I have a week old foal that was fine yesterday...?

Well, if he's a week old, it's probably time to start breaking him.

Grab a rope, get out there, and show him who's boss!

The mare may have mastitus a swollen tight udder and it hurts when the foal tries to nurse. You could put some warm cloths on her udder and massage it lightly, mabe milk a little milk out into a steril bottle.

I do hope you got some Disinfectant on the foals navel as soon after birth as you could. If he was laying in dirty stall or muddy he could have Navel Ill. Not good. Watch him close and try to get him to nurse as a foal will dehydrate very quickly.

When the mother moves away her bag is probably hard it will soften and she will be okay you could give the foal some veggie oil in a syringe and it should make is gut slippery and if there is anything in there it should come out give him about 2-3 syringes of oil

There's several possibilities here, the first thing I'd suggest doing is put the mare's tail up in a bag (quick fix: tube sock) so that the foal will stop chewing on it. It could be that, if he has consumed the hair, that it has formed a blockage in his intestine. Some foals do chew the mare's tail, and will consume the hair. It isn't common but it can happen.

If push comes to shove, milk her to make sure he eats. Check her for signs of discomfort and heat during milking, because it could indicate infection. It could be that she is developing mastitis. This further compromises the mare's health, and she will likely need anti-biotics to clear the infection. If this happens to be the case, you want the vet asap. If you express it as an emergency, your vet should be able to make the call. One of our dogs had developed mastitis and the vet came out on Christmas day.

Given the statements you've made, one other possible situation is that the mare is experiencing her "foal heat" and the texture/consistency/taste of the milk has changed. This will also give the foal scours (check to see if he has very runny stool/diarrhea), so if he isn't hydrated well and drinking (milk and water) then he will be lethargic and the lack of nutrients and liquid can further lead to system failure. Normally foals will continue to nurse during this, but it depends on the mare and the foal. The mare may be incredibly uncomfortable during her heats, and pushes the foal away, or the foal may dislike the taste in the milk due to her hormonal changes.

Do try to schedule the vet for as soon as possible. In the meantime, you can give him supplemental milk but I would advise it be for horses. (IF you can't possibly find a milk supplement for horses -- and check with your vet if you can't find it in a store -- it won't kill the foal to have supplemental calf or lamb milk until you can figure out what's going on with the mare, provided it is *not* medicated.)

If you plan to bottle feed make sure you get a milk replacer designed for horses.

Before i would commit to bottle feeding I would work with the mare and foal a little bit to see if you can teach him to latch properly and get the mare to calm down. I would also braid and tie up Mama's tail. He could be a bit colicky from ingesting a lot of hair. You can also milk the mare yourself and feed her milk to him just to get his strength up. Is he pooping and having gut sounds? Both are very important clues as to what's going on.

Bottle fed babies are not ideal because the Mama teaches them so much while they are in her care. A lot of times orphan foals become aggressive simply because they have not been taught any "horsey" manners.

Try your best to get the mare and foal to sync up. That will be so much easier for you in the long run. Is she a maiden mare?

Unless you want to risk loosing your foal get on the phone and demand he comes now. If he cannot you ring the next vet. I wouldn't think the foal will have eaten her tail.

Have you attempted to hold the mare while your foal feeds. Have you felt her bag is it hot. Have you taken her temperature. If the foal hasn't been feeding right he will have made her sore and full. You can get a bucket and try milking her then bottle feed it to your foal. Was your foal checked by your vet at birth.

no don't give it lambs milk.

Bottle feed it, we had a mare reject her young colt about a month ago. Bottle fed him, he is doing fine now. Luckily we had another mare who likes to steal other foals, she took him in no problem but we still had to feed him.