Talk to me about orphan foals. How do you think that effects their brains, tractability, etcetera? This one in particular is a yearling, turned out alone, well bred but a warmblood filly. My experience has been they are typically “babied” more and tend to be a bit more cocky and pushy. Any in put in welcome. Thanks!
My orphan foal just turned 31 today. He was bottle fed as a youngster and kept with a goat and a mini until he was a yearling. I don’t think he is cocky or pushy.
I had one that was orphaned at one month. I raised her from that point and she turned out to be the best horse I ever had.
While it’s true that people can spoil them rotten, the flip side of that is that orphans develop ties to people that most horses don’t have.
I had a semi-orphan. Momma didn’t bond with him, he was ill at birth, transfusions, etc, So we bottle fed him. That was 6 years ago. He’s a great horse.
His pitfall- he associates hands and people with food and got nippy at one point (not with me, with others). So I laid down the law with boarders and family - absolutely no treats. I’m not a big treat person anyway (gasp).
We didn’t particulary baby him. He’s not anymore pushy than some of my others. I suspect that some get that way as if they are orphaned, the mare is not there to set normal horse boundaries.
And we all know how awesome human mommies are at setting them with Dobbin (sarcasm font). The most pushy horses I have met are the most spoiled by their humans and not Necessarily orphaned.
When I was a very small kid, my mom had a cousin whose mare rejected her foal. So, my mom was able to construct a “mare” by using a construction cone to slip the milk bottle into it for the foal. He did great and was a very well balanced individual. I would advise anyone to use caution in as much as not turning the horse into thinking humans are horses (so it’s not ok to kick, bite, rear or what have you). And I think if when they are big enough to set them out with other horses it is a good thing for them.
I’ve not raised one myself, but I’ve worked with a few, raised different ways by different people.
Let’s just say they left a bad enough impression that if I ever had an orphan, I’d very seriously consider putting it down if I couldn’t find a nurse mare or a “granny” gelding to raise the foal.
I know they’re out there, but I’ve never personally met one successfully started under saddle, and I’ve never heard of one that could cope if sold. I notice the folks here are talking about their own orphans that they’ve had the horse’s whole life.
I don’t think that they develop stronger ties to people - I think the people who raised them develop stronger ties to them. There’s a difference. The most people friendly horses I have met were actually all weaned late. Horses need their mothers.
[QUOTE=Riverotter;7570076]
I’ve not raised one myself, but I’ve worked with a few, raised different ways by different people.
Let’s just say they left a bad enough impression that if I ever had an orphan, I’d very seriously consider putting it down if I couldn’t find a nurse mare or a “granny” gelding to raise the foal.
I know they’re out there, but I’ve never personally met one successfully started under saddle, and I’ve never heard of one that could cope if sold. I notice the folks here are talking about their own orphans that they’ve had the horse’s whole life.
I don’t think that they develop stronger ties to people - I think the people who raised them develop stronger ties to them. There’s a difference. The most people friendly horses I have met were actually all weaned late. Horses need their mothers.[/QUOTE]
I totally agree with what you are saying. Yes. I had an orphan. Worse yet, he was a “dummy”…we were able to save him. Not his dam. Terribly heartbreak, months of care for her and for him.
The first thing I did was learn as much as I could about how, as humans, we must treat orphans with more emotional separation and get out of our human, poor baby, heads.
Mine turned out to be fine horse (owned for life), but I could clearly see how his orphan-niss made him “different”. I couldn’t find a mare/mom until he was 5 days old. And she wasn’t a nurse mare, so he had to be bottle fed.
I did not treat him the same as my other foals who had mothers. Of course, kindly, but with big huge lines in the sand so he understood boundaries that are so much a part of horse learning when they DO have a dam and live in a herd. He imprinted, as all herd animals do. So how he turned out was to depend upon me getting out of my own sorry feeling for this little guy. That paid off.
He turned into an 18.3 hh adult. He never learned his size or strength. Orphan raising is a mental challenge…mostly for the owners, who often forget this baby will become a big adult horse. Actually, most of raising horses to be good citizens is a mental thing.
The owners must become able to act like a herd member to bring them up with some semblance of normalcy…not a puppy.
My parents raised an orphan TB foal after his mother died when he was three weeks old after spending two weeks in hospital and undergoing two colic surgeries. They raised him to drink from a bucket, he lived in a mixed-age group and was semi adopted by their old retired babysitter mare. They treated him like any other horse and he is now three years old, started under saddle, and acts like any other horse. Very personable and friendly but no more so than his siblings and other horses they have raised. Physically, he is the largest of the three full siblings the mare had.
I’d be more concerned if she has lived alone her whole life than if she was just an orphan. And at a year old the window for learning proper horse behaviour is getting smaller. I’m hoping she hasn’t been alone her whole life.
I’ve worked with several orphans and most have been a little “off”, but the ones who did best were buddied-up with other adult horses to learn manners from a young age. If they are coddled by people and/or only turned out with other babies they do not seem to develop well mentally.
I have raised two bottle babies, and both turned out to be beautiful, athletic and wonderful equine partners for their riders.
The first, rejected by his dam went on to be an Advanced event horse AND a winning Grand Prix jumper - full TB.
The second is eventing at the Prelim level with his young rider.
Doing the feeding was exhausting, an incredible amount of work, dedication and commitment, and I would do it again in a minute.
They do need to learn to be a horse, and that meant while nurturing them and being kind to them setting boundaries.
The first one had a goat as a companion until he could go out with the other weanlings, the other had a kind old broodmare, and a pony.
I agree with CD that it is not the bottle feeding that is the issue, but companionship and being socialized with other horses that is important.
One of my bottle babies, ‘Lips’ - full TB winning Grand Prix jumper.
I raised an orphan in 2004. She was raised on a bucket and had many physical challenges in her first few months. She was out with another older mare (her grandmother) and when weaned went out with two other weanlings. She was sold as a yearling. She was started at three and was fabulous to be started - quick to learn, eager to please, retained her training. She later was used as a broodmare and had several very good foals and was a superb mother. She has recently been sold again and is back under saddle. She took back to work like a duck to water.
I don’t think that you can generalize. If they are handled properly, not coddled and made to thing that people are their pets and treat providers and put out with other horses, I see no reason that they can’t be quite normal.
I remember a very newly graduated vet who questioned why I was putting so much effort into raising that 2004 twin. Four years later, when that mares was an Elite mare that was fabulous under saddle, she was made to eat those words.
I bought a 17+ hh 4 yr old Hanoverian mare who had been orphaned at 3 wks of age. Got her for almost nothing because of aggressive behavior towards humans that was a direct result of being raised wrong.
I STRONGLY suggest the OP get another horse with that yearling. First of all, horses are herd animals and I feel they can’t truly relax without the security of a herd…even if it’s a “herd” of 2. Secondly, should that filly ever have to be with other horses she could well have problems because she hasn’t learned the social skills needed to be with other horses safely.
Being orphaned is not the issue…it’s all in how they are raised. My mare was raised completely wrong in everyway possible. Believe it or not, she was not with another horse EVER until I got her at age 4!! She was stabled in her own paddock/stall so she could SEE other horses, but never learned to body language/dynamics that actually BEING with other horses teaches them.
And people spoiled her rotten…since she was so big and an alpha-type naturally, by the time she was 4 people were terrified of her. Luckily, I was able to “fix” her issues and she became my foundation broodmare. Paid only $2500 for her! So it worked out great for me…but definitely not for the owners or even the horse herself.
The two most important things is that the foal be around other equines as much as possible and that people don’t spoil it and forget that someday that “poor little baby” is going to weight 1200 lbs.
I’ve had two–one is currently eventing at preliminary, the other at novice (they are 7 and 5 respectively). The first one was on a nurse mare, but we did have to bottle feed the first month until the mares mill production ramped up. The second was older when mom died and never really took to bottle or nurse mare.
I worked very hard with both to integrate them with the herd ASAP. And they didn’t get coddled or hand fee treats until they were in work. Both are productive members of society. 
I also own an orphan. He’s 5 now; I’ve had him a year and he was orphaned a few hours after birth. His breeder was advised not to bother trying to raise him for a bunch of the reasons listed above; he’ll be spoiled, ruined, never be a normal horse, not worth it.
He’s going well under saddle; I’ve taken it slow with him because he’s a bit of a late bloomer (Trakehner) but we’re at the point that we are jumping 2’ consistently. He’s bred to be an event horse; nothing fazes him out in the field (I’m told he jumped a prelim ditch at 5 months old)! He has a super, amateur friendly brain and I think will end up a great lower level eventer for me. One thing that I LOVE about him - and I think this is directly related to him being an orphan - is that when a human tells him something is OK, he believes them (can’t always say that about my TB!)
His mom definitely didn’t coddle him; he was bucket fed until he was big enough to start eating “adult horse” food and then he was tossed out in a pasture with others to grow up. I don’t think he’s any pushier than any other 5-year-old warmblood. One odd habit that he has is sucking his tongue after eating; not sure if it’s related or not. Anyone else noticed their orphans doing this?
I have personally only known two orphans and both were quite dangerous. Both geldings. One was euthanized from his behavior and the other was OK once he had a a CTJ with his handler/trainer/whatever, but each and every new person was like that…needed to know where he stood.
Absolutely the BEST horse we ever bred and raised was an orphan foal at 18 days. That mare won everything on the line and has been a Champion hunter for years! Super smart, wonderful disposition, kind. A “pocket horse” The best horse anyone could want as a companion and a show horse. Obviously the sad circumstance of loosing her Mom aside, I would not hesitate to purchase and bring up another orphan foal. In a heartbeat I would.
I have only had experience with 1 orphaned foal. His dam contracted bastard strangles (I believe) and after an extended period of time treating her twice a day she was ultimately put down. Her colt was a piece of work. The dam was virtually unable to discipline him and he ran all over her. I don’t blame him of course. He was just not able to cope with being cooped up. Eventually, he was turned out by himself for short periods of time for exercise while we treated the mares wounds. To the best of my recollection he wasn’t spoiled or hand/bottle fed. But he was very unpredictable due to the lack of consistent discipline. Whe he was a yearling he was even more difficult. He couldn’t be handled without a chain over the nose and a dressage whip in the other hand ‘just in case’. He regularly challenged his handlers and would come out of his stall on two hind feet aggressively. Fitting him up in the round pen was the most dangerous, he charged me with bared teeth on several occasions. He should have been gelded when he was a weanling but the owners were breeding racehorses and wanted to send a colt to the sale instead of a gelding.
All that being said, every horse is an individual and I wouldn’t have a bias against working with another orphan, I would just have to evaluate what kind of horse I have in front of me.
I’ve raised 5 so far (over the past 35 years). All have turned out to be excellent horses. I do put them out with a ‘babysitter’ horse as soon as possible. The last one I raised just turned 4 in April. She is a medium pony actually. I’m too big to ride her so started her driving in a two wheel cart last summer. She has been a dream to train!
[QUOTE=HorseKrazy;7574013]
I have only had experience with 1 orphaned foal. His dam contracted bastard strangles (I believe) and after an extended period of time treating her twice a day she was ultimately put down. Her colt was a piece of work. The dam was virtually unable to discipline him and he ran all over her. I don’t blame him of course. He was just not able to cope with being cooped up. Eventually, he was turned out by himself for short periods of time for exercise while we treated the mares wounds. To the best of my recollection he wasn’t spoiled or hand/bottle fed. But he was very unpredictable due to the lack of consistent discipline. Whe he was a yearling he was even more difficult. He couldn’t be handled without a chain over the nose and a dressage whip in the other hand ‘just in case’. He regularly challenged his handlers and would come out of his stall on two hind feet aggressively. Fitting him up in the round pen was the most dangerous, he charged me with bared teeth on several occasions. He should have been gelded when he was a weanling but the owners were breeding racehorses and wanted to send a colt to the sale instead of a gelding.
All that being said, every horse is an individual and I wouldn’t have a bias against working with another orphan, I would just have to evaluate what kind of horse I have in front of me.[/QUOTE]
This case sounds more like a case of an aggressive stallion and less from simply being an orphan. Poster didn’t mention if the colt was turned out with other horses after being orphaned.
Not uncommon for male foals to be more rambunctious than fillies and some horse moms (just like some human moms) are more lenient than others. That’s why it’s important (IME) for horses to grow up exposed to a mix of horses…older horses who perhaps aren’t as indulgent as their mommas were.
It really depends on how the orphan was raised. If you pair them up with an old pony or another suitable equine and raise them with normal handling they will grow up fine and it is pretty much a non-issue. If you baby them, treat them like “your” baby, or don’t give them adequate equine friends they can grow up to be pretty difficult to deal with.
In general, orphans do end up with more human contact and attention and that can be a positive or a negative depending on the human/s in question.
