Weaning

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Dolly1

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Hi,
I bought a mare back in February not knowing she was pregnant, she gave birth to a little filly in July. We are stabled at a livery yard and all is going very well the foal is well handled and coming along lovely and I have the mare back in light work.
When I lunge someone holds the foal outside the pen and she watches and also when I ride. She sometimes gets a bit cheeky and throws in the odd rear (the foal) but I'm hoping that's just a baby thing?! I've never had a foal before so it's all very new and so far I've done ok. But I'm now starting to get a bit concerned about weaning. I want to keep the mare at the yard I am at as I want to keep her in work (that's why I got her in the first place) and I have found the foal a herd of yearlings to go to but how do I go about separations? Do I start now while riding etc gradually for a few mins then 5 then 10etc? Or do I just take her away when ready and that be that? Also will it be ok to send her alone? It's all a bit in familiar! She's very confident. I feel a bit clueless and some advice would be really helpful :)
Thanks
 
Am i understanding this..? Foal is 3/4 months old? And mare is being worked?

I would not be separating a mare and foal until about 6 months, and probably go easy on the mare until that...
 
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I wouldn't be riding the mare untill after the foal is weaned. 6 months is about the normal age to wean but it depends on how the mare is coping with feeding and how well grown the foal is.
I'd get some advise from a good stud or talk to a experienced horse vet.
 
With the filly foal only being 16 to 18 weeks old, the mare should be at grass with her foal. Just normal handling for feet etc is needed, have the foal used to wearing a foal slip and being led alongside the mare.

Unless the mare has health issues or is doing the foal too well, weaning is best done at 6 months post foaling. The easiest way is to remove the mare and leave the foal in familiar surroundings with safe housing and a friendly nanny to keep it company.
 
AdorableAlice said:
With the filly foal only being 16 to 18 weeks old, the mare should be at grass with her foal. Just normal handling for feet etc is needed, have the foal used to wearing a foal slip and being led alongside the mare.

Unless the mare has health issues or is doing the foal too well, weaning is best done at 6 months post foaling. The easiest way is to remove the mare and leave the foal in familiar surroundings with safe housing and a friendly nanny to keep it company.
Click to expand...

^^^ this above .
 
The main thing that would worry me is that the foal is going to be turned out with yearlings - as yours is only going to be 6 months and the others are older, I would worry about bullying. Or do you mean that the others are currently foals and will be yearlings next year?

Most people keep the foal in familiar surroundings and send the mare away for weaning. I can see in your situation that this would not be ideal, but do look into other options - the foal is very vulnerable at weaning, and as yours is a fairly late foal, you don't want to be turning her into a boisterous herd situation.
 
I am riding the mare, not often but maybe once a week and she is lunged it is doing her no harm at all, because we didn't know she was in foal she was worked right up until 2 weeks before giving birth. The foal come out very heathy and has grown into a very healthy well handled foal. That side of things I'm not worried about at all as I am taking very good care of them both. The mare enjoys to work and the foal is no problem while she is working.
The foal is eating grass, hay and picks at mums hard feed when she is having dinner.
They are out all day in a field together on their own and they come in at night.
The worrying bit for me is how to wean and where to put bab/ mum. I understand that it's good to have baby in familiar surroundings but on a livery yard it's costing me £100 a week that's an expensive place to keep a foal and then where do I send mum to??
By the way I won't do anything until they are both ready I'm just trying to get help now so I can get myself sorted and figure out what I'm doing and who's going where, I'm getting quite emotional and loosing sleep over it so please be kind :(
 
Yes she is being ridden, only once a week and she is lunged to she is very very healthy and it is doing her no harm at all, if it was I wouldn't do it. We didn't know she was pregnant and she was ridden up to 2 weeks before giving birth both mare and foal are absolutely fine and their best interests are top priority. Which is why I'm asking advise on 'weaning' not riding
 
my personal preference is to not bring mares back into work before weaning and then not before the foal is 6 months. In some yards the mares come back into work when the foals are still with them (no lunging though) and the foals are left in the stable (the injury risks would worry me though).
I would find somewhere to put the mare at grass for 4-6 weeks with at least one other mare will a foal of similar age (fencing must be very secure and safe) with safe stables-then when ready to wean take the mares away back to where you are now-personally I like to keep the foals in at least until they settle and an ideal situation is 3 or more mares and foals and at least one older settled mature horse that stays with the foals when you remove the mares.
You take massive risks moving the foal to an unknown place and chucking out with unknown horses without mum to reassure the foal-your foal will have no social skills if it has only ever been turned out with mum.
 
I haven't been able to turn them out with others at the yard as they are other liveries all with shoes on so I didn't want to take the risk.
She sees other horses over the fence and they groom each other. She is very sociable with people and horses. But thank you twiggy2 I will try and maybe find some mares and foals to send them to for a few weeks, because she was late the weather worries me to!
I couldn't move the mare once she'd had baby as I didn't want to unsettle her with baby being so young, now baby is a bit older I'm sure they would both be ok to move for a bit
 
OP is has clearly done her best for the mare and foal under the circumstances - it's hard enough when you're waiting for a planned foal, let alone when you don't know you're getting one! From the sounds of it she has a healthy, happy, well rounded baby...

OP, try not to worry too much!! I see no reason why the mare can't be ridden gently as long as she's looking well and coping with feeding baby and herself and doing some work on top. The fact that the foal can be held whilst you ride shows that you've put a lot of time into teaching her and, yes, they do naughty things a lot!! Just don't let it turn into a fun party piece - try to keep her mind focussed on other things if possible! If it's any reassurance, my now 3yr old used to use rearing as a get out clause for everything - she grew out of it (falling backwards into the large water trough when she reared at me in cheekiness at the gate did help.....she doesn't do getting wet, :D)!

When the foal gets to 6 months can you take her & mum to the yard where the foal will join the yearlings and have them in an adjoining field so she can get use to her surroundings with mum there and meet the others over the fence? Mum won't lose much fitness if she has a couple of weeks off and it'd make things easier.
I'd also pop one or two of the others in with mare and foal so they befriend each other - your foal will enjoy the playing, learn some horse manners and then, when the time comes, you can take mum away and foaly will hardly notice....
We often have weanlings in with yearlings - we just make sure that everyone has an ally before they all go out together!
Good luck, I'm sure it'll all go well!
 
Thank you so so much the positive look you've given to what I've already done makes me feel so much better, the yearling herd is only up the road so would be lovely if she could stay there as I can go everyday and visit. I will chat to the owner and see if we can make them a field up. If the weather turns bad I will keep them together till spring and then when the weather improves I can turn them both out
 
I would, as Twiggy said, try to find another mare and foal somewhere and take your mare there, with her foal, whenever suits you. If you could wait until the spring it will be easy but if you want to wean sooner the weather might be against you.
Lungeing can be an issue as the mares ligaments are very soft after giving birth and feeding, and they tend not to tighten up until weaning, so don't overdo it. In other countries though it is quite normal to work a mare with a foal at foot.
I think, in your shoes, I would keep the mare and foal together until the worst of winter is over. If you want to ride more I would wait until the foal was a bit older and then shut her in a safe place (absolutely ideally in a stable with the top door shut, nothing she can get caught up on and where she can see another horse).
But, unless you are a stud owner most of us make compromises for our foals and they generally do fine. I want to see pics, I have always fancied a BOGOF!
 
I'm not very good, I use my teenager, but go to photobucket, upload to there and then click on the IMG icon. It is free. :-)
 
I agree with poster who says how difficult it is when you have a 'surprise foal' and not one you have planned for. Is there any reason why you need to work the mare? If not why not leave her for another few months. I personally don't wean until 9 months and then gradually, that is we separate mare and foal at night in stables with a grill between. It usually takes us a month this way.

How big is the foal? In the years we have had only one foal, we wean by putting the baby with a pony, in our case we have a 12h filly who has been a companion to several of our weanlings. You are right to be cautious of horses with hind shoes. I am hopeless with photo bucket, there are instructions on PhotoGallery but I don't know if this works with a mobile.
 
No specific reason to work the mare it's just she's only 4.5 years old she was out on a lot of summer grass and because she worked so hard throughout the pregnancy as we didn't know she was pregnant there is no harm once or twice a week doing a bit of work she is in no way harmed by it and as stated before I'm not asking on here about the work in doing with her I'm solely asking for advice on weaning. It is tough to do so where I am stabled as it is a full livery yard. I didn't move them anywhere else as I didn't want to give the mare any distress after giving birth. However now I am happy to move about as to what might be right in the way to do this as there will be no one available to babysit the foal if I took mum away to wean as they are livery horses.
My option at the moment is to try and find a stud to send them for a few weeks then when baby has settled bring mum home then when baby is ready she can go join the herd I have found for her. At the moment this is all I can think of is the right way round to do it,
 
What is the possibility/set up to allow your mare and foal to be introduced together to the youngstock herd? If little one can be integrated to the others with mum to protect then you could leave them together until 6 months then bring mum back to livery. Provided the others aren't too old & rough that could work - I've known plenty of foals weaned and grow up in a mixed age unshod herd.
 
I always wean mine by taking the mare away from the field - then I stable the mare until her milk has dried up.

So a good scenario would be a period of a few weeks before weaning for your mare and foal to be turned out with the foals new herd. Then I personally load the mare into the trailer and take her away from the foal. You will need a few helpers on the day you decide to wean. Make sure they will be far enough away so that they cannot hear each other calling or there will be uproar.

I have found immediate seperation to be the best way to wean for me and my set up, but many roads lead to Rome :)

It sounds like you have done a great job with what must have been quite a shock, and also not an easy situation when you are on a livery yard.

Nothing wrong with giving the mare a bit of exercise - I usually start riding my mares straight after weaning. Make sure you give just a little hay and water to your mare when you wean until her milk has dried up and keep an eagle eye out for mastitis.

Good luck :)
 
Thank you guys, some helpful info :) unfortunately after getting in touch with the owner of the herd they don't have the sort of set up where I can take mum and baby and keep them separate from the herd till the time is right so I think I may have to go down the lines of a stud because finding a young herd around me is hard to come by :-/ the one I found with a mixed herd would of been perfect but they can't take her till July/August and that's far too long to wait she needs some friends to play with now she's driving mum mad lol
 
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