Weaning advice - also in breeding

L

Ladylina83

Well-Known Member
Joined
9 October 2009
Messages
2,022
Visit site
Hi all

I know well by now that you guys offer some sterling impartial advice and wondered if you could help me with my quandry


My Mare had her 1st foal on 12th July 2010, they are turned away and I go up to the field every day to feed and handle them. He's mine for keeps and is halter broken eating solids hard feed and hay, has been since the early days. He is quite independent but is still feeding off mum.

I have 2 options when it comes to weaning him and I am still not 100% which path to take.

Option 1 - move foal to another yard for weaning. A friend of mine has bought a colt 3 weeks older than him, he is weaned and waiting to come home. She is obviously eager to get her hands on hers and get him home but needs to wait for me to wean mine. He will then live out with a shelter on a very busy livery yard with a farm ride etc so he would see the world however I wouldn't be able to see him every day due to travel. This is important to me.

Option 2 - Foal stays at home. the lady that rents the paddock next to mine has also bought a colt, he arrives on Sat. My mare sees herself as part of her herd so the idea we have had is mare moves in next door and colty comes to live with my boy. That way they can still see and touch each other and I can see and handle him every day too. Then after Xmas I will bring her away from the top fields and bring her back into work.

It is worth saying I have 2 stables at home. Not next to each other but on the same block.

then .... when do I do it! :-S She is a naturally very stressy mare he doesn't really give a hoot. If I keep him at home and split them up soon should I let them feed together for a couple of days to ease her bag ? Is 4.5 months too soon to split them ?? Lady next door says not but she stands to benifit from me doing it sooner.

Any advice appreciated.

Many thanks
 
Keep him at home.

He's far to young to wean yet - (as is your friends:()

That way you can wean after Christmas with the colt at home.
 
Yeah - I think I am feeling some peer presure! I need to be stronger and stand up for myself.

I think it's because its my 1st time
 
Ladylina83 said:
Yeah - I think I am feeling some peer presure! I need to be stronger and stand up for myself.
Click to expand...

You do indeed need to be stronger. This is your foal - and these are your decisions to make only. And you most certainly should not be looking to wean this foal any time soon.
 
I also forgot to mention that mare is 17 and he's doing her head in a bit. I thought it might do him good to have a play mate as it's just the 2 of them out.

what do you think would happen if other colt went in with my 2 ? (he has been cut already)
 
Toast said:
At 3 months your foal is far too young to wean, i wouldnt be thinking about this until he is twice that age.
x
Click to expand...

He's 16 weeks which is more like 4 than 3 months unless I've got my maths wrong. Reading all the books and web resorces I have come across they say this is an ok time to start. It just doesn't sit right with me hence the question
 
I would still look at leaving him on the mare until 6 months, he will still be benefitting from mums milk at this age and that really is better for him than any hard feed! Unless your mare is suffering for it id leave him on as long as you possibly can. My colt was weaned at 5 months because our mare is an older mum (19) and she started dropping weight rapidly, he was also mahoosive and taking a lot off her. It wasnt exactly as id planned as i didnt really want to wean until 6 months but it was through circumstances we couldnt control that it had to be done! If your mare looks ok for it, let him have until 6 months, dont compromise his young system by depriving him of the best thing for him right now :)
x
 
If the mare is losing weight i would say yes pull him off her, i have just had to do that with 1 of mine.
But if not then i would leave him on her till a later stage. Do as you think is best, only you know your mare and foal best, do not be swayed or bullied by anyone, the final decision is yours
 
Thank you all :-)

100_0056.jpg
 
Ok guys ! We have a problem following on from your sound advice re my colt I wet with my gut instinct and told my friend that I will not be in any rush to wean him and that I had found a solution that I am happy with ! She was ok about iot but I do feel like I have left her in a pickle :-(

So tonight I get to the farm and the lady in the paddock next door who 's colt was supposed to arrive 2 weekends ago now said she thinks the owner may have pulled out and he might not be coming at all !!!! EEEEEEK , so now my minds racing. So far my solution is to by another youngster for cheap closer to Christmas (maybe a section D- I've been looking lol)

Don't really know what I expect you to say just thought I'd update you !
 
Hope it all works out OK for you.

I do believe that four months is too young to wean your colt. I tend to do mine at between six and seven months but had to mean one at five months as his mother became ill and it didn't cause him any problem.

In the past when I only bred one foal a year I normally bought another just weaned foal for companionship. I did buy quality foals as I don't sell my horses and it costs just as much to keep a good horse as a cheap horse.

One year I borrowed a small yearling from a friend for companionship.
 
Faced by the same problem. YO also has a foal but its a filly and 2 months younger than my huge bully boy so we can't use her as a companion. Have to say that as he was starting to pull my mare down we started separating them at night when he was 5 months old. He was already used to being on his own (stabled next to our gelding) for up to an hour as we have been bringing the mare back into work. He also started eating his mothers food at 1 week old and hay at 2 weeks old. They are still separated at night (he's now 6 months) but he is allowed back with her through the day. They are in adjoining stables at night and can see and smell each other. Mare is a real stress head when it comes to her foal but not when she's being worked, if that makes sense. He couldn't care less and we could quite happily put him in a field with some of the other geldings without him making a fuss but its the mare that's going to be the problem, so we are just taking it slowly and will see how things go. We are not in a hurry although we will start competing with the mare again in December / January leaving him happily at home with the gelding as companion.
Go with your gut instinct and don't let anyone bully you into doing anything else. I have found from past experience that these things have a way of working themselves out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top