Mares and their foals...

Happy Ponies

Happy Ponies

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A mare and foal that I know and see are still together despite the foal now being 5/6/7 years old. Said not quite such foal still believes that she is a foal and often tries to suckle her mum (who also appears to still be producing milk). The mare seems to always have a pregnant look about her and many people who also see her think she is having a foal.

The mare is incredibly overprotective over her child and will often try to bite if you touch the 'foal'. The mare herself seems pretty wild like as you can't touch her either and she will often show the whites of her eyes.

I've been thinking this could be down to the hormones experienced during the bringing up of a foal still being produced due to never parting. Has anyone else got any ideas about why this behaviour happens? The field they live in is on a country lane and lots of familes pass and go up to the ponies and I'm always scared that she is going to bite them or her foal do something to them (the owners are aware that I feed them and don't mind although I know in reality I shouldn't!) as both have either bitten or threaten to bite me.
 
They presumably live alone so although not ideal it is all they know, they sound basically feral and unless there is a reason that makes you feel they are at risk or being neglected, other than not being handled or separated, then it is nothing to do with you, you should not be feeding them it will encouraging biting, as long as they are behind a secure fence and there is no reason to go through the field they are doing no harm and should be left, you certainly should not be trying to handle the "foal".

There were two similar mares and foals in a field near me some years ago, they were never separated and one of the foals was not very nice when I checked them, by then the foals were 3 year olds and were seriously neglected, the were reported and nothing was done for ages, they disappeared one at a time due to various accidents, neglect , I did regularly stop to check on whether they had water but would never have fed them and kept my distance from them when looking at their often empty water trough before phoning the welfare agencies once again.
 
They sound feral to me too and I wouldn't be feeding them either. As above, it's not ideal but unless they are actually neglected I would leave well alone.

My 6 year old gelding is turned out with his Mum; they have been together his whole life, although they have separate stables now. They are in a herd of 7 ponies in total though so not just the 2 of them, and my gelding has been handled since day one. Both him and his Mum show quite 'normal' adult behaviour. You can take either one away from the other and they don't mind. I weaned him after his first winter, just by putting him in a separate stable; for the next 2 mornings he tried to suckle from his Mum and she let him, on the 3rd morning he tried and she kicked him away, I never saw him try again after that.
 
Weird. Just... weird.

I'm sure it would never happen in the wild. However, you give no details as to what the circumstances are. I mean, are they alone? Do they have herd-mates? Are they owned by anybody?

Are we just supposed to come up with our own conclusions based on literally two facts? An overgrown foal and a fat mare?
 
The mare and foal have lived alone and with company. Currently they are living with another who happens to be a gelding and it's taken them a while to adjust. All 3 are owned and the owners have given me permission to feed them and they regularly see me feeding them a few pieces of carrot and they are fine with it.

In my original post I didn't really explain myself properly. The ponies have had and do have human contact as the owners (or at least the one who rents the field) goes in to see them often.

My main question really was if it is stills possible for a mare who still llives with her foal around 6 years later (never parted) to still treat her 6 year old as a foal whilst still experiencing hormones that could make her have phantom pregnancies (she's always fat towards her flank lower down than what you'd expect a fat horse to really be I guess, she's a kind of pear shape) and she still seems to be producing milk (around her teats she is quite obvious)
 
Happy Ponies said:
The mare and foal have lived alone and with company. Currently they are living with another who happens to be a gelding and it's taken them a while to adjust. All 3 are owned and the owners have given me permission to feed them and they regularly see me feeding them a few pieces of carrot and they are fine with it.

In my original post I didn't really explain myself properly. The ponies have had and do have human contact as the owners (or at least the one who rents the field) goes in to see them often.

My main question really was if it is stills possible for a mare who still llives with her foal around 6 years later (never parted) to still treat her 6 year old as a foal whilst still experiencing hormones that could make her have phantom pregnancies (she's always fat towards her flank lower down than what you'd expect a fat horse to really be I guess, she's a kind of pear shape) and she still seems to be producing milk (around her teats she is quite obvious)
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Sounds like the mare is "unfit"... you know, flabby.

We have a few old mares that look like that.

In answer to your question about if it is normal for a mare to still suckle her grown up foal, it seems to me as if the weaning was not carried out properly. The studs I've worked at regularly graze mother daughter combinations and I've never seen this happen.

Anecdotal evidence seems to suggest that it is unusual.

So, anyway, what do you want to do about it?
 
tallyho! said:
So, anyway, what do you want to do about it?
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I don't want to do anything as I know I have no right to. I was just asking a question about a situation and did it in a very bad way, hence your confusion. Breeding I don't know a lot about, weaning even less. I found the situation strange and wanted to know if anyone knew a possible reason for it happening or any experiences.

I'm sorry for a bad explanation in the first place to cause such offence and confusion, I just didn't know how to word it in a way that made sense.
 
Mares that have had a lot of foals, it changes their shape, so they look a bit different in their bellies to mares who haven't had lots of foals. I think that anything that isn't weaned from it's child (or even "a" child) will keep producing milk. Have heard of human mothers still breast feeding their 3yr olds :eek3: before. And foster mares have essentially been weaned from their own foal (who died) but are still feeding someone else's orphan foal.
 
Sugar_and_Spice said:
Mares that have had a lot of foals, it changes their shape, so they look a bit different in their bellies to mares who haven't had lots of foals.
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I've seen more than a few mares who have had foals who still look in foal. If they dont come back into work then their tummy muscles sometimes dont regain their strength and their belly hangs a bit
 
I never weaned my last foal as such. At 7 months I put him in a different stable to his mother (and different block of stables) he never worried about it. He did however continue to suckle from her every morning, and she let him. She went away for 4 weeks the following summer, but as soon as she came home he started suckling again (with her consent).

After that I just let them be, and he was still having a sook at 4 years old (hilarious watching something 16hh almost down on his knees to get a drink off mum who is 15.2). At some point during his 4 yr old autumn he stopped, or she stopped letting him.

He's now 8, and is still very much mums 'baby', and sometimes he will shove his nose under her, and for a second or two she'll start to stand for him but then will walk off, and he'll just go off and graze.

They live in a herd of 8 horses, and are in at night in separate stables. He'll have a neigh if mums not in the field for any reason , but then just goes of with another chum until she's back.
 
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