We have an orphan

Tinkerbee

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Our mare Jazz died 2 days ago....leaving behind 4 month old Milly
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She had colic, dont know the cause, and the vets couldnt save her
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Foaly hasnt drunk anything since (but has eaten some stud mix, going to add milk) so vibes for foaly please
 
Thanks,

am in ireland atm and friend at yard text me, such a shock, happened to next doors mare a few months back as well..
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Soooo sorry x

I lost a mare 3weeks ago and the foal was 3 and half months, she would only eat hay and drink water for nearly two weeks, manage to get her eating stud nuts (after trying her with every foal/youngtock feeed are stockist has!) with build up pellets now and she is really enjoying it tucking in waving her foot in the air like an old pro. You will probably find you probably won't get her on substitute milk, because they give it a sharp taste and older foals that have had the real thing won't drink it, we discovered this when I had my first orphan years ago! At 4 months you should be fine, get her onto a stud/youngstock/foal mix or nuts and use Equivite build up supplement, I have found is best.

Navalgem has a orphan at her yard, its has never had a mummy at all!
 
:-( sad news! (((((((cyber Hugs)))))))) Do you have a substitute mom for her? An older mare or some youngsters to keep her company?

HG what did the vets diagnose? grass sickness? sorry to hear that too :-(

friends lost a mare to it last week, a young mare, just two years old, its rife in our region one of the highest death rates in the UK
 
My vet doesn't know what happened to mine she literally just went without warning, she was fine in the morning, we went out to get horse feed came back and she was led down as if she was asleep, even her eyes were closed, he thinks she had an anerism, haemorage or heart attack.
 
God how awful. I've been through it myself this year - our first go at breeding too. Our foal was only 3 weeks. He is 8 weeks now and doing fine. It sounds trite but be glad for every day your mare and foal spent together. As others have said some are unlucky enough never to know their mums. I'm so sorry about your mare. xx
 
I am so sorry to hear of your loss. I have just lost a mare also through colic, her foal was a week old. We were very lucky to find a foster mare through the Foaling Bank and we have just managed to successfully get them together.
Your foal has the advantage of age and as horsegroupie said will manage well on hard feed.
 
So sorry what awful news.
I can only suggest what we do, which is use the largest syringe and squirt liquid into the foal for the first few days to ensure it doesn't get dehydrated, which is the biggest worry. A foal that size will drink a litre a time at least. part way through the feeding offer a bowl with the same milk in, and it may start drinking itself as William did.
If it flatly refuses then carry on with the syringing until you have it established on hard feed.
We find Alfa A mixed with Topspec balancer and a little cheapo coarse mix works well, you will also of course have grass so don't overdo it.
If the foal will hang round with a companion so much the better, often an older mare will allow it to follow her and her foal but not drink.
Good luck, provided it doesn't stop drinking you should be fine, I've reared two from scratch now plus a few that had to be supplemented with feed and they are doing ok. ps dp pm me if you want.
 
So sorry to hear that, such a shame. At 4 months at least the foal has a good chance. Good luck and {{{{{{good vibes}}}}
 
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