Weaning a foal when you only own him and his dam?

IMO four months is way too early, and would only wean at six months if the foal was ready for a good home at that point. I have not weaned earlier than eight months, but do force weaning because you can't always rely on the dam to do it if there aren't other horses and if she isn't bred back. I've heard stories of dams who still have two year old + foals that still nurse.

My advice would be to wean when you have acceptable accommodations, ie, a stall or strong corral. If the foal doesn't have to be anywhere, and you're keeping him, there is no point weaning that early. As the months go by the foal nurses less and less anyway, therefore the mare has less demand to meet than when the foal is nursing heavy.

Work on keeping them separate while you work with them too, and work on that early, so that buddy sour issues are kept to a minimum from the start. I still have a mare and her two year old gelding together and the only time they get antsy is if there is hard work involved, because they want to play. Any other time, totally okay.

ETA: Breed has nothing to do with it... a mare always cares about her foals regardless of age. If she purposefully weans them that early then there is something wrong, either in how much milk she is producing or with the foal and she refuses to care for it. That is not natural or acceptable in any way and could be potentially damaging to the foal's health as it struggles to meet the demands of it's incredibly quickly growing body. There is a *reason* the foal nurses naturally until the age of a year or so. If this behavior stops then there is something wrong, and that foal needs to be on a milk replacer.

I had another foal which by far preferred people to his dam, and while she was fine with him being gone that didn't mean she didn't care about him. She knew he was okay, and so she was okay. Same thing with herd weaning -- they are aware of the situation they're going into.

ETA: I highly doubt it, if you keep up with a working routine. I took my foals out regularly for walks around the property where the dam could not see them and everyone was absolutely fine. I could take them both apart for longer periods of time without so much as a nicker when they saw each other again. You just have to keep with it, make sure that they both trust you and your judgement and will be okay on their own. Their self-confidence must be strong to remain solitary for any length of time. It may be that your mare has those self-confidence issues and doesn't trust herself, so she needs to realize that she is a strong and capable individual too. With her I would press a lot of desensitizing exercises to new, engaging things and do more engaging activities which gets her to thinking. The more she thinks, the more likely she will be to evaluate a situation thoughtfully rather than instinctively.

About OCD. Not uncommon in large, heavy breeds, but you can see it anywhere that growth is "forced" by heavy feeding. The foal won't nurse more than his body tells him to, but he will eat and eat and eat yummy grain until his little tummy spilleth over (literally). I never fed my foals more than one pound of concentrates at a time, in a single day. Feeding recommendations say this and that, but that is very, very subjective. A foal does not require concentrated feeds in ideal situations, and they shouldn't be fed to speed anything up, only as a supplement to provide nutrients that may be missing in their forage, or what the mare is providing.

My last one (thank the gods), was on half a pound of SafeChoice and half a pound of Equine Senior. He had all the grass hay he could want, and at eight months before he was sold I monitored him nursing between two and four times a day. His condition was great, and the mare looked fantastic. He was a very handsome boy, and I hear that he still is, apparently out of a herd of eight he gets the most complements. :)

NO sweet feeds, for anyone.*

Is your vet experienced with growth deformities in foals? I would have a chat with him/her about your feelings on your foal's chance of developing lesions and see what kind of feed they would recommend based on how the mare keeps up with early nursing and how much forage the foal is eating.

* http://www.ker.com/library/EquineReview/2002/Nutri...

It would be really hard on each of them without buddies around to help the weaning transition. Let nature take it's course. Four months is not a hard and fast rule anyway it's just human convention to get the foal off the mare quicker so she doesn't drip body condition as most broodmares drop a foal each and every year. There's nothing wrong with leaving him in there.

In terms of working with one and removing the other, I would just work with each of them when the other is in sight and don't try and separate them. They will both go nutz and then what kind of training will happen.??.. Don't tie the foal ever, if you have a pull back or a trap situation the foal could seriously damage himself. Let him follow and do his own thing. The mare you may have to tie to a fence post (if they are sturdy enough) or ground tie if she tries to be aggressive to you to "protect" the baby but hopefully the older mare knows already how to tie. But, she may be just fine if you want to do some work leading him and ground schooling. Mares often fall into one camp or the other super aggressive or mellow.

Just follow the horse and foals lead as to what they can accept. There's no rush. You have plenty of time.

I discover that the results is ordinarily worse whilst individuals attempt to step by step wean a mare and foal. Taking them aside for little bits at a time or stalling them beside each and every different is solely teasing and the mare or foal regularly increase unsafe behaviors as they you need to be with each and every different once more. They ought to be separated thoroughly. They will have to now not be stalled or grew to become out close each and every different. They will have to now not be capable to look or scent one a further. Make definite each and every have a minimum of yet another pasture mate so they don't get lonely or distressed. Eventually, they're going to bond with their new pasture mate(s) and now not be desperately making an attempt to go back to one another considering that they're going to now not assume to be reunited. I labored for an equine vet for 4 years and we housed approximately 50 thoroughbred brood mares for a customer. We weaned the entire foals bloodless turkey once they had been historical adequate. There was once plenty of yelling for an afternoon or 2 after weaning after which every body settled down and was once excellent.

I actually removed my colt from the property. I realize that may not be feasible in your case, but it worked well for me. I loaded them both up and took him to another ranch to play with a filly a little older than him. Brought him back a month or so later and all was well.

honestly I would just let the dam wean him. when it's time she'll let him know that he's not getting anymore milk! Let nature take it's course. It's natural and there is a lot less stress for the foal and mother! :)

Let me ask you this. How much would you like it if you had a new baby and four months in, I snatched him away from you? I can assure you that that mare did have a problem with weaning in the past, you just failed to notice it. Weaning is cruel and bad for horses. It causes anxiety for mother and foal and develops bad habits in foals because mom isn't there to teach them how to behave properly. This is how crabby and anxious horses develop.