Colt separation from Mom

Question
QUESTION: Rick,
I am 50. I have had my Mare for two years. I have never "worked" with a horse (only rode someone else's)until I got her. She was pregnant when we got her.
Her colt is now one year old. I work with both horses daily.
I have only had them apart for short time spans. Going to the vet..riding the mare leaving baby behind in the stall.
They both live in the pasture of 30 acres.
We do have a stall that I can separate them if need be.
I do not know how to separate to wean the colt without complete trauma.
I have been told to move one to someone else's pasture. Thinking of that brought tears to my eyes!!
To leave them both on our land, what would be your best advice to wean?
I'm gone to work during the days...can not leave unattended during the week if I was to separate in the stalls, there would be no one at home to watch out for them.
Your help is greatly appreciated.
Kind regards, Cathy


ANSWER: Hi Cathy, weaning is a personal choice.  In the wild this is done naturally and without human interference.  I do not like taking little ones away from mom.  I see no point in it.  My colt was with his mom until he was three, never separated.  She had another baby and booted him off herself.  I see no harm in leaving them together.  Lots of people will give advice with no knowledge of what they say or without fact to back what they say.  I have a section on this on my site under the horsemanship page.

I ask if I was a horse, what would I want.  A young horse who is with mom alone since birth is not a problem.  They have a bond and a herd of two.  Removing the colt will cause undo stress on baby and mom, could lead to colic, could lead to getting one horse hurt trying to get to the other one.  To me there is no point in this risk.  You have to weigh what to do you get from it, what do you lose from not doing it and then decide.

If you must separate them, I would allow another horse to stay with them for a month or so.  That way the little guy can bond and will not be so alone and scared when you remove mom.  Mom is older and will handle it better, but still very stressful and unnecessary in my book.

I would like to know why is it important to wean him and what problems is it causing by keeping them together?

You can read the section on my site, it may say about the same thing I have told.  If you are riding mom, I would ride mom with little on in the same area.  The baby will follow and will get exercise, you can practice moving and directing the little guy which will help mom move and respond to you and will help the little learn how to move.  Bottom line, I would not wean them unless there was a problem and it would have to be a bigger problem than weaning would cause.

Hope this helps,

Rick

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Rick,
Thank you for your quick and informative response to my question.
I completely understand what you said about natural weaning. I am ALL for that myself.
When I go riding, baby always follows or like you said, I will lead him.
My problem arises when I want to go to a parade, rodeo or trail riding somewhere I do not feel comfortable taking him yet.

I fear being gone leaving him behind without someone to make sure he is ok during the separation.
I know this sounds like a woman thing, not trying to be over-protective, just do what's best for them.
We do not have other horses, but we do have two goats that get along with the baby well.
I could put them in with him.
I live in Texas or I would be happy to have you see my horses.
I could talk horses all day, but I know your busy.
Any suggestions are very welcome, because right now I'm a BIG SPONGE and want to soak up all knowledge possible to be the best trainer and have the best relationship with my horse trying to understand them and their ways.
Thank you, Cathy  

Answer
Well, in this case, I would put him in with other horses, where mom could see him and they could still touch noses and see each other and still socialize between a fence.  Maybe do this for an short period and them put them back together. The next day make it an hour, next day two hours, etc... that way he will get use to being apart for short periods and will learn that they will be back together soon.  If mom is already good with other horses, you could move her over let the little guy stay by himself, but for short periods.

After a week of this you can trailer mom out for a short ride or so and then bring her back.  He will see her leave and come back.  Each time stay gone a little longer and after a while he will react less and less.

He is a year old so he should be better then if he was 5 or 6 months.

Short separations is the key to help them learn and accept separation.

You will have to trial and error to see what works better and work on that.  Don't bring them back together when they are reacting or stressing out, being them back when they calm down, so they learn when they are calm they get back together.

Horses love to know what to expect so routine is good.  If you feed them, you could feed one in the fence and one outside or in another paster.  I would be careful not to stress them when food in involved since it may cause colic, so only do this if they accept it without much stress.

Take mom out and lounge her and work her in sight of baby, then bring her back and take colt out and work him in sight, but away from mom.  They will quickly learn when apart, they will soon be put back together.

Try not to react to their reaction.  IF you make it a big deal, it will become a big deal.  Use their needs and wants as a training opportunity.  If mom does not want to leave baby, rider her up and down the fence line, outside of baby and work on her stops and turns.  She will turn better with less cues from you since her drive will be to stay by her baby so use this to help you.  After a few turns on the fence you will be able to turn her with light leg pressure and seat position and without using your reins.  She will be teaching herself.  Always set a horse up for success.  Do things the easy way so the horse finds the right answer easy.  If you get the wrong answer from a horse, you asked the questions the wrong way.  IF you fight with a horse, they will learn to fight back.  Any time you find yourself finding fault with the horse, look in the mirror, you are causing what a horse does, so if a horse does wrong, you caused it.  The sooner you accept this and look to yourself for answers, your horse will get better and you will get better.  It is never the horse's fault and only people that do not understand a horse will blame the horse for their mistakes.

Hope this helps,

Rick