Our mare foaled and loved her baby until last week. When we went to feed one evening we found the mare pacing her stall and the foal scared to death. We put the mare and foal out in the arena so they would have more room, the mare did stand and let the foal nurse shortly after putting them out there, but the mare then got very nasty, pinning her ears, baring her teeth and biting the baby hard enough to take the hair off. The mare also chased the baby down the arena with her ears pinned, very mean. Called the vet, he found nothing wrong with mare except her bag was full and she was very sore. Put a chain over her nose and forced her to stand, she literally sat down on the baby's head when she nursed, tranqualized the mare and baby did nurse. We put the baby in a stall next to mare for the night, afraid she would hurt the baby, mare was not upset at all, in fact pinned her ears whenever she came near where baby was. Put a chain over mare's nose in the morning and she did let baby nurse, but unless we are there she will not let baby nurse, pins her ears and bites baby's rump or stomps her hind legs and swiches tail. Have continued keeping them separated, allowing baby to nurse 3-4 times a day. Baby is eating milk based foal start, putting foal start powder on her feed (tried bottle and couldn't get her to take it) also eating hay. We are tying mare in arena so foal can get exercise dailey, but am concerned that foal won't get the socialization that she needs. Anyone have any ideas of what we should be doing to help baby grow up to be healthy and sound. The mare was checked back in foal at 14 days. Thanks for your help.
I know exactly how you feel. 2 years ago my mare finally had her first foal after 3 years of trying to get her pregnant. She was a 16 year old, high strung, Arabian park horse. We were not present at the foaling, but arrived about 2 hours afterward and our mare was pacing outside her stall while her foal lay inside. We called the vet immediately and when he arrived he sedated our mare so that she would allow the foal to nurse. That night all seemed ok, she allowed the baby to nurse, but she did not present any maternal behavior, only a little curiosity towards the foal. The next day she did not want anything to do with her baby and we had to hold her during nursings. By the third day, she was trying to kill her foal. We separated the two of them and she seemed quite happy with that, but the foal, "Jewel", was very distressed. I called everyone I knew for help, every vet in town, but nobody really seemed to have any answers and I could not find a lactating mare who had lost a foal. Fortunately, I was in my senior year at Cal Poly Pomona and my major was equine science with an emphasis in nutrition so it was easy to research all of the milk replacers. I decided to use Foal-lac powder and goats milk mixed together. I taught her to drink out of a bucket because that was all that I had on hand and I later found out that buckets are better because the foals can aspirate if fed through a bottle. My family and friends and I worked in 2 hour shifts feeding and playing with Jewel. During the first week I also tied her dam for her to nurse 4 times a day. Since the ranch we were boarding at was 1/2 hour away, we decided to move our horses to a closer location at 2 weeks of age. The new farm had a mare who immediately fell in love with the orphan so we placed them together. At first, Jewel was terrified of the mare, but after hours of supervision we saw her become more trusting. She didn't dare try to nurse off of the mare and by that time she was used to her replacer anyway. The mare treated Jewel like she was her own and we are very fortunate for that. Many people told me that my foal would be stunted and that she would never socially adapt. I was also told that she would have no manners because she was so spoiled. All I can say is that she has proven everyone wrong. At just 2 years old this month, she is already taller than her sire and dam and she is compatible with just about every horse she sees. She is also the sweetest, smartest, and best behaved foal I have ever worked with. I even ended up doing my senior project on "The feeding protocoals for hand-rearing orphan foals." She is my inspiration and because of her I am in the process of opening a facility that will hand-raise orphan foals and help others who are presented with the same unfortunate conditions. I am sure by the time you read this you will already have a solution since your foal is now a couple months old, but feel free to email me with any questions: starstudded98@hotmail.com We are in the process of building our website, but when it's finished it will have Jewels story, pictures, and info for others. It can later be found at: www.shadowfarms.com Hopefully you have found your foal a surrogate or a companion. It should be done with caution though, because many horses will not accept an outsider like that. Also, don't just follow the directions of the replacer for feeding amounts and times. Every foal is different and you should speak to a vet or equine nutritionist. Many times, contacting a University like Davis or Cal Poly Pomona can be the most beneficial. Email me if you have any questions.
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