Weaning???

[pebbles82]

Its nearly time for weaning my foal (well another two months but want to get organised
How have you weaned your foal, and what have you found the best way to be

 

[MagicSix]

I'm in the same situation as you however, I think I have the most precosious foal in the history of foaldom!!

What I did in preperation for weaning was put mare and foal into a herd so that foalio had friends already. However, foal has now decided her friends are way cooler than mum and mum has decided that her friends are less hassel than foal so apart from the odd occassion when foal wants a drink they are seperate. I am going to seperate them out into seperate fields in a couple of months but if either one finds it too stressful, I have the contigency plan of a field far, far away for mum.

 

[Jobi-Wan Kenobi]

My lad was really independant and hanging out with the herd rather than mum and it was easy to split him from mum. I was then lucky as mum went on loan for 6 months which let him develop in to the loving, confident boy he is today.

My filly never got the chance to be away from mum, and wasn't really ready to be weaned. Unfortunately she was due to go back to the breeder and I wanted to seperate them before she went so didn't have much choice. She can still be a bit needy at times but is getting there.

Don't feel you have to wean bang on 6 months old, some will be happy to go at 5 months, some may need a month or two more, they'll let you know when they are ready. I do think it is important that they have a playful friend for that first year, even if it is an older one, after all they are still babies

Enjoy them!! They do grow so fast!!

 

[Lovejoy]

I agree, I think if you have the luxury of picking and choosing when you wean then all the better because they are all so different.

Squiggy drank constantly from Mum. We put them into the herd at first to let her get attached to other horses, then we seperated at night only for a few months (just the way it worked out) then mum was in foal again so made the break.

She only got uptight the 2nd night of seperation, threw herself around a bit, no damage and is really well adjusted now.

They now pass each other and hardly acknowledge one another!

 

[vikkig]

i have been stuck a little about whether to wean before or after the cold weather, i think i will see how Belle and Rebel are when the time comes, i am going to move Rebel to another farm along the road from ours for 6 weeks to allow her to dry up, Belle has my shetland shannon as her friend as well as another foal in the heard called Prissy, i would love to be able to keep them at the same farm but scared of Rebel or Belle going through the fencing to get to each other.

 

[Wally]

Our method is simple, we make sure that any foal, even a single one is integrated into a herd, so he has made a lot of frieinds, when mum is taken from the herd they hardly notice and stay with their buddies and we hardly hear a squeak out of anyone.

Generally Dad stays with the colts and over winters with them.

 

[madlady]

I've always turned out several mares and foals together and when the time has been right have brought foalies in and left mums out - we've never had a problem and after a couple of months mum's are back in the stables and walking past the babies with no problems.

 

[Lgd]

I gradual weaned and started the process quite early at around 4 months. I was also somewhat restricted as our yard is quite small and I did not want to send her away and Mum was coming back into full work so not practical that way.

Started with 5 mins alone in the stable while I rode her Mum and gradually built up to 45 mins. Her 'nanny' (friends old boy) was in the field with her & Mum from her being a month old and she already adored him so companionship was easy.

The final stages I did over a couple of weeks. When they came in she went into her own stable for a while and then went back in with Mum. Gradually built up so she was in her own stable all day and with Mum overnight, then in her own stable all the time except for a drink from Mum morning and night, then drink once a day only for a couple of days and then off altogether.

For turnout for the first few weeks I rotated them so one was out and one was in with top door shut at first. Once she was calm the top door was left open and then they were out but in fields at opposite ends of the property.

While it was more hassle and time-taking I would do it that way again as I had a much less stressed mare and foal, plus she is now very unstressy about leaving friends as she knows she comes back to them. It is also apparently better for the mare as it slows their milk production down gradually which reduces the risk of mastitis.

 

[Shannon_Clover]

That very interesting thing you say about matistis cos my mare got it one teat 2yrs ago so that because I separate her colt from her too sudden?

I now have a seven months old filly and they are all together in one stable, mom, colt gelding and baby filly.

I hardy seen her suckle and she eat hay and loves her nuts, makes a fuss when I get their feed ready.

So would it be easier to separate her from her mom and half-brother.
He abit jealous of her so I wouldnt keep them together.

My dad suggest gettting a small pony from animal rescue shelter, is that a good idea??

 

[pengapenga]

I weaned Sam older than I normally would have, she was about 9 months old. I first put her in a tall roundyard with mum close by for a couple of days, waited for mum's udder to reduce before throwing her out into the herd and putting ina buddy with Sam. I had no problems at all with weaning - because Sam was older and was independent too I think it made the weaning go easier