Poor, poor baby.

At studs it is normal for mares and foals to wear headcollars all the time, in a herd you could easily put the wrong mare and foal in a stable together.

That is horrific, poor little foal.
 
Poor little mite, but sadly it's not the first time I've seen the like of this, have cut at least two headcollars out of young horses faces (and also have a tailless horse as per previous mention above, also due to tail bandage left on for too long). There is no excuse..........
 
That is horrific, so not one person who works there thought to loosen her head collar. poor wee soul.
Have to ask though, is it normal to send a mare to be covered when she only foaled 3 weeks before? seems a bit wrong. i can't imagine having a bonk 3 weeks after giving birth, and my husband was no stallion! x

It IS normal for a mare to be covered fairly quickly after foaling - sometimes it is done on the foal heat (about 10 days after foaling) although only if it's been an easy birth! I've had mares arrive here with foals of 4-5 days old at foot. They are NEVER left with a foal slip on - if they're difficult to catch (or in some cases - have NEVER been touched) we sort that out first!

Foal slips left on foals are incredibly dangerous! Unless the slip is fitted very firmly, a foal scratching its head with a back leg will trap the foot in the foal slip! If it IS firmly fitted, it needs to be checked every day without fail - as a foal grows quickly at this stage and it can become dangerously tight in a matter of days!
 
At studs it is normal for mares and foals to wear headcollars all the time, in a herd you could easily put the wrong mare and foal in a stable together.

Not at my stud it's not!! Visiting mares with foals at foot I house in individual fields - my nerves won't stand the thought of someone's much loved baby being injured, and mares with foals at foot can be VERY aggressive to mares they don't know - especially when they come into season. If I HAD to put other people's mares and foals together, I'd mark them with different coloured ribbon tied into their manes - the same colour for the foal that belongs to THAT mare. I don't like mares out with headcollars when they have foals at foot - if mare is lying down and foal wants a drink, it is very common to see the foal paw at her head (with the risk of getting a tiny foot caught!)
 
Is the stud in question going to be named and shamed?

I have sent mares to stud twice, one close by I visited every week, in France we visited every four weeks as it was a 3 hour drive.
 
If you look on hickstead feeds page on faceb you can see a pic of how well the foals face has healed, all credit to the owner and vet!
 
Common injury in neglect cases, the head grows and head collar doesn't change so to cuts into the skin, and some cases the skin grows over it.
 
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