To wean or not to wean?

B

buzzles

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My mare has been given the all clear today to come off boxrest and start going out
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. However I'm in a bit of a dilemma about what to do with the foal, who is nearly 6 months. The vet recommended I wean them before putting them out, but I think they thought he had been on 4 months box rest with her, which he hadn't (she was in a fenced in field shelter with a rail for him to go under so he could go out in the field). I wasn't planning on weaning him yet as there's no rush now as the mare won't be coming back into work and she's not in foal again, but will be put back in foal next spring. I don't want to send the mare away as she won't settle so would have to find somewhere for the foal to go. She nearly has him weaned herself, he goes off out of sight and she doesn't mind and he's hardly ever in the pen with her. He's still feeding but not that often and she does get quite narky with him.

So my options are:
-send him away and keep mare at home and start letting her out gradually

-leave them as they are, start putting the mare out and hope she doesn't go too mad if he starts messing, and let them stay together until next spring

-leave them as they are, start putting mare out by herself but where he can see her (leave him in the pen and let her out into the field) and then gradually start seperating them, i.e seperate stables at night, but so they can still see each other and out in the field during the day, possibly introducng another horse/pony (mare is very fussy about who she goes out with and I don't know how she'll react to others near the foal, but I have an old pony who she tolerates and who would be company to the foal)

I'm really not sure what to do, I think I need a third party to look at the situation from an outside perspective and give my an opinion, so any advice appreciated.
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I did option 3 with my mare! My mare and foal went back into the 'herd' with my others when the foal was just a couple of weeks old (more by accident than design - the foal limboed her way out of my post & rail foal paddock I hade made especially for her!). The foal was used to all the others so at about 5 months I would start to bring the foal in with one of the others and leave the mare out for a while or leave the foal out with the others and bring the mare in, starting off with just a few minutes and built it up. To be honest, they both seemed glad to have a bit of independance from each other, so I put the foal in the stable next to mum with metal railing between the stables so they could still see each other. at about 6 months I started riding my mare out and leaving the foal with a friend at home, just for short perods and building up again to an hour or two at a time. They were fine with this arrangement but I think it depends what facilites you have as to how to make the best situation for your mare and foal.
 
Thanks Panda, I'm edging towards that option already but wanted to see what other people thought. This was actually the way I was planning on doing things before the mare got injured as she would have been coming back into work. My only worry is that once she gets turned out again with the foal, he will start jumping on her and wanting to play and gallop and either set her off or aggravate the injury. This was the vets worry aswell, which is why they recommended weaning him. Even leading her back from the trailer today into the pen he was delighted to see her out and was leaping all over her. I think she'll have to be allowed out without him initially and then put the old pony in with them, who is well used to youngsters and will teach the foal some manners!
 
i think i'd maybe introduce the old pony to the foal while the mare's still stabled, let them get their sillyness out of the way, and then let the mare out with them too, and let her wean the foal herself in her own time. but i like doing it all as naturally as possible, as it's much less stressful for the foal. if he's already buddies with the pony, he might leave mum alone, hopefully. best of luck!
 
Option 3 sounds great, nice and calm for all concerned.
I weaned my now 2yo by putting mare and foal next to my other two (old mare and yearling) with the intention after a good few weeks of removing the electric fence division.
They had other ideas though, and after a couple of days, they removed the fence themselves and I found them grazing happily as a herd. I then eventually had to take the dam away to return her to her loaner...and the foal didn't care at all, didn't whinny once as mum was led away. By then the foal was about 9 months old...a good age to wean IMO.
S
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