Separation Issues (Mare and Foal)

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EquestrianFairy

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My friends foal is just turned a yearling and she has not separated her from her mum as she doesnt not have a second field to do so.

Baby is still feeding although very very sporadically and mum has almost weaned baby herself.

Now, heres the problem....

We cannot for love nor money get them to adapt to not being together. Niether are going anywhere anytime soon but i would of thought that surely it would be good to get them used to being apart as my two are all happy with being apart (although i was lucky, as my mare had enough and my foal was curious enough not to care where mum was)

We've tired feeding mare outside of field and increasing the distance of where the food is until shes out of sight but in the end she wont go and eat it and instead perfers to stand by the gate.
we've tried brinigng them both in and then taking baby out (which works fine) then going back up to get mum (we're talking a max of a 5 min wait)but she gets herself in such a state shes going to do herself some damage as shes an old mare with quite a bit of arthritis and yesterday she came out hopping where she'd thrown herself around.

Im not particulary experienced in foals and mares and wondered:

A) whether we should just leave it be or
B) whether we are doing things wrong?

Or just help please!

Baby can be led, headcollared, brushed, feet trimmed, picked out etc.

Its definatley more a mare having the issue than the baby.

aggghhh, help us!!
 
This is the problem, there is nowhere for her to go.

My friend lives on a private yard and they have just the one field (which there is a heard of horses)

Most livery yards will not take a yearling at all as ive asked, so i asked if they would take the mare and yearling in the hope we could use separate fields but again this wasnt given the approval.

The yearling would end up going back at some point as obv its her home- what would happen then?

Im thankful my two werent interested enough in each other after the 9 months! Talk about stress!
 
Well move the mare away then.
At this stage it's not really about her drying up being an issue is it, it's the separation thing; I'd still be inclined to leave her away at least six weeks though; surely your friend can find grass livery somewhere for that short space of time? The mare, I have to say, sounds like a spoilt brat to me and needs to learn some manners!
 
Surely there's a local farmer who would let you put the yearling out in his field? Or maybe a stud that would help? The yearling would have other youngsters to play with then. Or remove the mare to the other location?

We had this problem, we started weaning at 8 months (I'm going back around ahem years not wishing to give my age away. Anyway, the mare didn't care but the 8 month old reared up against the stable doors and pushed the door lintels (sp??) out frame and all. No damage to her thankfully. (Cutting a very long story short) the only way we could wean them was to sell the by now 18month old, we were lucky enough to take her to a yard that had two stables with an adjoining door! We walked the mare into the stable, though the adjoining door and out of the other stable. As soon as we drove away with the mare the yearling settled very quickly (or so we were told by the new owner). That yearling went on to successfully compete in medium dressage (retired now!) So it can be done "eventually"! We too didn't have an extra location.

I once read a book called "The Horses Mind" by I think Lucy Rees, she said that one horse can talk to another one up to 10miles away. Maybe this is something that you should bare in mind when finding a different location!!!!!!!!!
 
The mare is old and arthritic, shes had a hard life and the extra stress is something she was trying not to cause extra of.

The mare was put into foal (when she shouldnt of been due to her condition and before my friend got her) so that was that really and as the mare wasnt vetted (for obv reasons as she was a rescue from an awful man who treated her like sh;t) they only knew she was in foal when she started to show and it was too late then.

In the field is another two mares and they're two foals (owned by her dads friends) but they're foals and mares arent bothered by being separated! typycally!!
 

I would still consider MFH_09's advice and send the mare away tbh. Weaning IS a stressful time but unless you remove one or the other from the situation it doesn't sound like it will happen.

I would have thought that once they were completely apart they would soon get over it, but this means totally out of earshot.
Or perhaps send them both away to a stud who may be able to help you as they will have better facilities.

Alternatively you just toughen up a bit and leave one or the other of them in. If they don't eat, leave them, if they shout, leave them. It seems as if the mare is getting what she wants every time here.

Good luck.
smile.gif
 
Less dominant animals can often be problematic as they are vulnerable due to their low position in the pecking order so they are extremely sensitive to change and get easily stressed. Is this mare bottom of the pile?
I don't know if this helps but several studies have been conducted monitoring stress hormones and behavior during weaning. Apparently the least stressful way is group weaning which relies on herd dynamics. You watch your group and identify the dominant mare and then remove leaving behind the foal. Theory being that the dominant mare has the dominant foal and it will be stable and confident and least effected by the separation. You keep doing this moving down the pecking order until you have a field of mares and a field of foals. So maybe you could try creating a mini herd with the other mare and give that a go.
FYI the next least stressful was complete separation ie totally remove mare to a new situation. The most stressful was paired weaning because you then have to separate the foals doubling up on the upheaval. In each case I've been told you should always move the mare and leave the foal because it's easier for them to be in a familiar situation and to be careful about keeping foals in as weaning is the time stereotypic behaviors like weaving develop.
 
Spot on! Because the mare is old etc she is definatley near the bottom of the pecking order.. however the most dominant mare 'seems' to look after her which is abit odd but nevertheless it looks like sending the mare away will have to be the option.

I just hope it doesnt do too much damage, shes been through so much.
 
Well try not to guilt trip over it doesn't sound like you have any choice. Chances are she'll be right as rain once she can no longer see or hear the foal. That has been my experience anyway, good luck.
 
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