Sorry, another silly foal question ....

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smurf

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My foal is 3.5 months old. At 6 months she will be weaned and is going away from home for about 3 months.
When she comes home at 9 months, can she be (should she be) turned back out with my mare or is it better for them to be kept apart?
We are on a livery yard and ideally I would like both horses to be turned out in company. It would be a lot easier if the company was each other (don't have to deal with other liveries and their lack of poo picking!) but I don't want to distress either mare or foal just for my own convenience
 
smurf said:
My foal is 3.5 months old. At 6 months she will be weaned and is going away from home for about 3 months.
When she comes home at 9 months, can she be (should she be) turned back out with my mare or is it better for them to be kept apart?
We are on a livery yard and ideally I would like both horses to be turned out in company. It would be a lot easier if the company was each other (don't have to deal with other liveries and their lack of poo picking!) but I don't want to distress either mare or foal just for my own convenience
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Yes it’s fine as the mare will have dried up by then, albeit not an ideal living arrangement for a weanling who would really benefit from same-age company
 
Sadly we just don't have any other youngsters for her to go with. She will be out with 2 other foals for 3 months when she goes off once weaned. But once she comes home again, her mother (age 6) is one of the youngest we have
 
HaffiesRock said:
Sorry OP but that is not an acceptable life for a foal/youngster. Why did you bring a foal into the world if you can’t provide it a good life? Can it stay where its going for weaning?
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Wow !
So I bought my mare in good faith, I only discovered she was pregnant after I had her for several months. I have done my blooming best to salvage a pretty horrible situation for my mare , her foal and myself.
I could have sent her back to the dodgy dealer that I bought her from who wanted to wean the foal at 4 months, sell it and get the mare back into work. But I decided that this situation was not my mare's fault so I stuck with her.
So, HaffiesRock, perhaps think before posting unkind comments!
 
smurf said:
Wow !
So I bought my mare in good faith, I only discovered she was pregnant after I had her for several months. I have done my blooming best to salvage a pretty horrible situation for my mare , her foal and myself.
I could have sent her back to the dodgy dealer that I bought her from who wanted to wean the foal at 4 months, sell it and get the mare back into work. But I decided that this situation was not my mare's fault so I stuck with her.
So, HaffiesRock, perhaps think before posting unkind comments!
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My foal was a BOGOF too, and we definitely had to make do with the livery yards we had. He never had the perfect youngstock livery dreamt of by HHO. There were things I didn’t post about until years after the fact, because the HHO collective would have gone ballistic (did he and his mum go into the livery mare herd when he was six weeks old? Oh, yes, they did. Probably not recommended but we got away with it and I wasn’t in a position with you know, choices).

But he’s 4.5 years old now. Lived to tell the tale.
 
smurf said:
My foal is 3.5 months old. At 6 months she will be weaned and is going away from home for about 3 months.
When she comes home at 9 months, can she be (should she be) turned back out with my mare or is it better for them to be kept apart?
We are on a livery yard and ideally I would like both horses to be turned out in company. It would be a lot easier if the company was each other (don't have to deal with other liveries and their lack of poo picking!) but I don't want to distress either mare or foal just for my own convenience
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That will be ok, hopefully your mare into some regular ridden work by then, too
Only thing, if your mum and daughter are going to be together as a solitary pair, could create quite a lot of separation anxiety and stress when they do need to be operating independently. If possible, they’d be better in with one or two others as well, to promote socialisation and minimise that issue, and well worth a bit extra paddock maintenance. Good luck!
 
Caol Ila said:
My foal was a BOGOF too, and we definitely had to make do with the livery yards we had. He never had the perfect youngstock livery dreamt of by HHO. There were things I didn’t post about until years after the fact, because the HHO collective would have gone ballistic (did he and his mum go into the livery mare herd when he was six weeks old? Oh, yes, they did. Probably not recommended but we got away with it and I wasn’t in a position with you know, choices).

But he’s 4.5 years old now. Lived to tell the tale.
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Yep, and he’s probably quite a worldly wise animal with a bit more respect, too. They’ve all got legs of glass, even when wrapped in cotton wool, young stock livery isn’t the be all and end all, by any means.
 
The reason why lots of people recommend it is because it is best practice. Does that make it essential? No. Of course not. Many foals will grow up just fine in less ideal set-ups.
But providing same-age company out 24/7 in well managed fields IS the best thing you can do for a foal.
 
smurf said:
Sadly we just don't have any other youngsters for her to go with. She will be out with 2 other foals for 3 months when she goes off once weaned. But once she comes home again, her mother (age 6) is one of the youngest we have
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What about selling her?

I appreciate she is a bogof and you aren’t set up for foals but livery yards with adult horses only really is less than ideal.
 
HaffiesRock said:
Sorry OP but that is not an acceptable life for a foal/youngster. Why did you bring a foal into the world if you can’t provide it a good life? Can it stay where its going for weaning?
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That’s a bit off @HaffiesRock it might not be ideal but it’s not impossible. How many foals have you bred? I’ve lost count of mine but don’t recall having a problem when l’ve had a weaned foal in with a sensible older mare for various reasons that you don’t need to know about> 😡
 
TheMule said:
The reason why lots of people recommend it is because it is best practice. Does that make it essential? No. Of course not. Many foals will grow up just fine in less ideal set-ups.
But providing same-age company out 24/7 in well managed fields IS the best thing you can do for a foal.
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I have blown the budget ( not that there was any budget for a surprise foal) and found somewhere for her to go , out 24/7, with other foals for a few months when weaned. But it's very expensive and an hour away. So I can only do it for 4 months

The standard, youngstock livery where they shove them into a barn, 24/7, no turnout is a) not what I want for her, she's a horse, she needs outside time but b) they refused to accept her as she was such a late foal, she can't get weaned until end of Jan and they felt putting her into a shed, with an established herd, she'd get bullied and not thrive.

Honestly , I am just trying to do my best with a rubbish situation
 
smurf said:
I have blown the budget ( not that there was any budget for a surprise foal) and found somewhere for her to go , out 24/7, with other foals for a few months when weaned. But it's very expensive and an hour away. So I can only do it for 4 months
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You may get lucky and find someone looking for a weaning buddy. I bought in both times I bred my own foal and currently have a friend’s as company for mine at mate’s rates
 
TheMule said:
You may get lucky and find someone looking for a weaning buddy. I bought in both times I bred my own foal and currently have a friend’s as company for mine at mate’s rates
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It might be worth putting an ad up to see if anyone is wanting a foal/weaning buddy. You might find the ideal set up - not on a livery yard, sometimes the best solution is to buy in a companion foal but it’s not always easy to find a suitable one. If yours has been well handled and is reasonably civilized this could work and may even save you some £££s.
 
smurf said:
I have blown the budget ( not that there was any budget for a surprise foal) and found somewhere for her to go , out 24/7, with other foals for a few months when weaned. But it's very expensive and an hour away. So I can only do it for 4 months

The standard, youngstock livery where they shove them into a barn, 24/7, no turnout is a) not what I want for her, she's a horse, she needs outside time but b) they refused to accept her as she was such a late foal, she can't get weaned until end of Jan and they felt putting her into a shed, with an established herd, she'd get bullied and not thrive.

Honestly , I am just trying to do my best with a rubbish situation
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Honestly, when I was in the midst of my BOGOF drama, I found the forum helpful and supportive initially, and then I worked out quite quickly that the wisest course of action was to post very little about it, because nothing about our yard/set-up was ideal for a foal. Nothing. And this forum will tell you all about it with both barrels and tell you to find good youngstock livery, like that sh1t grows on trees. I already knew that it was pretty much non-existent in this area (other than at the yard where my horse got knocked up in the first place) because my mare was two (I know), and I'd had an absolute ballache finding a place to put her before I knew she was pregnant; a lot of yards in our area won't take anything younger than four, nevermind with a bloody foal at foot.

Lke you, I was winging it with whatever I had at the time. No point in asking the forum 'what should I do' because the yard wasn't giving me a lot of options. And we've already established moving them to the perfect youngstock livery wasn't happening. You might as well try moving to Gallifrey. It's either blown up, lost in a bubble universe, or full of tw7ts (depending on when you're watching Doctor Who). We had to do whatever was possible, whatever the YO offered, and then solve problems as they appeared. There were a couple interesting moments, but the foal settled into his herd with his 'aunties' who helped raise him. He's certainly been a polite youngster.

To wean, we moved my mare onto a different bit of the yard with the YO's horses, who happened to live in pens on the other side of the property. The foal stayed with the livery mare herd, his 'aunties.' At night, he was put in a pen with his owner's (yeah, my mate bought him, because I wanted two babies like a hole in the head) gelding, and they bonded. Once my mare dried up, some months later, the baby was moved to the gelding herd with his uncle Gustav to protect him, and he learned how to get on with the livery geldings. My horse went back into the mare herd.

The foal didn't miss his mother at all, because he was with all the mares he'd grown up with in the herd. My mare lost her baby and had to make new friends and was far more upset by it all. Fun for me.
 
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To put it into perspective I do not believe herds of youngsters only are all sunshine. I bought a two year old who had only ever been turned out with another colt. He was an absolute PITA for any horse or human who dealt with him. All he knew was rough play with his companion. If a hand went near his front legs he dropped to his knees because that was his reaction to a companion aiming for his legs. In the field it took my other horses several months to teach him some horse manners. He came from a stud and was the worst mannered youngster you would not wish to deal with.
 
Caol Ila said:
Honestly, when I was in the midst of my BOGOF drama, I found the forum helpful and supportive initially, and then I worked out quite quickly that the wisest course of action was to post very little about it, because nothing about our yard/set-up was ideal for a foal. Nothing. And this forum will tell you all about it with both barrels and tell you to find good youngstock livery, like that sh1t grows on trees. I already knew that it was pretty much non-existent in this area (other than at the yard where my horse got knocked up in the first place) because my mare was two (I know), and I'd had an absolute ballache finding a place to put her before I knew she was pregnant; a lot of yards in our area won't take anything younger than four, nevermind with a bloody foal at foot.

Lke you, I was winging it with whatever I had at the time. No point in asking the forum 'what should I do' because the yard wasn't giving me a lot of options. And we've already established moving them to the perfect youngstock livery wasn't happening. You might as well try moving to Gallifrey. It's either blown up, lost in a bubble universe, or full of tw7ts (depending on when you're watching Doctor Who). We had to do whatever was possible, whatever the YO offered, and then solve problems as they appeared. There were a couple interesting moments, but the foal settled into his herd with his 'aunties' who helped raise him. He's certainly been a polite youngster.

To wean, we moved my mare onto a different bit of the yard with the YO's horses, who happened to live in pens on the other side of the property. The foal stayed with the livery mare herd, his 'aunties.' At night, he was put in a pen with his owner's (yeah, my mate bought him, because I wanted two babies like a hole in the head) gelding, and they bonded. Once my mare dried up, some months later, the baby was moved to the gelding herd with his uncle Gustav to protect him, and he learned how to get on with the livery geldings. My horse went back into the mare herd.

The foal didn't miss his mother at all, because he was with all the mares he'd grown up with in the herd. My mare lost her baby and had to make new friends and was far more upset by it all. Fun for me.
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Yes, I am inclined to agree.
Those of us who did not sign up to be 'foal owners' are literally thinking on our feet, trying to do the best of a bad situation etc
Some people on the forum are helpful, others less so, but I guess that's the same in life !

planete said:
To put it into perspective I do not believe herds of youngsters only are all sunshine. I bought a two year old who had only ever been turned out with another colt. He was an absolute PITA for any horse or human who dealt with him. All he knew was rough play with his companion. If a hand went near his front legs he dropped to his knees because that was his reaction to a companion aiming for his legs. In the field it took my other horses several months to teach him some horse manners. He came from a stud and was the worst mannered youngster you would not wish to deal with.
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She's 3.5 months, picks up all her feet, leads brilliantly, comes when called. She is polite and well mannered.
So far her 'less than ideal' set up seems to not be causing her too much harm. And her totally clueless owner has so far kept her alive and not let her be savaged by a dog !
Screenshot 2025-11-08 104221.jpg
 
Could you not sell her? You obviously didnt plan to have a foal and you dont have a great set up to raise one, so selling might be the best thing for both of you.
 
To answer the original question I think it your mare has dried up she’ll be good to go. My youngster was in with my older gelding and a variety of other geldings of varying ages. One of them was his age. Honestly they ignored each other. Both would play with the older geldings. For a colt mines relatively normal. I did want to turn him away this winter but he nearly died not long ago and it’s just not on the cards. My vet is happy with his lifestyle.

My previous foal was a filly and spent one winter in a herd with horses her own age, and when observed spent most of it with the broodmares. She came back much earlier then planned, spent the rest of her time with me with one/two older geldings or a mare herd on a DIY. She is now a successful brood mare and has raised a few healthy happy babies.

I actually believe that older company is just as important if not more then having a playmate. The older geldings will happily play with lad and when he gets rough or rude whether it’s play time or not he gets put back in his box, the gelding his own age never really played with him, and when they did it always seemed like they fell out or a grown up would come stop them as it got rough. 🤔

From your perspective if you had a tolerable livery who poo picks and has a well rounded horse I would suggest a trio may stop them becoming over attached, or mum becoming grumpy, and may present more play and behaviour lesson opportunities.

But again no one shoot me down, my lad probably spent 50% of the last two years with just one gelding of varying ages as a companion. He’s always had horses over the stallion fencing. And I certainly left him alone in the field (again horses over the fence) to ride and he now unbothered about horses leaving, being led out on his own and travelling alone. All methods have their swings and roundabouts. Your dealing with it as best you can, I had the best of both worlds planned, but even with a planned baby it doesn’t always go that way. 🥰🥰
 

HaffiesRock how unhelpful!​

this forum is so judgemental! (not everyone mind)

op, i weaned mine for a few months for her to dry up, and put her back in with mum, as they would be living together permanently anyway. the only issue i had/have is separation anxiety, when mum passed away she then latched on to another older mare in the field and now goes mad when she goes out! but apart from that shes a very healthy, well mannered, polite individual.
 
I just want to say, I know lots of horses who grew up in mixed herds, or with nannies and not kindergarten groups (including my own 4 year old) and they are all fine!

Very few of us keep horses in the 'ideal' situation! OP asked if she would have any issues with weanling and dam, so disappointed to see some rather judgy comments!
 
Shoei said:
I just want to say, I know lots of horses who grew up in mixed herds, or with nannies and not kindergarten groups (including my own 4 year old) and they are all fine!

Very few of us keep horses in the 'ideal' situation! OP asked if she would have any issues with weanling and dam, so disappointed to see some rather judgy comments!
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well thats this place all over isnt it!
 
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