while mum ran about the field screaming (not a very bright horse, she could have ran back into the stables but that was a stretch for her) as a 2yo shes still just as chill and can go anywhere with no stress. Mum is still her best friend though lol but shes always been an old soul.

My second was a colt, so he would with everyone including sister (who hated him) until he was getting a bit too friendly when sister was in a good mood. Hes now with the gelding and they play about but he still gets told when enough is enough.

I think if they are foals, they need a bit of guidance and told what a mature horse will do. They will then mature into what that good horse can teach them. Id be a bit afraid of throwing a colt into a herd of equally tearaway colts to be honest! But ive not experienced it so i can't really comment.
 
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I planned and sent mine to a stud to grow up in a mixed youngstock herd.
No way would I breed or buy a foal without adequate plans in place
 
I acquired a pregnant mare in a sort of rescue situation last year. When the foal was born he and the dam shared a fenceline with my middle-aged mare and gelding until the foal was about 3 months old and then he and the dam got put in with the other two. We gave him toys to play with (a traffic cone was and still is his favourite!) and he played with the gelding quite a bit. But my big WB mare beat him up when she was in season and drove him through a fence! In hindsight a mixed sex herd was not a good plan while he was so young. Now that he's gelded and older they live peacefully together though. If I did it again (not likely! :eek:) I'd definitely try to have a buddy his own age and sex. Having said that, living in a mixed older herd has socialised him well and he knows his place (right at the bottom of the pecking order!) He is also used to the routine of coming up for feeds and rug changes twice a day and I think it's helped the handling process to be living with "tame" adult horses rather than a bunch of teenagers with attitude problems. ;)
 
ihatework said:
I planned and sent mine to a stud to grow up in a mixed youngstock herd.
No way would I breed or buy a foal without adequate plans in place
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This. I bred mine, once she was 3 months old her and mum were in a small herd with an adult gelding and a friends yearling - she played with the yearling and got taught manners by the gelding. After weaning my filly went off to grass livery in mixed herds that always had other youngsters. She has been a couple of livery yards now and in different herds and is a lovely well mannered girl who is now home with us being backed.
 
When I bought a weanling, I paid for him to go on grass livery in a large mixed stable herd belonging to a friend of a friend-he had 2 the same age as him and then everything up to 20 yo. He then came home as a yearling and had a 7yo (a very playful one) and a 15yo to be with.
 
The ideal system is for groups of weanlings to grow up together in a herd, with an older "nanny" to keep discipline and provide some guidance. This is how I always reared my youngstock when I had a stud farm; broodmares and babies out together and age groups staying as a herd until they begin mixing at age two and up. Solitary foals in adult herds tend to pester the older horses and become cheeky or mischievous and bored. I have had a single foal that came as a rescue and will never again attempt to rear one alone; always buy in another one or two to grow up together - especially colts.
 
Cortez said:
The ideal system is for groups of weanlings to grow up together in a herd, with an older "nanny" to keep discipline and provide some guidance. This is how I always reared my youngstock when I had a stud farm; broodmares and babies out together and age groups staying as a herd until they begin mixing at age two and up. Solitary foals in adult herds tend to pester the older horses and become cheeky or mischievous and bored. I have had a single foal that came as a rescue and will never again attempt to rear one alone; always buy in another one or two to grow up together - especially colts.
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I completely agree - thank you. A neighbour is thinking of buying one colt foal to put in with her big horse - I think that is wrong.
 
I have mine at a stud so he can be in a herd of mixed age youngsters, its a great set up and I wouldn't dream of doing it any other way, if I didn't have access to that set up I wouldn't have bred a foal to be honest.
 
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