Broodmare and foal stabling

[strides2harmony]

We have a minimally developed 3 acre property with a 1.5 acre paddock with a shelter and three lines of hot wire tape maintaining a couple retired tb’s and a pony. I am purchasing a broodmare that is in foal and will need to develop a safe environment for her to have the foal and to house the foal until it is large enough to safely join the others.

There is tons of info out there on the foaling stall but I don’t want the foal to be cooped up in a large box stall any longer than necessary.

What do you recommend for a paddock size for the foal and what type of fencing do you recommend? Also what age do you let them out in the paddock?

[fordtraktor]

Based on my recent hairy experience with a very protective mare…have your foaling stall open directly into a paddock.

My mare and foal have about 3/4 of an acre attached to a 10 by 24 foaling stall. They have been living in/out as they please since the foal was 3 days old. I am very glad I had this option!

[Equibrit]

On putting them out; It all depends on the temperament of your group, and the mare. Do you have time to integrate her into the group before foaling, so that you can assess the heirarchy. If maresy becomes boss, your life will be easier. If not you need to be more careful. If you get mare/foal comfortably back in the group it will make weaning easier for the foal. You can board the mare out for a time, and then re-introduce her into the group, or whatever you plan is for her.

[JB]

3 strands of electric tape typically means you need to add a 4th strand below the bottom one. Lots of people have successfully raised foals with e-tape. Make sure it’s HOT.

Foals can go out as soon as they can stand. Foaling out in a grass paddock is very healthy. But if the mare is iffy in terms of being catchable, then big stalls are safer for everyone. They can go out literally as soon as the IgG test shows the foal is good to go. Some prefer to keep them stalled for 24-48 hours but there’s no inherent physical need to do that.

But DO allow them a few days to even a couple of weeks in their own paddock before going in with the herd. Assuming your mare is due next Spring, not in a month, then she will be a herd horse by then and putting the 2 of them back in with the group will be fine. Just watch everyone for a few hours to make sure nobody is getting mean.

[Warmblood1]

I have a 25x25 foaling stall and an acre private turn out attached to the foaling barn (can go in and out if necessary) with no climb predator fencing. The 25x25 is ideal for me in case I do need to stall long term and I also use it as a training space for the foal/yearling the future.

I also do gradual weaning and no climb fencing is very good for that initial separation until mare and foal are moved to non adjacent pastures.

If I have to use electric fencing, I use high tensile on a spring system, anchored with cemented, thick wooden posts (no t-posts). The springs give slack if the horse crashes into the fence and essentially the horse bounces right off. I’ve never had the tensile break with the springs. I have had too many accidents with tape as it will snap and often get wrapped around legs and cause injuries. I’ve also had less injuries with this type of fencing than wood rail.

[strides2harmony]

Do you happen to have a link or company name for the springs? I would love to look into those.

[Warmblood1]

Quite a few companies make them, you can google inline fence spring. Looks very similar to this minus the t-posts. T-post are much easier to install but will move and make the tensile too loose after impact.

Zareba® Large Fence Tension Spring - 1-Pack