weaning aids?!

[amandaco2]

hi
my two are still together(bey is now 11months)
shantih isnt loosing weight or anything but she is getting really pestered by baby.
they go out twice a day for an hour or two as the ground is really wet and i cant put them out seperately or in their own fields(only got one and cant split it duie to how wet ground is).(they would go mad-end up jumping out/pulling tendons in the deep going)
now they are out less mums making less milk and im just worried baby may get rough and end up making her sore!so would rather prevent this.
i was wondering if anyone had tried to put anything nasty tasting on mums udders to stop foal suckling?
i was thinking about trying cribbox(obviously doing a patch test on mum first!) as this wont harm baby if she does take some down.

in the summer they will be in own paddocks(baby in with 2 other youngsters, mum hopefully in with retired oldies!!!)

any ideas?

 

[Maesfen]

I take it the mare isn't in foal again which is why you haven't weaned thoroughly yet?

At this age, the foal certainly doesn't need any milk anymore (I take it she is eating well on any hard feed and hay she might be getting?) and I'm afraid I would be thoroughly weaning them by seperating them completely for at least six weeks to dry the mare up (I always move the mare, I like the foal to stay in its own surroundings) Now is obviously not a good time to be weaning as there is little grass for the mare if turned away as she needs to be moving about to keep the bag down which is why it is normal to wean in the autumn and it is better not to be feeding her hard feed if you want her to dry up, hay is better than haylage in this situation too. Is it possible you could find somewhere out of earshot for the mare for six weeks as by the end of that time they can be reunited and she would refuse to allow the foal to suckle again anyway?
By leaving them together for so long, you might also have been running the risk of the foal being far harder to be an entity in its own right; it will be very reliant on the mare now so it could take it a lot longer than usual for it to settle to being seperated from her.
Sorry to be so negative though and hope you can work something out to their benefit.

 

[Tia]

The foal is in a different stable to his mother isn't he. I'm surprised she is still producing milk to be honest, given the amount of time they are split. I wouldn't put anything on her teats although you can buy weaning collars (or whatever they are called) to stop foal from suckling.

I think you might want to think about separating them at some point....I'm not talking about putting them in different fields; I mean taking the mare/foal away for walks etc get them used to being away from each other. My mares are always ridden right up to foaling, providing they are happy to do so. Once the foals are born, I start to ride the mare generally within a month of foaling, but I only ride around where the foal is, or take the foal out on rides with me. At about 3 months I guess, I take the mare away for short periods a few times a day. I do it all slowly and over a good period of time and then by the time the foal is 5 or 6 months old it is perfectly happy being left in the field without mother. I do the same with the foal by the way; foal gets taken out for walks without mum and all is well.

 

[amandaco2]

yeah ive been taking mum out for hour hacks since bey was little.
they are in their own stables and very settled now in their own space.
but mum does still make milk and baby still takes it even though they are only together for 2 hours or so a day-sometimes less.
mum is very maternal and would be the issue with weaning-shes a bit of a hot head and gets very attatched.
most of the time bey couldnt care less where she is unless she wants some milk. she certainly isnt worried by her going for hacks and out of sight for long peroids and when out they graze completely apart.(i leave her in the stable with neighbours when i take mum out)
so im not too worried about that really, its more mums reaction!!!!lol.
at the moment with the ground etc its not practical for me to take mum and i would want them to be at the new place for longer if i did take mum somewhere else for 6 weeks or so.
i will continue as i am for now until the ground is better and they will go in seperate paddocks once it is(bey with playmates)
will have a look at the weaning collar

bras for horses!!!
thanks guys

 

[ashlane]

it will take a month for your mare to dry up, the best thing you could do even to get her to dry up are, two put them in stalls next to each other this way they are not panicing because they are gone away from each other totally just not able to nurse still. i've seen mares and colts that stayed together up till the colt is 6 yrs old, it ruins them and the mare in the long run. my first colt out of my appaloosa mare 2 yrs ago was about 11 months old when i weaned him but thoroughtout the time i would take her out riding an hour turning into all day rides as the colt got older, she was very attached to this colt. i have a mare that recently had a filly on feb 16th n she panics when she leaves her alone, or has to come out of the stall for bandaging the filly's back legs up. but you have to get them not so attached, or later in life your going to have serious problems with the mare, and the baby.

 

[Tia]

LOL!! Yes Shantih is definitely what you would call a live-wire!!

Bey looks like she has Shantih's love of life too.

Anyway, what I would do would be to get Shantih used to having Bey taken away for short walks; you didn't mention that you did this? It seems that Shantih is the one who needs to be weaned from Bey, not the other way around. So I would start by getting her used to Bey going out for short periods and then perhaps she will settle down a bit.

 

[amandaco2]

you are so right its definately shantih who has more of an issue with it!!!!LOL

they are in seperate stables netx to each other and not bothered if one goes out(in sight at the moment but used to take mum out for hacks and baby left with neighbour at old place)

have been taking bey out and pig out seperately just to tie up and groom at the mo and will graduallt increase and take them out of sight as they get more settled(only been at new yard for a week).

pig was ok(put big bucket of feed to keep her quiet!) and she hardly made a protest(although she was abit thick and had her head down eating when i brought her back in and looked up saw bey had gone and started to neigh!LOL)

thats a good idea i will start to take bey away from pig a bit and then once they are in their own fields with their own playmates they will be much less bothered where the other one is hopefully!

thanks