weaning the solitary foal

[Crockpot]

looking for a comprehensive article about weaning a single foal to share with friend who has mare and foal at small farm - no other foals there but foal could go out with another horse.

of course she has read everything on line- but looking for experienced advice.

Obviously gradual weaning is less stressful but on a small farm - - is abrupt weaning ever safer?- mare is being sold. Owner is worried about fence injuries if doing fenceline method.

Foal is 5 months old and very independent- also eating grain and hay

Does anyone use the abrupt method anymore?

This foal is very independent but both maRE and foal are very intensely determined and athletic. The fences at the boarding barn may not deal with this assault.

looking for advice for owner

[2horseygirls]

I have no personal experience, but a friend of mine is an Appaloosa breeder.

We are taking her filly (dob 4-19-13) up to her vet’s this week for weaning. That way, she also gets to hang with all the vet’s foals and play like a foal, instead of a foal hanging with the old folks (11, 15, 18 & 21)

She is a very small breeder (one foal every 3-4 years), and doesn’t have enough acreage to significantly separate mom & baby. When she tried solitary weaning her gelding 18+ years ago, she said he could smell & see Mom but couldn’t get to her, so he started pacing circles in his stall, and still does it to this day. She never tried weaning on the same property again.

Don’t know if that helps…

[Molly_Malone]

At around 3 months I put mom and baby in with a small herd - another 3 or 4 horses. At 4 1/2 - 5 months I put mom in the next pasture (share a fenceline which they can nurse through), then I completely separate about a week later (a pasture between them). So far this has worked with no drama. But the “herd” is large enough to keep the foal entertained and comforted - not sure just one other horse would work as well. Is it possible for her to take mom and baby to someone else with a single baby for 2 weeks, then leave the foals and take the mares for a couple of weeks? I’ve done that before and it worked great!

[Prime_Time_Rider]

I weaned my at home by separating them at night in adjacent stalls and in adjacent paddocks. We used our 11.2 hand pony as the babysitter. The pony had been turned out with the mare and foal since the foal was a week or so old. When we weaned the foal, we left the pony in the paddock with her and moved her dam to an adjacent paddock. It worked like a charm.

is it possible for your friend to borrow a patient pony to serve as “babysitter”?

[Blume_Farm]

I am a very small breeder…one foal every year or so. What I have done with success thus far is I have a little paint mare that is a saint of a horse. She lives in the adjacent paddock from my mare and foal from the beginning so everyone knows each other. When the foal is around 6 months I will separate her from mom and put her out with the paint mare. I then put mom in a pasture that they can see each other but do not share a common fence line. After a couple weeks I can then move mom back to the pasture with a common fence line. After a year o so I then put them all back out together as by this time the foal is all grown up.

This has worked wonderful for me over the years as the paint mare is not a biter/ kicker but can make a mean face if the foal gets too rambunctious and teaches them some manners. She is also playful and will run with them, scratch/ groom them, etc so is a good companion. The other thing I love about doing this is I can take the foal out at anytime once weaned to work with them (grooming, farrier, practice leading, etc) without a group of youngsters calling for each other.

IMO it is nice to have an older horse out with the youngsters to teach them manners. Sometimes a group of youngsters without “adult” supervision can get quite unruly.

[Swing]

Gradual weaning for me is the way to go. A few hours a day away from eachother…and then progress this to a whole day away, and in together at night

I did this over a month when the foal was about 7 months. Have had no problems with fences or running around like lunatics…They can still see eachother and are happy. Mare has gone off to the equine ctr to be rebred…foal is now 10 months…a few calls out to see if anyone answered and then back to eating grass
I don’t have any lovely quiet geldings to put him in with , so he is paddocked on his own…alongside my dressage horse (who would probably boot him if I put them together) and he has buddies in the back paddock , that they talk over the fence.

[SaddleUp158]

We had one foal this year and decided to wean her somewhat gradually over the course of a week. We separated her and her dam and put the filly in with a 5 yr old mare during the day (mare is super sweet to her) and then at night put the filly and dam back together. This also helped the mare slowly start to dry up. After a week we stopped putting them together at night. They can still see and hear each other, but cannot touch each other. Mare and weanling are doing fine.

[Samotis]

I just weaned my 5 month pony colt today.

Mom was getting a tad thin and she is pregnant so I didn’t want to let her lose anymore weight.

I have her other 2 sons at my house and they go out together with my old retired gelding.

I just chucked him out with the 3 boys and left mom in sight on the other side of the fence.

They have been fine. Pony tried to nurse the geldings a few times, but finally realized nothing was coming out.

He is very independent and almost too fat so I felt like it was time to wean. He eats hay and grain fine so there has been no issues.

Really depends on your mare and whether the foal is comfortable with other horses. In my case they all go out together anyway so it was the same situation, just moving mom across the fence.

Her last foal wasn’t weaned until 8 months old and he was fine with the same transition.

[subzerofrogi1]

stall weaning solitary foal at 12 weeks

Ill start by saying these are my only two horses. The dam and her ( as of right now) 10 week old fully. I have no pasture. I let mom out on a long line(while I’m standing with her the whole time) to graze and the foal plays/eats grass etc. Foal has been eating grain and hay since she was a bout 3 weeks old. Dam still has milk and is fat and sassy and so is the foal. But the dam is a show horse and I don’t want to take a chance on the foal getting hurt by transporting her in a trail or when I show in a few weeks. I have tried seperating them for short periods( when dam gets reshod) and the dam is fine. The filly on the other hand is another story. She calls to her dam and tries to get to her. I am worried she will hurt herself or worse. Also I feel the need to point out that the dam is only 14.5 hands and the filly at 10 weeks already measures around 11 hands. Any tips?

[EventerAJ]

Probably not what you want to hear, but don’t compete the mare until the foal is weaned around 4-6 months or longer, depending on your preference. Your mare’s #1 job is to be a mom, not a show horse. Some mares are fine to ride lightly with a foal at side, providing you have safe facilities to do so. However, I wouldn’t think of showing her (singly, not the two together) until after weaning. Just not a good idea.

That said, temporary separation between mare and foal can happen and be ok. TB mares are away from their foals for an hour or two while they make a trip to the breeding shed for live cover. The foal is left in the stall with supervision, all water buckets and hazards removed. The two should never be separated more than a few hours at that age.

I also worry when you say you “have no pasture.” Does that mean they get no turnout? Turnout is very important for a growing foal, for mental and physical development. Young horses with restricted turnout may have abnormal bone density without the gentle stress of everyday running around in the field.

I began separating my mare and foal around 8 weeks old at feeding time, as I did not want my colt sharing the mare’s grain. They can’t digest it well at that age, and it can lead to growth problems. I started by holding the colt in the barn aisle, grooming him while he ate a handful of milk pellets. Then at 3 months of age I put him in a separate stall with hay until the mare finished eating, about 30 minutes, I put them back together. As they adjusted to the routine, I left them in separate stalls longer and longer, until they were spending all day apart when he was 4 months old. By then he was basically ready to be weaned.

[Toaster]

[QUOTE=subzerofrogi1;7746846]
Ill start by saying these are my only two horses. [/QUOTE]

Are there any other horses on the farm that could become a “buddy”?

[alliekat]

We have several foals a year that come to our farm for our annual Weanling Kindergarten Program. Several that come are “only children” like you describe. While here they are able to not only be turned out with a group of like aged foals but they also get a chance to learn may lessons that will be transferred later down the road when they are older. Maybe see if there is another farm local to you that offers something similar or maybe offer to open up your farm to another foal if you would prefer to have your baby at home.
There is nothing wrong with weaning with just an older buddy but I find the babies really get more running and playing in when they are out with other kids their age.
Good luck to your friend!

[Crockpot]

This thread is a year old so was surprised to see it again. The owners were in charge of weaning and opted for the abrupt method. It went OK but not ideal.
They took the mare away and left the foal . They were planning to wean/take both away on the same day to new locations :eek: but I convinced them to at least leave the foal for a couple of weeks so she could be in familiar surroundings and with her horsey friends as she adjusted to weaning.

[siegi_b]

My mares and foals go out with their grand-moms, and so weaning is never an issue. I do it gradually where the baby starts eating his/her own meal in a stall adjoining mom’s at around 5 months of age. I then increase the time the foal spends in his/her own stall over the next month or two, and by the time mom goes to another pasture it’s a non-event, save a few nickers initially.