Mare violently attacking her own foal ... any ideas?

[AimeeW]

@goodmorning

Does she always get sent to the vets for breeding? This could be a major stressor.

No, this is all new for her. Brief history: Mare was born on the property I bought her from. Due to an injury to her foot as a yearling she was never developed as a riding horse and went straight into a broodmare career. Had her first foal at age 5 (as far as I can tell) and was out with a herd of 50+ mares and foals. She had never left the property before I bought her, but settled in at her new home really well. She is more of a people horse, but did make friends in her turnout group (she is towards the lower middle of the herd in the pecking order). I moved her to the vet about 3 weeks before her due date and seemed to settle into her stall well. She did not take well going out with the other mares and was nearly always on her own and would squeal if another mare came too close.
One instance 4 days before she foaled a mare in the stall next to hers foaled and my mare had to be evicted from that barn due to her odd behaviour (squealing and bothering the mare through the wall).
She had a normal birth, foal is healthy and eating well.
When turned out mare was unhappy about having 2 miniature horses in the field beside hers and kept charging the fence if they looked at her baby. The vet told me today that right now she can only be outside for about 20 minutes now because she starts attacking her baby (“biting and trying to run her through the fence”)
Everything has seemed normal up until now, and all of my experiences with her have shown her to be patient and attentive to her baby. I see them every other day as I don’t want to impose at the vet, however looks like I will be visiting every day from now on.
They are on camera (which I have access to due to doing foal watch at the clinic) and everything seems normal now.
I am a first time ‘breeder’ and am at a loss.

I absolutely agree that she is more than likely very stressed, have you ever known stress to cause this type of behaviour in a broodmare?
I recently bought a property of my own and have the option to bring them home where it is quiet (and at this time horseless).

This behaviour seems to be localized to being on turnout only, she seems fine in the stall.
I have also emailed her previous owners asking if this has happened before (when I bought her they said she was a great mother, which aside from turnout, she appears to be)
I apologize if this is a jumbled mess, I just received this news about an hour ago and am a bit of a mess

Thanks!

[joiedevie99]

I’d separate them immediately. Put a board up across the foaling stall, so they can still touch but not be in the same space. Every two hours, halter the mare (and further restrain if necessary) and allow the foal in to nurse. Obviously this is a very short term arrangement while you arrange a nurse mare or get set up for handling an orphan.

[quietann]

Totally off the wall idea, but is she trying to drive her filly to “safety” somewhere else, and being frustrated by the fence?

[AimeeW]

@quietann

Totally off the wall idea, but is she trying to drive her filly to “safety” somewhere else, and being frustrated by the fence?

I feel like you could absolutely be right. Just because she is such an attentive mother inside. I am going to move her home this week and see how she does in a ‘safe place’. Thank you!

[longlanefarm]

Genuine question, no snark intended: is it normal to breed a mare 3 weeks post-foaling?

[BravAddict]

@longlanefarm

Genuine question, no snark intended: is it normal to breed a mare 3 weeks post-foaling?

Yes. Otherwise, the delivery date each year creeps later and later, which is important if you’re trying to make sure foals are born after it’s too cold or before it’s too hot. It’s also important in case the mare doesn’t get in foal on the first try and you need to try again.

Mares come into heat every 3 weeks or so, and restart this cycling right after foaling. This first heat cycle after foaling is called “foal heat.” Since gestation for mares roughly averages 340 days, there are 25 days left in the year to get her back in foal.

It is also normal to give them a year off between foals to reset the timeline.

[GPB]

We had a friend’s mare do this, she was a Standardbred off the track. She was perfect in the stall, but when they were turned out she kicked her and tried to kill her. They had to wean her early, and put the foal with an old pony. The vet they had mentioned something about the mindset while being loose, she thought the foal was a predator. It was the only foal the mare had, and the foal has grown up into a nice, sound horse. A little sassy, but not bad.

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[McGurk]

Foal heat is also the most easily predictable and often the most fertile heat. Unless the mare had a very hard time foaling and needs more time to recover; breeding on the foal heat is common.

Another thought - with a grumpy mare that is thinking about rejecting a baby, but has not yet escalated to what’s described here, reserpine can be helpful. Reserpine was the drug of choice in previous decades because it turned OTTBs into hunters without hours of lunging. It’s a long acting, mild sedative.

In the case I’m thinking of, we did eventually take the foal away from the mare, but the reserpine bought us some time.

[4horses]

One of my mares is very protective of “her” herd and aggressive to outsiders. She reacts to strange horses by driving the herd away from the stranger. She acts very aggressive and tells them to get away and puts herself between the herd and the interloper. I have no doubt, if in the wild, she would chase that interloper right off the property. Only she can’t do that with the fence between them, so the herd gets moved instead.

If she had a foal, i imagine it might appear that she is attacking the foal. I actually took a video of the behavior, as i found it fascinating. The other strange thing is that some horses she “likes” and accepts, others she can’t stand. I’ve noticed she doesn’t like horses that are neurotic, act prancey, or act unpredictable.

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[bornfreenowexpensive]

I’d put her on GastroGuard too. She is in a new and stressful situation at the vets…and ulcers cause pain which could then cause her to lash out.

[Chall]

I once saw a documentary about a baby rhinoceros whose mother did something like this.
it was in Africa at a breeding facility to save rhinos.
The staff raised it, cute videos of it running and playing.all normal.
It died suddenly at 10 months.
Autopsy showed it had only a third of its brain.
The hypothesis was the mother sensed the defect.
Sometimes it happens in wild horse herds, and the stallion will shake it to death (see the “cloud” documentary).
Its not your foal, so take the above as an anecdote