We had a baby!

[Kozalyn]

One of the horses at my barn had a baby last Tuesday! He's a healthy happy baby boy. When my friend called me Tuesday morning and told me I rushed over there as fast as I could but when I got there I knew something was wrong. It turns out that the mare rejected the baby! So for the last week we had to feed him every four hours night and day. Needless to say it has been a very long week. Anyway we got the mare and foal back together yesterday and they have be happy since. We still have to feed the foal every five hours just to be sure he's getting enough food.


When I get time to write again I will tell the story about how we got the mare and foal back together.(trust me it's exciting)

KOZALYN

[claireh]

Congratulations Kozalyn! And well done for getting mare and foal back together! Cant wait to hear your story- Ill keep and eye out for it!

All the best,
Claire

[fionahogg]

That's great that the mare accepted him again! Lucky for you as well, otherwise you would be in for a very tired time!

Congrats!

Fiona

[Dizzy]

Don't you think they are like sea horses? Please let us know how this little man gets on. I know its hard to believe that a Mum can reject thier baby, but sometimes it just frightens them. Is its Mum young? Sometimes they just don't understand what has happened and need a little time to adjust!!

When I had my daughter it was quite an experience and I knew exactly what was going on!, sometimes for some reasons animals don't understand.

I hope everything goes well, look forward to the next installment.

Lesley

[Wally]

Thank heaven she's accepted him back, It won't be plain sailing from here on in, other things may go wrong, don't get too attatched too soon. Horses are the most difficult large farm animal to bottle rear. Lets hope Mum keeps him!Best of luck!

Keep a close eye on baby, we once had a mare reject a foal she accepted him back grudgingly only for him to die unexpectedly from a congenital malformation inside. The mare seemed to know there was something up from the start.

[whisper]

I love baby horses too!
Thank god the mare accepted the foal back tho.
we had to hand rear our mare when her dam rejected her.
what a nightmare.
Now she is 10 yrs old and attacks people who didnt bottle feed her....in other words every one but family!
she windsucks, crib bites, rears, throws major tantrums when she wants her own way.
and she had a companion shetland from a few days old to show her the way to being a horse!
but she is a total loner, would prefer to live in the house than in her stable, no one can get near her, she can only have the vet out in extreme emergenies.
we have to trim her feet ourselves.

apparently alot of handreared horses turn out this way.
i would be interested in hearing about any handreared horses if you have them, and what they turned out like.

[Wally]

My Auntie reared her hunter this way. He was the perfect gentleman to the end, carrying her for many seasons with the Cottesmore Hunt. It is how you rear them, just because they are babies doesn't mean to say they don't need dicipline. Their mother would tell them where to get off instantly. It is so easy to humanise an animal, it may be cute when they are young, but it makes for one confused unhappy adult. Don't make them think human, you have to think horse!

[Miriam]

Congratulations to you and your horse. Glad things worked out getting mum and baby back together.

Miriam

[whisper]

I dont think we spoilt our baby, she had the discipline of a mothering shetland pony and we had the advice of the national foaling bank thru the first yr of her life.
i once wrote to a horse mag regarding her behaviour which started when she was two and they said that alot of handreared horses turned out exactly the same way.
No matter how much u try u cannot replace the natural mother, for a start , the foal wouldnt have nearly as much contact with humans if they had been reared properly.
We did the best job possible for our mare, and are very grateful that she is a healthy 10 yr old as many handreared horses dont make it.