What to feed after weaning?

[bellaboo]

This is my first foal and she is going to be weaned this Friday. Her weight is good at the mo although I am told they will lose a great deal of weight once off mum. Currently she is on 1 cup of baileys stud balancer. I know feeding is mainly due to looking at the horse to decide to increase or decrease food, but not so sure if same rules apply?
Also, she is in a field with plenty of trees round for shelter, but not an actual field shelter, is it a good idea to rug once weaned or leave her to harden?

Any advice would be great!

 

[Tia]

A purpose-built field shelter is not necessary and often isn't used if you have good natural shelter. Most horses will choose natural over fabricated shelters any day of the week.

I do tend to rug my foals although others often don't. I like to do it more for the familiarisation of having things on them rather than using them purely for warmth. Over here it is for warmth though - darn cold here in the winter.

Feeding - I generally just do a variation of the natural feedstuffs I use for my older horses. One huge Hanoverian weanling livery I have here gets some feed like your balancers I guess. I don't think I would have her on it if she were my horse as she is growing so much, however as I say she is not mine and it is not my place to question it.

I have never been a fan of stuffing babies full of "high this and high that" feeds but it really is each to their own.

 

[Clodagh]

I'd contact Baileys - ring them, they are slow with emails, and ask them, I have always found them very helpful.