Weaning A Foal

Some time ago, my vet described a visit to another customer, where she saw a mare nursing what seemed to be like a totally grown pony. When my veterinarian asked that client about it, the client confirmed that the mare and the other horse were mum and child. The mother of 20 years old and the son of 16! These two horses were never separated and due to this, the child wasn’t weaned. This made the gelding completely useless for any purpose at all. If he was taken away from his mum for even a short spell, he disintegrated into an absolute mindless panic. He never moved from his position at the very bottom of the herd’s pecking order over time, and this made him an object to be bullied by even the weakest and newest of newcomers. The mare had got bored with protecting her son; he was pocked all over his body with old and fresh teeth marks and scars in the unmistaken shape of hooves.

While this situation is comparatively rare, thank god, it does teach you that it is vital that a baby horse be weaned in the right manner at the right time. This is a vital contribution to the development and growth of the baby both as a riding partner and as a unit of his herd.

While there’s no fixed guidelines about the right age to wean away baby horses, it is a matter that is decided on a very individual basis. The right age to wean varies from case to case.

If you talk to twelve professionals, you will get thirteen recommendations involving the ‘best’ methodology of weaning away a young horse. There are , however , some facets of weaning you want to give attention to.

1. Make sure that the baby is eating solid food like hay or grass without difficulty before initiating weaning.

2. When you’re sure the time is right, physically separate the mare from the her foal, but let them stay inside eyesight of one another.

3. Steadily move the foal further away from its mother, so they are not within visual range or reach of each other. Make sure you don’t wrestle them apart by force.

4. Give the baby as much attention as you can by socializing and bonding with it, you are easing the discomfort of its separation from its ma. Further, you are also helping the baby adapt to humans and paving the way for some solid bonding with humans later in its life.

After you are done with these initial weaning steps, what follows also needs to be performed with care. It is an built-in instinct for a baby to want to stay in close proximity to its mummy, and it is obvious that you have to be awfully sensitive about weaning a baby if you don’t want it to be scared badly. You have to get the process right and what it boils down to is this: you are the most knowledgeable and the best judge of your horses. At the 1st sign of difficulty, talk to your vet or rope in some neighbors who are veteran horse folks. Certainly some of them will have been thru your sort of experience before, and will have some answers for you.

Horses are Heather Toms
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