Super helpful, thank you!
This forum has been invaluable to me. I’ve changed my plans after reading everyone’s advice on chron. Definitely will not wean until 6+ mos. Starting now, going to begin introducing mare and filly, gradually, to a few other appropriate horses on the farm and then after about 6+ mos, move the mare to a separate pasture with her best friend and leave the filly in with those horses. My anxiety over the whole process has reduced a thousand percent after reading all the advice. Everyone is SO KIND to take the time to help. Thank you!
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We wean between 6 and 7 months, basically after the hottest part of the summer…end of September or early October. I find it better for both mare and foal and they both stress a little when weaned. The mares move out to a new pasture on the other side of the farm and the foals stay where they are. Then I will normally put in a older tolerant mare or perhaps a broodmare that slipped that year and didn’t have a foal in with the babies and she more or less shows them the ropes for a few weeks. I would say they scream the first night on and off and then they’re over it. Last year I ended up with only 2 foals and I when I weaned them I put them with 3 yearling fillies as it was convenient to put 5 in a large pasture instead of 3 and 2 for hay purposes. It was the best weaning we’ve had. They didn’t call at all and settled right in with the big sisters.
I haven’t found abrupt weaning to be psychologically damaging but at the same time we have enough property to completely separate mare and foal. They have no visual contact after weaning for several months.
Thank you!
That sounds like a great plan! Good luck–and do come back and update us on how it goes 
:yes:
I weaned my big, strapping colt at about 6 month because he was pulling down his Mom. I put them in separate pasture next to each other. They were always in sight of each other and the weaning process was pretty easy. It was not a big issue for him and Mom was relived. I also ended up with two of his half sisters from the same year brought to my farm so all 3 babies were together. It worked out well having playmates. It depends on the weanling’s personality. Mom and son lived on the farm together, in the same pastures for several years after that.
I just went through this on my small farm. I started training my colt to accept being separated from his mom in small doses from an early age by taking her out of the stall for grooming and progressed to taking her out of the paddock (but still next to the paddock) for light exercise as he got older. I eventually started feeding them in separate stalls and then worked up to letting them stay in separate stalls overnight.
I tried fenceline weaning at 6-7 months but this did not work for me. My colt could not accept being separated from his mother if she was on my property and after exhausting every option, I eventually did take her away to a different farm. He called for one day and then was fine and adjusted to life with his pony friend just fine.
I think the way I did things still counts as a gradual method because it was a lot less abrupt than if I had just whisked her away without all the preparation but I still could not keep her on the farm. I think the method you end up choosing may vary depending on the personalities of your horses and the size of your farm.
Your current plan sounds similar to how my 2018 filly was weaned. She was just about six and a half months old at the time, but prior to that had lived out in a herd with other mares/foals, and retired broodmares. For weaning, dams were removed to the most isolated part of the property. The babies stayed inside for a day or so with an especially good babysitter retiree, who they then lived out with once they were turned out. Due to her age, she was already quite independent - both by personality and with her dam enforcing more space. It was very low key.
While not a professional I have bred and raised 7 foals over the years. I just let the mare wean them gradually since they were kept here at home. I pastured my small herd of mares/geldings all together and just let nature take it’s course.
The only thing is if the mare is losing significant condition due to nursing that long. But that was never an issue with mine. I would never separate in anything that was not permanent fencing.
A friend would bring both mare and foal here to my farm for 2-3 weeks when foal was 5-6 months old. They were turned out with two other old calm geldings after a week. After 2 weeks the mare went back to her farm and foal stayed here with his new buddies for a couple of months. This worked very well for the 3 foals that we used this method.
OP here. Everyone was so kind and generous with excellent advice and I wanted to post and let all know how it went. My mare and un-weaned filly were in a large pasture with another mare and two mini horses. We separated my mare and filly on August 12th (5-6 mos old). We placed the mare with the other mare on the far side of the farm and left the filly with the two mini horses on the other side of the farm. Per some other good advice, we started the weaning in the evening rather than during the day to prevent the mare from possibly breaching fences to get to the filly. We actually stalled the filly with one of the mini’s so she had a slumber party to help the transition :). First day lots of calling and some on the second day. By the third day they seemed quite adjusted but we’ve kept them separated for five months to ensure no backtracking. Today we “re-integrated” the two mares in with the filly and the two minis. ALL IS WELL!! The mare and filly nuzzled noses for a bit and when the filly got a little fresh, the mare turned around and kicked out but purposefully it seemed, did not make contact. The filly got the message. They are all back together now and everything seems lovely.
Thanks again everyone. This forum is invaluable.
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Thanks for the wonderful update! I’m glad it all went well.
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I normally watch behavior between mare and foal to determine when to wean. Normally with my mares the 6-8 month mark they will start to get pissy when the foals try to wean, this is normally my big signal that it is a good time to wean.
Now, all my mares and foals have shared a pasture with one key individual. My retired ranch gelding. This guy has been the foal baby sitter for pretty much as long as we have had him (i think he is like 28, i got him when he was 7) He spends all his time as the broodmare band “Stallion” but more or less acts like the foals chew toy.
I wean cold turkey, mainly because most of our mares are still ranch horses. We do not breed back year after year, only as needed. So once the foals are weaned mares can go back to work. Normally mares are moved over to my parents to start being brought back into work and the foals stay with me. They are all kept in the same pasture they had been, with the same old gelding to keep an eye on things. At first they are upset, but the old gelding acts so normal it calms them right back down within a day. From there on out they all live together in that big pasture.
The big thing in my eyes is they need to have a “rock” so to say. Our old gelding knows the drill when the mares leave, so he does not get upset himself and i do think the foals feed off of this.
