Mare jumped out of the field her foal was in

[ColouredFan]

Is this normal? Woody was always reen renound for jumping to where the grass seems greener but since she became pregnant she hasnt jumped out once. Nico is now 3 months old and she is an excellent mother. They are stabled at night and out during the day and our other 3 horses do the reverse. Last night when we went to switch the horses over Nico was in the field on his own and Woody was on the yard squirting at my gelding who looked disgusted by her! Nico seemed settled enough on his own but has a little cut on his leg where I assume he tried to get to her. I opened the field gate and let him in and he went straight to mum for a drink!

Is it usual/normal for a mare to jump a 4 ft fence and leave her foal behind although she could still see him??

 

[Michelle73]

I was talking in another thread the other day about my mare who'd had an ugly foal that we nicknamed "The Runt" she was a good mother but you could tell she didn't like his looks and he used to break out of the field all the time and leave him behind. No I don't think its normal!!!!! When the foal was about 5 months old we took her to a very local show and left him at home. Neither cared!!!! She used to break out and disappear a mile or so up the road into the council fields and they couldn't see each other but they could hear each other!!!

 

[Enfys]

I don't know about mares leaving their foals, but my filly is an absolute Houdini and I quite frequently find her in another field from her dam. Lola is pacing the fence going potty and Isabella is eating/chatting to friends/chasing butterflies, whatever, and doesn't give a fig.

 

[Fahrenheit]

Tart comes to mind rather than a bad mum

When my mares move between fields, some of the mares quite often go through onto the new grass and the foal gets left behind and 'act dumb' and can't work out where the gate is (even though there is horses walking though it - doh! and they have been through it a dozen other times) and they run up and down the fence screaming for mum and the mares don't take a blind bit of notice, they wander off grazing and I am left to push the baby through, I don't think they are bad mums.

I think your mare wants another baby as she was flirting up to a gelding (though I don't think she will get alot of joy from him! lol)

 

[Penniless]

We also had an Houdini foal. Even at just a few days old, she would manage to jump between two rails and walk down to the yard to visit us (and her dad!) whilst mum quite happily continued munching away with all her mates in the back paddock. Neither of them were bothered at all and this happened on regular occasions. Needless to say, they were so easy to wean away from each other when the time came. We reckon the mare is the best broodmare we've ever had - although we do have one broodmare who allows her own foal and another of our broodmares foals to feed from her - both at the same time - either side of her. The other mum is quite happy to let the other mare get on with it.