This is more of a survey - when do most of you like to start grouping the mares and foals together in turnout? As in, how old are the foals? Do you put non-pregnant mares out in the group? How about mares that haven’t foaled yet? What do you do when you have a large age gap in foals (early spring vs. summer foals)?
Just curious to hear what other people do.
I think it’s very beneficial to have foals and their dams running together. Age gaps between foals doesn’t bother me too much. I like to let the mare and foal have a couple of weeks getting a good strong bond, and the foal all straightened out and able to react when necessary.
My mare herd may well include those that are empty unless the mare is one of those that tries to steal foals. I keep my heavily pregnant mares out of this group, so they can have some peace before foaling.
I think the key is having plenty of space initially (a large pasture) so mares can take their foals to a safe distance from the others and gently introduce it to them over a few days.
I have 2 large pastures and 2 small paddocks: on tiny and one smallish . The two big fields ( 10+ acres) : the stallion and his buddy are in one, open mares/ preggo mares/ older babies are out together. After foaling new mom and baby are in tiny paddock 2 to 3 days for bonding, move to small field (share fence line with the buddies) for 2 to 3 weeks. Usually by this point mom
Has stopped being upset with horses looking at her baby and looking like she wants to get out of jail… Is spending the day hanging at the fence line staring at her buddies in the big field. Then: for the first day mom and baby are out in the big field I put the pair in the big field alone ( baby gets used to new digs) . Herd goes in the small field .Each day after that I add one more herd mate into the big field. So… Herd slowly introduced over a few days.
I am struggling with my herd dynamic right now and wondering how I am going to arrange everyone. I currently have: one open retired broodmare, 2 3 year olds and one riding horse, last year’s foal (yearling) and 2 mares about to foal. Currently I have two big pastures that I like to rotate (so only have horses in one of them) and two small pastures/paddocks. I also have a few other small paddocks that are more suitable for day turnout.
Right now I have the retired broodmare with the yearling in a small field, the two 3 year olds together in the sacrifice area of the big pasture, the riding horse solo in a small paddock and the two broodmares together in another paddock. I would love to have one big herd in the big pasture for the summer, but know it’s not realistic to integrate this year’s foals with a mixed herd. Especially with the three year olds, they are wild. I am going to integrate the riding horse in with the three year olds to make a group of 3 soon to free up the paddock that he’s in.
I am hoping that after the foals are born, I can have them together with their moms, and then integrate the retired mare and yearling in with them to make a mixed group. Then I could use the big pasture for that whole group and have the threesome of 3 year olds and riding horse in one of the small ones…but I do worry about integrating the retired mare and yearling with the new foals.
I have had two mares and their foals out together with great success before, but the mares always lived together pre-foaling as well.
So at what age would you start putting the mares/foals out together?
I have 3 broodmares, all are long time pasture mates but there is one pretty dominant mare. Next year they will all have foals. The dominant mare’s foal will be the youngest (expecting a late May foal) while the earliest is expected in early March. The third mare is due late April. I’m just wondering how I’m going to integrate them all. Would love for the threesome to be out together with the foals until weaning; then weaning will be so easy since they already know their pasture mates. Worried about the different ages in foals though.
Our mare herd lives in one large field, and as the mares get close to their due date they move to the maternity pasture. When they foal, we keep them separated anywhere from a couple of days, to a couple of weeks, depending on the particular pair, so they can bond and the foal can get stronger. After that, we will keep the other heavily pregnant mares in with the mare and foal in the maternity field, as we find that by the time they are within a couple months of foaling they don’t really care that much about anyone else’s foal. Plus, the maternity field has the best grass, so that keeps everyone quieter. We do NOT put open mares in the field; they cause enough of a fuss over the new foal as part the peanut gallery over the fence. We don’t worry about the ages of the foals that much. The moms are used to being together, and they manage everything just fine. It doesn’t usually take long for the new foal to start interacting with the older ones, even if there is a rather large age gap.
OK so my other dilemma - this year, I only have 1 foal, born May 5th. It is the dominant mare’s foal. They are in a smaller paddock (1 acre) with attached stall. My other two mares are in a large pasture with better grass (6 acres); both are preggo for next year (so one is almost 8 weeks the other just bred). Anyway, I would LOVE to put them all together in the big field on the good grass for the summer, but I’m afraid of what might happen. On one hand, I know the dominant mare won’t take any guff; on the other, I don’t want the little guy to get hurt indirectly. Or, I don’t want the other mares to get hurt because dominant mare is being overprotective.
I guess the safest thing to do is to just leave them by themselves in the smaller paddock. My husband says I am the one that is overprotective! We live in a rural area and people breed these ranch horses and kick the mares/foals back into the herd the next day! There must be a happy medium!
[QUOTE=Meadow36;8161252]
OK so my other dilemma - this year, I only have 1 foal, born May 5th. It is the dominant mare’s foal. They are in a smaller paddock (1 acre) with attached stall. My other two mares are in a large pasture with better grass (6 acres); both are preggo for next year (so one is almost 8 weeks the other just bred). Anyway, I would LOVE to put them all together in the big field on the good grass for the summer, but I’m afraid of what might happen. On one hand, I know the dominant mare won’t take any guff; on the other, I don’t want the little guy to get hurt indirectly. Or, I don’t want the other mares to get hurt because dominant mare is being overprotective.
I guess the safest thing to do is to just leave them by themselves in the smaller paddock. My husband says I am the one that is overprotective! We live in a rural area and people breed these ranch horses and kick the mares/foals back into the herd the next day! There must be a happy medium![/QUOTE]
Are they currently sharing a fenceline? You’ve described what my set-up has been for the last 14 years. The new mom goes out in the half-acre paddock, with attached stall from birth to whenever mom lets the foal visit with the other mares over the fence. Once she stops pinning her ears and herding the foal away, out they all go together.
You have going for you the same thing I have. A stable mare population, with firmly established hierarchy.
I can’t promise you nothing will happen, but the foal needs to be socialized, and you can’t wrap them in bubble wrap. I can tell you that with one or two foals per year, i have not had a problem with any injuries from herdmates. (I hope I didn’t just jinx myself. I’m expecting my final foal ever in late July.)
Thanks - the “nursery” paddock does not share a fenceline with the other mares, unfortunately. That pasture is on the other side of the barn. It shares a fenceline with my riding horse (gelding) and mom does plenty of ear pinning and threatening to him - but I would expect that. I could potentially put them in a stall near the big paddock that has a dutch door - I’m not sure if that will help. I agree I don’t want baby to have no socialization, especially since he’s the only one this year.
I have two mares with foals out with another mare (who was barren for this year, and now back in foal).
I had the barren mare out with one of the mare/foal pairs because the other mare was in Kentucky to be rebred. When the second mare returned they all just went out together.
There was a little excitement, but they quickly settled down.
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