nervous foal

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ziekoshepherd

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we had a foal born a month ago who seems to be rather nervous, his mother is a rescue mare and was very protective over him and kept heading him away from us for the first 2 weeks , then she allowed us to touch his muzzle even managed to stroke his neck but then our other mare who has a foal started chasing him and he has become very nervous ,, he is kept in a paddock with the 2 mares and 2 foals but we dont have a stable .. although i sit in the field with them and he now again gets curious he wont let me touch him and i need to get a foal slip on him .. can anyone help with suggestions please..
 
is there any way you can section the mare and foal off into a cornr of the field? i did this with mine last year she soon realised the fencing was much more scary than me and within no time at all we had the slip on her, also feeding her from my hand worked (fed her yoghurt it helps with foal scoures)
 
Start handling the mare and foal every day. And with the greatest respect, if the foal is being chased by another brood mare (as in aggressively) then you need to separate them.
 
I did section a part of the paddock off but he doesnt seem to worry about the fencing as he tried to get through it ( it was an electric fence).. i handle the mare daily so he can see that nothing is going to harm him ..he will come over to have a bite at my clothing as soon as i face him he panics
The other mare has stopped chasing him now her foal is bigger and it is nice for the two foals to be able to play together
 
Electric fencing is not a good thing to use when foals are around.

You need to take your mare out of the field in to a stable, and then get hold of the foal - do this daily and he'll be fine.

Did you breed this foal?
 
the mare was a rescue and we discovered that she was in foal .. so i have had to gain her confidence before the foal came but she became very protective when her colt was born so made it twice as hard to get near him
We dont have a stable just an open field shelter ..would have been easier if i did have a stable.
 
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Is there any way you can something SAFE across the entrance to the field shelter, i.e. something they will not attempt to jump, put their feet through or push through? Or, could you hire some round pen panels for a while and make a SQUARE pen where you can work safely? It isn't easy to tame the wild foal of a fairly wild mother when both the mare and the foal will instinctively obstruct you (it's their job!) so you do need the right set up and techniques or you will teach the opposite of what you want.
 
Please don't worry.

My first foal reduced me to tears as I thought I'd never be able to touch her - when it comes it does so really quickly.

You need to do exactly as you are doing. I don't like hand feeding of foals BUT would make an exception here for a while anyway. I also don't like scratching their bums as it has a habit of making them turn their back ends BUT I would make an exception here too. Keep going, feed mum (separate the other two) or feed both mums and just persevere. As soon as you get a scratch on a bum/shoulder then you are plain sailing usually (try to get it to shoulder ASAP though).

Mine is a month old too and Uber-mum took her job far too seriously probably cos she's been through so much and it was a horrific delivery also. Same problem, I still don't have a headcollar on though but can pick up feet etc. IV horse used to make velcro only headcollars which were great to start them off with (useless as anything else though) but I don't think they do now. Once you are happily scratching start 'grooming' with one of these.

Sorry - long but hope it helps!
 
progress slow ...by holding his feed bowl i have begun by stroking his neck and allows me to stroke near his ears neck mane and shoulder now and will allow if i give him a polo too.. still very nervous but it is a start (esp as he began fear biting) he now just puts his ears back.. quite happy to take my time with it to gain his confidence,, the other foal lets me stroke all over and pick her hooves up so i think he can see no harm is meant ..
thankyou for all advice will keep posted :D
 
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