putting mare and foal back together

[chestnut88]

HI There,

i am new to this forum but can any body help me. i have a eight month old filly who i weaned a month ago now. she lives on the other side of the farm with my new 3yr old gelding . Her mum lives with my other gelding in two stables about 100 meters away . I read all about weaning a hundred times and for various reasons decided it wasnt practical to send either mum or baby away so i have weaned her by buying a new gelding and putting her in a seperate field with him . The trouble is its a very small field and they cant stay in there very long. I rent my land and stables off a local farmer so am limited for land . Does anybody know when i can put everybody back together again. Its been a month now , they have already

met as at first i just split my field with an electric fence but the foal just ran straight through it to get back to mum. I had a 6ft high double fence up but she went through it twice, hence they are now in seperate places .It is vey hard putting am eight month old and a 3yr old out in a small field just 50 yards walk but i am managing JUST. !! I cant wait untill i can reunite everybody but dont know how long to wait. Can anybody help me please. ??

 

[arwenplusone]

Hi, welcome to the forum! Do you have any pictures of your brood?

With regards to your question, has the mare's milk dried up? If not then I would leave it for a little while longer. IMO I would leave three months as the foal has to be independent from Mum and this allows milk to dry up too. That said I think there are a few people on here who wean naturally (I think at about a year) so you may get some differing opinions.

I would, however, consider again the option of sending the foal away. It doesn't sound like you have ideal facilities & I think it is good for them to spend time with others their age at this stage and learn to socialise well. Again though, that is just my opinion and many people socialise foals with older horses with no problem, plus I know how hard it is to let them go off without you!

good luck!

 

[chestnut88]

Hello and thank you for the reply. i have a load of pics of my gang but havnt worked out how to put them on here yet.! will have a look.
regards my baby, in an ideal world i would love to send her away to play with a load of others her own age in a meadow for the summer but a/ i dont know of such a place and b/ time and money dicatate my actions unfortunatly. Having said all that she is learning from my new boy a 3yr old warmblood x. The baby was very sure of herself as it was mums first foal(and mine ) and she let her get away with murder, he is bringing her down a peg or two but in a nice way.I have been so lucky to find such a sweet young boy.
You are quite right about my facilities they are rubbish but we are looking for a place of our own , just cant sell our house at the mo.!! like a million others eh . hopefully it will be sooner rather than later, as you will all probebly tell me i need good facilities to manage young stock.
I read about natural weaning but went against it beacuase i thought the filly was so strong willed with mum as it was if i left them together to just split when mum had had enough i had visions of her still feeding as a two year old and being quite unmanagable , i could be wrong but as i said this is my first so am learning all the time. Any help/ advice is greatfully received .

 

[magic104]

Both the colts were kept apart from their dams for 6wks. The yearling is quiet happy with the 2yo & his dam. The 2yo was not so lucky & had to put up with 3 mares! Length of time will depend on the mares milk supply, it is not unknown for the weanling to try feeding even after 8wks or more, but usually by then they have lost that need to suckle.

 

[KarynK]

Have found with one of my mares that she needs 2 months!

I put her filly back in with her after a month and she came back into milk!!! So I put the filly back in the adjacent field for a further 8 weeks and then put them back together and she told her off for half heartedly trying to suckle.

But like everything else with horses they are all different!

 

[Britestar]

I kept my youngsters away for about 4-6 weeks and then brought them home. My old mare used to break her heart for the first week, looking for her babies, neighing, pacing.... but everytime they came back, they would rush up to her screaming 'mummy'', and she would double barrel them and totally ignore them. Mind you, she was an experienced mum.

My other mare still babies her son even though he is 11yrs! But he loves it and at 26yrs she can do anything she wants to.