Foal Care

[Lindsay]

Can any one tell me when the best time is to start graining a foal? All of the people I talk to seem to have a different opinion on the matter. Also, is it ok to put a halter on? A friend said that it is dangerous, as the foal may get caught on something. If this is the case then how do you go about getting them used to wearing a halter in the first place? We're new to this any help is greatly appreciated.

[Medalia]

the best time is when they are less curious about grass and mothers...er.. manure, foals have this fascination with eating manure!

Anyhow, you should be able to see when they are ready. The will be relying less and less upon Mommy dear, and they'll pick throught the grass.

[Myrmex]

The younger the foal, the easier it is to start with the head-collar, provided mum isn't concerned. Wait until you've got a strapping weanling and you could be in trouble! If you've got them in the stable, and mum is bribed with a feed, you should be able to start handling the foal and put on a foal-slip. If you use a fine leather one, the safety angle is covered - it'll snap if it gets caught on anything. I had a cheap Indian leather one for my filly last year - nice weak leather. Be careful not to panic the foal though - they have a nasty tendency to rear up and go over backwards. The more you do with the youngster now, the easier it is in the future. As a yearling, my filly is pretty bombproof - she's seen traffic, roadworks, barbecues, bonfires, strange horses and much much more!

Myrmex

[Lindsay]

Thank you for your assistance on these matters. It is greatly appreciated. The biggest problem we seem to be having currently stems from the foals incredible size, being a TB foal it is truly gigantic even at just 3 months.
Thanks again :) Lindsay

[Myrmex]

Lindsay,
I'm intrigued! How big is 'gigantic'? What on earth have you been breeding? If the foal's big, I would definitely get it used to handling as soon as possible. Be careful you don't give it too much hard feed and overload its joints (paranoia - I know of somebody who did just that!)

[Lindsay]

We've been working with the foal as much as we can. I think she's beginning to like us. So...you want to know about "gigantic". Where we live everyone raises QH's, and compared to those our foal looks like it's on steroids or something. The mare is known to produce big foals, and she herself stands at 17 hands. So you can imagine the foal. Thanks again.