just bought first foal

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buzzman

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hi guys

me and my partner have just put a deposit down on a foal and due to pick him up once weaned.

Hes 4 months old and his mum is a cob type(as stated on passport?) but they are not sure who the dad is, he must be coloured because the colt is.

Im hoping due to him being cob x he will be easier to handle than a tb type but then again all foals are a handful i suppose.

Im looking for advice on a few things,
1. do i feed him anything else but hay and salt lick etc? maybe a foal mix? if so, how much?
2. i have another horse and want them turned out together - but im worried my horse may take a dislike to him - shall i keep them a paddock apart to start with?
3. he will obv be unsettled, new place, new people and no mum to hide behind.. any advice on settling him?

I do alot of competing on my horse , hes warmblood x tb , and im hoping to make this colt as much of an alrounder as possible so in the future my partner can ride him or we can sell him to a nice pony club home.

Im abit out of practice when it comes to foals , give me a horse to break in.. fine but weanlings... its been a while so any extra advice would be fab

Also, hes about 12.2-13hh now at 4 months.. any idea on what height he will make?? x

thanks in advance.

xx
 
hi i have just bought my first foal, well i say my first foal but i did breed one from my own mare in 2009 but sadly he broke his back and was pts :( I have now bought his half brother and after putting a deposit on him back in the summer i finally brought him home on sunday. I dont really have any advice but i noticed no one else had replied to you :( only thing i would say is expect foals to do the unexpected. I have had a few problems this week but i think he is a bit more settled now. Main problem was he jumped out the field 3 times the first day as one of my mares kept chasing him so have now seperated them and he is out with the quieter mare with the other one just over the fence. The one thing i am very glad i did do this week was take a week off work so i have been there for every putting out and bringing in (mine are in at night) and have had time to supervise the antics in the field if i had been working this week this would of been impossible. I wish you good luck with your foal when you get him home x
 
Hi,

I have bred my first foal from my mare who is 15.2hh lightweight cob type, to a 14.2hh German Riding pony. The filly at 4 months was 12.3hh, she is 8 months now and 13.2hh (higher at the croup). I am hoping that she will stop at 15.2hh, and yours sounds similar so guessing 15.2hh ish.

As for feed, mine is living out 24/7 and adlib hayledge, and still feeding from mum. Will yours be stabled at night?
 
thanks guys, yeah ill be keeping him in at night and out in the day for now until summer then out all the time

Im planning on taking some time of work to help him settle too :-)

xx
 
Lovely, foals are great. I would keep him in for a couple of days until he's a bit more settled. You can use that time grooming him, picking up his feet and letting him get used to you. I'd be very careful about turning him out with your big horse, they can be very unkind to babies. If you have a secure yard or pen, pop him in there for short periods while you are around, so that you can see how he's thinking. Definitely put them in separate fields to start with, the fencing needs to be safe, though he probably won't know about electric fencing.

I'm a fan of Dodson & Horrell feeds, they have an excellent helpline too. My foals have always been fed Suregrow with some soaked sugar beet, chaff and Sure Limb supplement, also D&H. Start with very small amounts, especially if he's not been having any hard feed, then it can take a few days to get them eating.

Final thing, don't feed him from your hand, ever.

Have fun with him.
 
Please be careful of giving very young foals chaff of any kind and full sugar suger beet too, THeir digestive systems aren't fully developed until they're about seven months old so they can't digest them properly. In the case of chaff, their teeth are also not developed sufficiently to be able to grind it down which can lead to large amounts being swallowed whole which can lead to impaction and with sugar beet. the digestive tract is not developed sufficiently to digest the added sucrose.
The D & H Suregrow is an excellent complete feed for foals, it gives them everything they need with nothing extra needed other than decent forage and turnout.
Good luck with your foal.
 
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