Mare rejected her foal - again!

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Fools Motto

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Last year a then maiden mare had a filly. Birth was a bit 'tight', mare got a bit torn. Almost understandable that she didn't want anything to do with said filly. (filly was healthy). She was VERY agressive with her, and on one particular memorable occassion , I did a leap into stable, dive on foal, shout at mare manoeuvre - I swore blind that mare would have killed foal had someone not been there. Luckily, after perserving for a good 48 hours mare accepted foal and no more problems. Mare doesn't like to share feed bowl with foal, but that isn't the end of the world.
So, fast forward. This year. Same mare, better birth. No problems, no tearing. Mare licked foal very well. Both got up, mare continued to lick foal. Foal moved. THAT triggered it again. Mare went for him (healthy colt this time). 2 hours later, after a lot of 'don't be sillies, and holding mare, we doped her, colt had a good feed. Lay down. All peaceful. (still under constant watch). Colt moved, mare woke up, and all over again! Grrr. Bedded down next door stable to split them up, mare in 1 foal in 2... 3 mins later, mare went berserk, re-united them and no problems since.
So fustrating. I kinda knew that mare would do it agian, but equally hoped she would know what she was doing second time.

Do you think she will continue to do this throughout her broodmare career? Has anyone else had any similar experiences?
 
It is quite possible that her mother was like this with her so she know no better. Did you give her pain relief once she passed the placenta? If she is reacting to the foal moving I would think she isn't really the best type to breed from in the future as she could cause some serious damage and even kill the foal if you are not around and we all know how hard it is to be there all the time. I wish you all the best with her colt and please keep us updated.
 
Seems a bit strange that she has reacted to it moving. I dont think I would risk breeding from her again unless you can sort out the problem. I have known a similar problem & it had to do with the mare's eyesight, it was found she had partial vision in one eye. Hope it works out for all of you.
 
minime said:
It is quite possible that her mother was like this with her so she know no better. Did you give her pain relief once she passed the placenta? If she is reacting to the foal moving I would think she isn't really the best type to breed from in the future as she could cause some serious damage and even kill the foal if you are not around and we all know how hard it is to be there all the time. I wish you all the best with her colt and please keep us updated.
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I didn't know her mother, but from what I hear she was a perfect broodmare. I don't own her, she is bred for racing and her offspring is destined for the track too.
She didn't have any form of pain relief, but passed the placenta well and clean. Is it a common thing to give mares something?
As of this afternoon all was very well, colt feeding, mare happy. They have had a few hours out in the paddock and it was a perfect picture.
 
magic104 said:
Seems a bit strange that she has reacted to it moving. I dont think I would risk breeding from her again unless you can sort out the problem. I have known a similar problem & it had to do with the mare's eyesight, it was found she had partial vision in one eye. Hope it works out for all of you.
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Interesting about the eyesight.
AS I've said in my ^ post, she isn't mine and will no doubt continue to breed (for some years yet as I believe she is only 7.)
Luckily this years antics lasted only a fraction of last years... maybe it could be third time lucky?
Maybe I'll win the lottery!?
 
I remember my first foaling being a mare who's mother had killed all her foals, save for the one I was foaling. We watched her like a hawk to see if she would be like her mother but thankfully she wasn't. So yes I have heard about mares being always aggressive towards their foals. I wouldn't breed from one if it was mine TBH.
 
I wouldn't be breeding from her again either if she were mine!!
I have seen it once - we had a 6yr old maiden arab mare to foal here, textbook foaling, very little interference from us as I know what maidens can be like! She wasn't really interested in it and just got up and left it for about half an hour before she started to sniff it, but as soon as the foal went to stand she nailed it and took a big chunk out of the poor things side, it also didn't help the foal was very weak, had no get up and go at all, and had very weak fetlocks so was right down on her front pasterns, we found out later from her owner he had been feeding the mare exactly what he was feeding his laminitic shetland, not to mention buckets of digestive biscuits - which I don't think helped! - he wasn't the sharpest tool in the box to be honest!!:D
It took us 8hrs to get the damn mare to stand still and let the foal feed without her killing it - we had to milk her and bottle it to start with to try and get something into it, but it did eventually get the idea and she would tollerate it to a certain extent, we even got one of the dogs in to try and kick start her maternal instincts which did work a bit and she did protect it! - works on sheep so thought why not!!:D
As it was very weak we had to keep it in for a few days and everytime we even poked our head over the stable door she would savage the foal, we had to resort to using a mirror to watch her! Even when it did eventaully get turned out in a small orchard she would attack it if anything came near her - I'm talking 30 odd yds, so we had to totally ignore the poor foal who was really quite sweet and very curious, but it got to the point if it saw us it would cower and run as it knew its mother was going to bite it!!! She eventually went home with the foal and it did come right, but she took an awful lot of big chunks out of it, so had most of it's fur missing down its back and sides and covered in bites - the poor thing!! Needless to say the owner did have the sense not to breed again!!!

I also had a friend who had a maiden fell mare who savaged her foal and broke its jaw in 2 places when she double barreled it - the foal had to be bottlefed and the mare was never bred from again either and that was a mare the owner had bred and had the mother who was the sweetest thing and a great mum, so not necessarily a learnt behavior.

Glad your mare is now OK with the foal - fingers crossed she doesn't do it again and brake a leg or something!
 
Don't know about agressive mares (thankfully haven't come across one Yet!) but we have a cow who when she calves, gets up washes the calf and seems to love it but when the calf gets to its feet attacks it and would injure it without intervention. She allows you to take the calf and tie her in the barrier and will allow the calf to suck without any problem and will still lick it if it lies at her head but again will go mental if it stands. However after 24 hours there is no problem and she is very attentive and always checking where it is etc. so we just tie her for 24 hours and then hey presto alls fine. Her mother, grandmother and sisters have all been straightforward so I guess it must be over excitement or worry that its going to run away? If she wasn't such a good mother after 24 hours and (very important) the fact that she wasn't agressive with humans at that time she wouldn't be in the herd.
 
Have to say if she's done it 2 years running I'd not be breeding her again. You'll just end up with a dead foal some year. Once you could put down to chance, not twice.
 
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