How long to keep mare and foal separate post weaning?

[frugalannie]

I’ve done a search, but was hoping to get the advice directly. For the first time in 12 breedings, I did on-site weaning. Mare and foal are separated by a fence in turnout and in adjoining stalls. It went very easily, with only one day of (occasional) whinnying from the foal. The mare dried up in 4 days with no discomfort.

Next I will move the mare to a different, non-adjoining stall, and a few days after that to a non-adjoining paddock. Both mare and foal have pasture mates.

What I’m not sure of is when they can be turned out together again. While we have several paddocks, pasture management is making long term separation a little difficult.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Highflyer]

I would give it three months at least.

[JB]

I too would wait a good 3 months. I did 4-5 months of less than optimal pasture and buddy rotations, late Nov to sometime in April. It involved leading 2 in and out each day, and a weekly rotation of who was paired with who (to avoid another “weaning”).

You can always see how things go in 2 months - sometimes it works. If it isn’t working, wait another month and try again.

[VirginiaBred]

Three months minimum.

[frugalannie]

Thank you all!

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

One more idea. My mare is off farm, but I will have the same issue when I bring her home again. I’m going to throw a blanket on her with criss-cross hind straps. The baby never could figure out how to nurse when she had a fly sheet on, so I imagine that will carry-over to the blanket.

Now that said, many people’s babies are probably more determined than mine and did nurse on mom with a fly sheet on this summer. IDK. I took pity on the foal and probably never left the sheet on mom long enough for her to figure it out.

[Chestnut_Run]

I only do one month, and have never had any problems. I’ve done this with the last 5 foals.

[frugalannie]

Chestnut Run, what proximity do your mares and foals have for that month?

And I’m glad to hear from so many that it can be done successfully! Thank you.

[Cindy_s_Warmbloods]

I think it is really mare dependent. I have mine just seperated by a fence when weaning so they can always see each other. But I had one mare that after 3 weeks she would NOT allow the foal to nurse and would lightly cow kicked at him/her if they tried. She was like this with all 3 of her foals she had. So that made it REALLY easy for me. However, I have some that even at 3 months they would still allow the foal to nurse if the foal tried so I do think it all depends and probably not one exact answer.

[Chestnut_Run]

[QUOTE=frugalannie;8920776]
Chestnut Run, what proximity do your mares and foals have for that month?

And I’m glad to hear from so many that it can be done successfully! Thank you.[/QUOTE]

Adjoining fenceline. It’s electrobraid, so no attempted nursing or pawing. They share a huge run in shed (45’ by 80’), that is divided with panels and permanent fencing. So pretty much they can see each other all the time, but can’t really touch. They always have company since we have a good number of horses. Once the mare has dried up, I haven’t ever had a foal try to nurse again, even after just a month separated.

[M_O_Connor]

I would say it depends on what you plan to do with your now separated pair and what the logistics of your barn are. We have a foal roughly every other year, and the mare till now has gone to work in between foals…keeping quite a lot of distance between the two is important to us as the mare is prone to be herd bound, so we want to keep that to a minimum when possible. We’ve made a point with all our foals to encourage them to be more independent than mama; it’s not always easy to arrange the farm to suit her, and one with that attitude is enough! By the time they are yearlings they can handle both individual turnout and turnout in groups, and mama doesn’t care where they are. By the time our filly was two, we would turn her out with mama and another horse (a gelding, who keeps them in line), and we can maintain our normal work routines without disruption.