two mares one foal

[myvada]

we have two sister mares who foaled together on the same morning, the one foal died from unknown cause but the mare has taken to feeding her sisters foal. She is not stopping the foal feeding from her mother they seem to be sharing her. Anyone else seen this and do you think there may be problems?

 

[AmyMay]

You may get a better response in Breeding.

But sounds really interesting.

 

[Enfys]

I have seen this before, the mares just shared the foal quite happily.

We got in touch with our local Vet and he found us an orphaned foal to put on the foal-less mare. We actually bought the foal rather than just looked after it, they did 'take' and the foal grew up very nicely.

You might like to consider getting in touch with Joanna Vardon at the National Foaling Bank, your foal-less mare may be a suitable candidate as a nurse mare for an orphaned foal.

http://www.nationalfoalingbank.com/johanna.html

 

[smellsofhorse]

That sounds interesting, but other animals do it and they are obviously good friends.

But I agree it seems a waste to have excess milk with, you could use your mare as a foster mum for an orphaned foal.