Raising the "Only Child" Foal

[TigerTrick]

My mare is due in a week or so (Calcium still <200 and pH still high, minimal udder development, vulva and tailhead ligaments still normal), if on time, and she is currently by herself in a large foaling barn, but turned out 12 hours a day around other horses.

I’m a little worried about the social development of the foal - it will be nose-to-nose with other horses over the fence, but only out with mom until weaning when it will move to the far side of the 100 acre farm to be on field board with a group of either mature mares or mature geldings (depending on what it ends up being).

Is not being around other young horses going to limit his/her development? Should I look into boarding him/her elsewhere as a weanling in order to get that social development?

How have those of you with only one foal per year dealt with the social aspect of young foal/weanling/yearling development?

[crosscreeksh]

I personally would not raise an only child/colt!! They need a playmate and kid their own age…or even a year older, but a single colt will lack social skills and a companion…even if you go to a local auction and find a cheap/HEALTHY, “grade” colt to save as a buddy. I’m sure there are other who do it…I just don’t.

[khall]

Yes, most of my foals have been singles. I have a yearling (just) that I bred and am raising now. She is out with a couple of geldings who will play with her, mares don’t play usually. Not had any trouble with the foals (now big horses) having development issues. Yes it is ideal to have more than one foal but not a train wreck at least IMO.

[Blume_Farm]

I’ve done it both ways and frankly prefer singletons! I wean my foals onto a nice older paint mare that keeps them in line, will play with them a little and is good company. If I want to work with the young horse I can take them out without a bunch of buddies calling and screaming and all sorts of antics happening. In the real world horses do not grow up in yearling herds, 2 year old herds, etc. They grow up in a mixed herd so they can learn the dynamics between the ages, learn manners, etc.

I have raised the last four foals this way and they do not at all look displeased and all have grown up into nice solid citizens. I would not worry at all.

Good luck with the foaling!

[stoicfish]

I have a different take on it. I think raising young horses in groups is actually more un-natural then a foal or two in a group. Many times a herd of 5 or 6 wild mares will have a single foal. They have the herd to socialize them and teach them structure. A group of youngsters alone is like a group of kids, no one is around to teach them how it is done. And often the biggest one doesn’t get the butt kicking they all seem to need. Young horse groups lack continuity that a herd naturally has.
If you can find a babysitter or a group that is young horse friendly, that is perfect.

[Cindy_s_Warmbloods]

The last few years I have only had one foal but he/she has been raised in a small herd of horses so there was lots of socialization. I think to perpare for weaning it would be ideal to have another horse in with the mare/foal for the foal to get comfortable with. Then when weaning I would remove the mare. I have not had any problems with my foals being singletons but then I also usually have at least one other younger one around (yearling or two year old) they seem to buddy up with in the herd.

You mentioned moving the foal at weaning, I would prefer to do it the other way if possible and leave the foal in its familiar surroundings. I think it would be too much for your foal to accept a new place and a new herd all in one go with the added stress of losing the dam on top of it.

[Kyzteke]

[QUOTE=Cindy’s Warmbloods;8015570]

You mentioned moving the foal at weaning, I would prefer to do it the other way if possible and leave the foal in its familiar surroundings. I think it would be too much for your foal to accept a new place and a new herd all in one go with the added stress of losing the dam on top of it.[/QUOTE]

This^^^

The mare & foal should be part of the herd for a month or so BEFORE weaning, so the foal can get to know the group.

Then pull the mare out.

Asking a newly weaned foal to feel comfortable in a large herd of adults he’s never met before is WAAAY too stressful. You are just asking for ulcers or worse.

And without a mom to protect him/her, the rest of the herd will really be harsh on the little one.

Afew months of getting to know the herd and bonding with some of the other horses prior to being weaned is a much better way to go.

BTW, you need to be sure that your “herd” is weanling friendly. A six month old foal can really get beat up and hurt if you have even one “meanie” in the group. Not to mention the chance that the grown-ups will keep baby from getting the food it needs.

[Personal_Champ]

I had an “only child” last year. He’s been out with my donks - one mini, one standard - and they are his “chew toys”. They have actually been wonderful. Tolerant when he was young and a little unsure, but not afraid to diplomatically put some manners on him once he got bigger and should know better. I am thinking that a similar dynamic with geldings or mares will work out in the same manner.

I also left weanling in his familiar environment and took out mom - but note that I weaned really late. Colt wasn’t fat, mare wasn’t thin, and everyone was happy, so I left them together longer.

[sid]

[QUOTE=Blume Farm;8015470]
I’ve done it both ways and frankly prefer singletons! I wean my foals onto a nice older paint mare that keeps them in line, will play with them a little and is good company. If I want to work with the young horse I can take them out without a bunch of buddies calling and screaming and all sorts of antics happening. In the real world horses do not grow up in yearling herds, 2 year old herds, etc. They grow up in a mixed herd so they can learn the dynamics between the ages, learn manners, etc.

I have raised the last four foals this way and they do not at all look displeased and all have grown up into nice solid citizens. I would not worry at all.

Good luck with the foaling![/QUOTE]

I’ve managed my single foals over the years this way as well and they turned out just great.

[JB]

I’ve done a single foal from birth, and it was a mixed adult small herd. I would not raise a foal only with his dam until weaning - he’s missing out on a lot of behavior training that many mare’s won’t do, and he’s missing out on an understanding of different personalities.

My mare was with her gelding buddies - 2 others - until she foaled, then she was separated for a couple of weeks while the 2 of them sorted and figured everything out together. Then they were introduced back with the geldings, and that’s how they stayed until weaning (8 months).

I weaned on-site, and rotated which gelding the mare and foal were with.

I don’t feel he suffered at all by not having a foal playmate. He had 2 “uncles” who were willing to play some of his games, but put a stop to them when they got too rough or tiresome. The only thing he didn’t really have while in the weaning process (5 months) was someone who would gladly run around with him, but that didn’t stop him from racing around.

I really do think he needs to be introduced to a friendly group of adults (ponies, horses, doesn’t matter) so he gets more interaction than just his dam. And he needs that group as his weaning support group.

[winter]

This is timely for me as I have a single weanling this year. Her mother is back in foal and I have another mare in foal. I had the mom and foal together alone initially then introduced the other pregnant mare. Then I removed mom for weaning and left the foal with her auntie. I now have a bit of a conundrum in that I don’t know where to put the foal when auntie leaves to foal out. I also have the mother alone since an introduction to the mixed herd didn’t go well for her. I would like the two broodmares to live together so that I can feed them together so it would be nice to have the foal elsewhere.

I have a mixed herd with a 3 year old gelding, 3 year old mare and old retired broodmare in my pasture but the 3 year old mare is enormous and a huge alpha so I am concerned that she could be too rough on the foal. Potentially I could put the gelding with the foal just the two of them, but then the foal would be left alone while he goes to work. Maybe the retired mare is the one, but she is alpha as well. I’m feeling stuck with my groups right now. Maybe alpha 3 year old needs to go solo in a paddock for a while, then I can introduce foal to pasture with retiree and gelding and put the broodmares back together. Sigh.

[clint]

I had a single foal last year. I brought in one of my broodmares to live with her and her mom until I was ready to wean. Then I moved that little group in with a two y.o. filly, and broodmare, and eventually moved mom to the other side of the fence. I am very happy with how this turned out. She got to live in a multi-age group, and was clearly well socialized enough that when she left a couple of weeks ago she settled right in with a different group in a new place.

[whitney159]

I had a single foal last year, besides the mom, only one other mare and a gelding. I had mom and baby on their own for about a month after birth, with other two having pasture with an adjoining fence line. They all knew each other pretty well over the fence, then once mom had chilled out about them talking to the baby on her own, I put them all out together 24/7. Everyone got along great and she spent as much or more time with the others than she did with mom after a while. When I weaned at 8 1/2 months, I put her with the other mare and mom with the gelding, since mom is the happiest with him, and the baby seemed to have a great friendship going with the other mare who is a sweetheart. Zero stress for mare, only very little for the filly. They are all together again now that the milk machine has been shut down. Her best playmate is my 18 year old gelding, who loves nothing more than to get everyone freaking out and galloping, bucking and rearing–the filly thinks he’s great fun!

[_Tradewind]

crosscreeksh, I would be interested to know what sort of negative experiences and/or research has led you to be so adamantly against having a single foal?

I’ve had foals both as singles and doubles. I have seen no ill effects whatsoever in my babies raised as “only children” - in fact, they tend to be better socialized (with humans) because they have more time devoted to their handling than is usually the case when there is more than one foal to work with.

[SmartAlex]

We did Only Child foals for years and years with no trouble at all. Until we had trouble. Actually, I think the last colt would have been a screwed up person regardless, but I’ll never do it again.

[stoicfish]

[QUOTE=SmartAlex;8016486]
We did Only Child foals for years and years with no trouble at all. Until we had trouble. Actually, I think the last colt would have been a screwed up person regardless, but I’ll never do it again.[/QUOTE]

So with all the good experiences and only one bad that you don’t believe was caused by being an only foal, why would you never do it again?

[SmartAlex]

Because I think that the foals we had prior to that had exceptional temperaments and if you get a foal that may be a bit borderline personality disorder you’re going to be in trouble. And how can you tell that ahead of time?

I mean we all try to breed for good temperaments. There was no reason to believe this colt would have been a nut, but he was. Straight out of the box and it took too long for us to find a good turnout companion. By that time his personality was already set. The mare had been bred back and the full sister didn’t have his extreme issues. He finally did find an acceptable companion but his childhood was very stressful and he was very unhappy for a long time and it was no one’s fault but ours.

[stoicfish]

Because I think that the foals we had prior to that had exceptional temperaments and if you get a foal that may be a bit borderline personality disorder you’re going to be in trouble. And how can you tell that ahead of time?

Thank you for the explanation.
I am not sure I would assume the behavior would be corrected by another foal.
As that assumes that the environment can correct it AND that another foal would be the solution. Of course I can’t say your not right. But it’s much like saying a human being with a disorder would be fixed by a sibling.

I know of foals with issues and it just seems, like you said, that they come out of the mare that way.

[BeaSting]

Back when, my partner and I usually had a single foal, but occasionally two. Mare and foal would go into the herd after a day or two of meet and greet over the fence. The herd was pretty stable - a core group of 4 mares and an older gelding, along with several of their offspring from previous years. Pretty mixed aged group. The old gelding was an awesome babysitter. He’d have the youngsters hanging out with him while the mares relaxed at the other end of the pasture.

[SmartAlex]

[QUOTE=stoicfish;8016606]
Thank you for the explanation.
I am not sure I would assume the behavior would be corrected by another foal.
As that assumes that the environment can correct it AND that another foal would be the solution. Of course I can’t say your not right. But it’s much like saying a human being with a disorder would be fixed by a sibling.

I know of foals with issues and it just seems, like you said, that they come out of the mare that way.[/QUOTE]

Very true that another foal would not necessarily be the solution. But I think he could have benefited greatly from being with a group of mares (with or without foals at side) so he could learn some boundaries. Not only does a group of foals have playmates, but they also learn from a variety of adults so when they are first faced with a strange companion they are not big strapping fools just cruising for a bruising.