Weaning... opinions on when please

Spot_the_Risk

Spot_the_Risk

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My mare foaled on 8 June, and both are doing very well. I know generally you wean at about 6 months, but this would mean the depths of winter (maybe) and I'd be interested to know when you would do it? The mare won't be coming back into work so keeping the foal on her longer isn't a problem, but I notice the mare is starting to get a bit fed up with the foal suckling sometimes. Does anyone wean younger than 6 months?
 
i leave them together for a year, and find that they make very much more happy youngsters. as long as there's another horse in there for the foal to play with to stop his mum getting too peeved, i find they're much happier. they wean themselves that way, really.
 
Mine are all naturally weaned and generally the mare kicks them off at around 8 months old, however over here it is not uncommon to wean foals at anywhere from 3 months onwards.
 
mares will generally start dictating when foalie is allowed to drink as they grow, my observations are that during the first few months they give freely but from around three months onwards some will start to set a routine for their foals, they also give warning messages, nip and push out with a back leg when foalie is being too rough, just teaching them manners, then again some mares just never bat an eyelid.......
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If your mare manages to hold her weight and the foalie continues to develop well and there is no need to wean then leave them together through the winter and wean in the spring.
We have two clients that didn't wean their foals till they were yearlings and can certainly say they have thrived much better than any yearlings I have ever seen. This is Bamba at 13 months pics taken the day we collected mom for breeding.

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Im having the same problem actually my foal was born on 20th June - mum is already teaching her and not letting her drink while she is eating etc etc im hoping they are together for atleast 5 months but mum will tell me when she is bored as she will start to jump out of the field and leave the foal !!
 
i am weaning my 2 together i think alot less stressful (hopefully) my foals are 5 months i have choosen to wean early because one of my mares looks lean the filly is taking a lot out of her so i think its best they are both a good size so im happy to and then i can concentrate on getting condition bk on the mare
 
I think if your mare is doing well then leave them until early next spring - if she'll allow it. Natural weaning works well and mum will say when enoughs enough.
 
I had a filly born 2nd July and she will not be weaned til the spring as during the winter they aremostly in a barn with a few hours turnout during the day so seperating anything is not an option. Mum is in excellent condition and very good at teaching the foals their place so she may have weaned her before i do!

Out of interest those of you who totally natural wean will you do this even if the mare is back in foal?
 
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Out of interest those of you who totally natural wean will you do this even if the mare is back in foal?

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My sister used to on their stud farm, providing the mare is in good physical condition.
 
None of my mare have ever been re-bred when they have a foal at foot, however if they were then no I would not leave the foal on the mare - I would wean at around 6 or 7 months, however that would only be placing the foal in a separate and adjoining field/stable to the mother. Sending mares or foals away is not something I would ever consider with mine.
 
Mine's coming off the mare at the end of September when she'll be 5 months. She is pretty independent now, is eating hard feed, grazing continuously and only seems to suckle for "comfort". I am desperately hoping to sell them both a.s.a.p. (although, with a bit of luck, someone might buy both of them!) so she needs to be weaned. In the past I have bought foals from Beaulieu Road sales that were really young (the youngest the sales will take them is 4 months). The first one I bought I discovered later was 4 months old to the day of the sale. He was 3/4TB 1/4 NF so was much bigger and so looked a lot older than the little foresters. He was a little confused by everything but survived. I bought another one that was 5 months at the time of the sale and she was fine too.

Edited to say that the mare has already started to swing round and nip at the foal when she does suckle but it might be that the foal's a bit careless with its teeth around the teats!
 
Thanks everyone, common sense tells me to leave them together for as long as possible, I think this will be the mares last winter as she is having lameness issues which arose when she was carrying the foal. It appears that her previous owners had hunted her quite a lot without much thought of her soundness and fitness. I don't want to see her in pain this winter as she was in the last, I guess I will make the final decision when she dictates it, hopefully by then the foal will be fairly independent of her dam.

I might add that she hadn't been at all lame with us before we put her in foal, and no known history of lameness (or at least none that the former owners were going to disclose!)
 
Lucy, may I ask what sort of lameness issues? I'm asking because my mare who foaled last week was diagnosed (for the first time in her life) with "acute navicular" when she was about 4 months pregnant; her discomfort went on till only a month or so ago, when with careful trimming she came sound again. My vet believed it was something to do with her being pregnant and he had told me that he expected it to go away once she had foaled - he was right.

I spoke to her previous owner who had her from a baby and she told me that she had never been unsound before and had had no problems whatsoever with any of her previous 4 foals.

My mare is completely back to normal again so not sure exactly what went on there. I'll never breed her again though as I'd rather have her, than any amount of foals.

Just thought you might be interested.
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Thanks for that Tia, I think this is old stuff though. She was sound (and rode sound) when we had her, and she has good conformation, but one hind leg has every lump and bump going on it, as if she's been ridden in deep going and over strained herself. She is also notably wasted on one side of her shoulders. She won't ever be ridden again, and the lameness comes and goes. She was retired for four years before we had her, she really came to us as a companion for my gelding. Won't try to breed from her again either, she was so uncomfortable when lame last winter.
 
i weaned at around 9 months- well i started to anyway.
before that i took mum for rides etc and baby wasnt bothered.
i then stabled spereatly, turned out together.
then i used cribbox on mums teats so bey didnt take any mik and that worked fine.two weeks later bey went out with a gelding pal and mum went in own turnout area.
both were fine-no calling,upset,sore udders or dropping weight!
 
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