When can my mare go back to work?

[Lmabernathy]

Bought a mare back and Sept. and have been super happy with her. Great temperament, very willing, tolerant of beginners. She’s been doing local shows and placing well. Tuesday, I go to turn her out and there is a baby with her! Surprise!

Mom and colt are doing great, but mom is a lesson horse for me. Summer is coming soon and I was planning on using her over the summer. I know she won’t be able to show or trail ride until the colt is weaned, but do you think she could go in an hour lesson a few times a week.

If so, how do I go about starting to separate mom and baby where they won’t spaz out. My arena is surrounded by turnout paddocks and I have a round pen next to the arena. I know this isn’t ideal but it was a complete surprise. I either need to be able to use mom this summer or need to sell them both for a horse I can use. I really like mom and would like to keep her if possible. I haven’t made up my mind if I wan’t to keep the foal after weaning, if hes as nice as his mom sure. If he’s a terror for my lesson program (making mom crazy) I’m not attached to him at this point.

[JustJump]

Seriously? An instructor would think it necessary to ask this question? Guess ‘horsemanship’ isn’t one of your priorities?

Mom has another job now, and for the time being, it isn’t compatible with the one you had in mind.

[_Tradewind]

[QUOTE=JustJump;8100482]
Seriously? An instructor would think it necessary to ask this question? Guess ‘horsemanship’ isn’t one of your priorities?

Mom has another job now, and for the time being, it isn’t compatible with the one you had in mind.[/QUOTE]

This response seems rather unnecessary.

I can’t speak to separation of mom and baby as I’ve never tried this for the purpose of riding the mare, but I have gently ridden several mares within a few months after foaling in order to start slowly bringing them back into work. In these cases, I rode them with the foal loose in the ring while we worked. This is obviously not an ideal situation for a lesson as it makes for some distraction for the mare and the rider, but I find it can also be an opportunity to provide the foal with a bit of exposure. If you can work out a suitable scenario for the foal, the mare CAN be worked within a few months of foaling.

[Lmabernathy]

Why can some people not just answer a question without trying to escalate a situation into an argument?

Anyway, thank you trade wind for your imput. I doubt I would use her with the baby loose in the ring with her at least not for a student anyway.

If baby was just outside the ring, is there anyway to get the mare accustomed to that? I guess I’m thinking of 2 herd bound horses. They are ok as long as they can see the other one. Sorry for my lack of knowledge about the mare and foal dynamic. I was never planning on breeding and I don’t even have kids of my own. This whole situation is foreign to me.

[Dressagelvr]

I have to agree that her body is busy raising baby right now. It would be unfair to her to put her back in the lesson program now.

It is too stressful on mom and baby to separate this early. If you don’t care about the stress on them, imagine your beginners getting dumped because she’s worried about her baby.

I say 5 months minimum.

[tuckawayfarm]

Sorry you have had an inconvenient surprise.

I would not plan on trying to separate them for at least 3 months. If you have a nice calm non aggressive horse who the mare gets along with, you might try turning the mare and foal out with it in a few weeks. Some older foals will be fine hanging out with a babysitter while mom is ridden for an hour. Young foals normally nurse more frequently, so you need to wait before attempting this.

I don’t think I would try it in a lesson situation though. Too much liability should things go wrong. IMHO, your best bet is to sell or trade this pair to someone with experience and get another lesson horse for the summer. I would never wean before 4 months and 6 months is much better.

I wouldn’t fault your average horse owner for not being knowledgable about foals. I know vets who aren’t particularly knowledgable about foals. Caring for one is quite different than caring for an adult. You will need to educate yourself or put this one in the care of someone experienced.

Good luck!

[Highflyer]

We had one a few years ago that went back into race training after a month. Physically it was fine. The foal was extremely studdish from a very young age, though, and if he was loose while I was riding his mom he would try to jump on her. And mom wasn’t rideable if he wasn’t in sight, so there was no leaving him in a stall. I don’t think I would try it with a lesson horse!

[Lord_Helpus]

Back in the 80’s when I was showing a lot, a lady showed her mare (she lived near the showgrounds, but a matter of miles, not feet) in a AA show. Damn if they didn’t beat me. :D.

I remember being astounded at how good the mare looked (not all tummy and no topline). And I heard that the mare traveled home at lunch break to let the foal nurse.

Hell, I once went to a dude ranch where the foal followed the mare on slow trail rides.

If there is a plan and if both mare and foal are adaptable, obviously riding a mare who is nursing is done more frequently than you would imagine. And I would not ass-u-me that anyone who did this was not a horseman.

In fact, I am more likely to ass-u-me that people who are so vociferously appalled at the thought have less experience than others who see nothing wrong with it, given the right circumstances.

[Lmabernathy]

Thanks guys, The mare is in great shape. We really had no idea she was preggo, no bagging up (she was bathed 4 days before she foaled), carried the baby toward her back, no preggo belly what so ever. Heck she was at a show on Sat from 8:30 am until 10pm and placed well in good company, that was 2 days before baby hit the ground. She is def. fit enough for work. She still looks great and has plenty of milk.

Its the emotional aspect, I’m worried about. She is an exceptionally well tempered mare. Never has pinned her ears at a person the entire time I’ve owned her and that includes when we come in a pet and take pics with the foal. Heck, she very rarely pins ears at another horse. If she were a marish or grumpy mare I would know she was down for the count but she is exceptional and baby wanders away all the time. They aren’t attached at the hip like I would have thought they would be.

[Foxtrot_s]

Depending - depending on their temperaments although not too early,.
I rode out on my mare in the park with the foal loose and I rode away from the trails. I also took the baby up to ranchland and she followed along with the group and calves very well…being cheeky to the calves and I think became bold because of it. But she was, a bit older then. She learned to handle the steep hills without sliding down them and going splat, and trot along very well.

When she was thirsty, she would go under Mamma’s neck to stop her and drink, then continue on with her cute little milk mustache.

I also know that if there was a round pen close by, I could have put the baby in there, hung around outside with the mum and gradually moved further away, but it didn’t seem necessary to push things so soon.

Sell them both to get something you can use now…? Time flies, you know.

[khall]

I have separated mom and foal to ride, foal stayed in stall and dam was no issue. Both were pretty independent even though foal was first for mare. Lovely mare and not your average broodmare though!

I have also ridden with foal at foot, not too much trouble except colt wanted to be colt and play up. Would not be handy in a lesson though.

To me it really depends on the pair as to how they handle it. Maybe find a willing pasture mate/play mate for foal and leave foal in with them while mare goes to work? Sure would make weaning easy. As for age I think 2 months would be old enough to handle separation.

[Jim_R]

Really depends on the mare and foal. Some will freak out when they can’t see their baby and vice versa. Some don’t care. Sounds like she is not to protective of baby.
Same as people. Some moms drop kid off at daycare real early some not so quick.
Baby sitter as somebody said earlier.

[bingbingbing]

she is exceptional and baby wanders away all the time. They aren’t attached at the hip like I would have thought they would be. This may seem the case, but momma is keeping an eye on the baby and the baby has never been without her so is comfortable not being glued to her side, that is normal behavior. I would wait at least a month before trying to take her away gradually and further. Just be sure baby cannot hurt himself going through, over or under wherever he is kept. Maybe selling the pair is your best option if you are in a big hurry for her to return to full service. Long show days are not in her near future.

[BeeHoney]

I think about 30 days is the earliest you could the mare back in work. Leave the foal in a stall, remove water buckets and feed buckets–anything that the foal could get caught up in. It is important that the stall is fully enclosed. Foals can and will attempt to jump out windows and over dutch doors/half doors and can injure themselves in the process.

If the mare is upset to leave the foal, you may need to wait a bit longer, maybe 2-3 months. Whatever the age, the foal is bound to be upset the first few times, but should then settle. Doing this kind of temporary separation will make the eventual weaning easier. I have also ridden mares with the foal loose beside them, but that can be distracting, and certainly not a good idea unless you are riding in the mare’s pasture or an enclosed ring by yourself.

[Foxtrot_s]

…somewhere along the line I lost the memo that this was a full time lesson mare, and that the foal was going to be for lessons, too…

[siegi_b]

I don’t think responses that don’t agree with the original poster are necessarily negative… Fact of the matter is that here is a mare with her first baby, and considering the fact that she never got additional nutrition during her last three months (because the owner didn’t know), I’m not surprised that she didn’t look very pregnant. Now that she’s lactating, she should get even more grain to make up for what the baby is taking out of her. And no, separating mare and foal at an early age is never a good thing regardless of all the stories floating around. Foals get ulcers very quickly when stressed, and I would consider early separation stressful. Separating the mare and foal for periods of time before the baby is at least 4 months or older is asking for trouble.

I realize that the OP didn’t “cause” this situation and understand the issue at hand. As a breeder of 30 years, I second what other folks have already suggested … find a new home for mare and foal because raising one well requires a lot of time and patience.

Good luck!

[RunningwaterWBs]

How long did you know this mare before you got her? I just want to point out that, if she was pregnant when you bought her and now she’s nursing, all of the hormones involved with those things may mean she’s a different horse for you after the foal is weaned. I’ve certainly seen this with mares I’ve bred.

[Lmabernathy]

Runningwaterwbs, I’m worried about that too, but so far her temperament has stayed the same. The previous owner only had her for a couple months before she sold her to me and neither one of us knew she had been bred.

I’m planning on starting to halter break the foal this week (had to order a suckling halter) we will see how she handles that. So far she hasn’t minded people coming in and petting the foal at all and she is actually been more affectionate and easier to catch since the foal was born. I am hoping it stays that way!

I have uped her grain. She was on triple crown training before any of this happened. I’m looking at triple crown grown and it doesn’t appear to be a “better” feed than what she is already on. I saw lysine is an important thing. TC training has .7 and TC growth has .8. Is that enough of a difference to make a switch? The training is a 14/13/13 feed and the growth is 14/10/15. Normally I go with the highest fat feed I can find. That has always worked the best for my horses in the past, but again I’m not used to lactating mares.

[Ajierene]

We had a surprise mini foal where I rode in High school. The kids eventually started taking baby out to play with her - she learned out to stand on the mounting block, rear on command, and other circus tricks that we probably shouldn’t have taught her.

The filly was 4 when I graduated and never weaned. This was far from mama’s first foal and she was in her 20’s. Mama ALWAYS ran around the paddock screaming her head off when filly went away. Filly didn’t care, she quite enjoyed doing something else. Back in the paddock, mama would practically force filly to nurse. It was cute and scary at the same time.

On the other hand, I have seen mama and baby separated and mama not caring. I would not try separation now, but when the colt is 2 to 3 months old, start working on it as others have suggested and see what happens. If either is to stressed, then it is a no go, but if you are only going to use her one lesson a few days a week and she is keeping weight on, there is no reason to not.

[DawnJL]

There is a difference between how a mare and foal pair respond to degree of separation when they are in a comfortable space and free to choose for themselves, and when they are separated by human intervention. Foals can become quite frantic and climb, jump, or thrash themselves trying to get back to their dams. As others have mentioned foals can develop ulcers from relatively mild stress so that is another concern. Mares can become quite panicked if a foal starts calling to them and they are prevented from going to the foal. Many of my mares have been very tolerant of visitors interacting with their foals from day 1. I am quite sure that their tolerance would not extend to being removed from the immediate vicinity of their foals for any length of time for most of those mares prior to when the foal was 4-5 months old. While there are scenarios where an owner maybe able to fairly safely ride a mare with a foal at foot or restrained nearby, the risk of trying to do so with lesson riders seems way out of bounds, IMO. I can’t imagine liability insurance would be willing to cover an event related to such a scenario. I wish nothing but a positive outcome for the OP, the mare and the foal. Asking questions is how you figure these things out.