Foals and horses???

Question

I don't need advice on caring for foals, I'm beyond experienced. Unfortunately I have always had foals with other mares and foals. Has anyone had a problem put a mare and foal out with a single mare??? I have a pony and foal with a draft cross who is only 15.3 hands. Her and the pony got along great but since she has foaled I have been keeping them seperate. Now I would like to join them in what I would like to call my safe field. I'm still uncertain about this cause my draft can be quite the *****. Foals are curious and I'm worried about her turning on him when he goes to investigate. Has anyone been in a situation like this and was impressed on how it actually turned out? Since its a big open field I'm not to worried about trouble but if they come into the small barnyard, thats where I worry. I worry with her cornering the foal. I'm pretty sure I have my answer already but would like to hear others stories on how its turned out for you.

Answer 1

We had a mare that was super protective over her foal.  It took a few weeks of turning out into a small paddock so the others could sniff and the mare got tired of giving chase to them over the fence.

Like IBBUD said...they eventually tire of the new foal and everyone goes their own way.  

What we did was then turn the mare and foal out with a less dominant of the herd then slowly add to it..all the while they all have a shared fence line.

Normally we never turned the mare and foal out with others....just in case.  Don't want to have a mishap or a death.  Too much $ at stake to lose.

Takes just one "oops. wrong udder" to create a situation.

Answer 2

they should be fine, but always watch them-- i had a mare that lost her baby take a foal from another-- and then raised it like her own. so just be care full- you never know. good luck and congrats on the baby!

Answer 3

Each situation is going to be different, but we have all mixed herds where I board my mare.  Many formerly bully horses will get all lovey and fatherly (or motherly) over a new foal.  Mares are usually very protective of their foals and will not let a bully to close to them.  We have never had any bad experiences with mare and foal being out with a group of other horses.  They only bred one mare a year, so there were no baby groups to turn them out with.

Personally, I do not foresee and problems, but it is up to you, of course.

Answer 4

I've had three separate incidents with mares, foals and former horsey friends.  In '82 I had a TB mare who until she foaled got along with all the horses at the barn I was boarding at.  Then her colt came along and she'd hit the pipe railings of her stall trying to kill EVERYTHING equine that came within range.  I didn't even think about turning her and her baby out with anybody.

After that, I had a AQHA mare who with her filly, I'd turn out with a friend's Arab mare and her colt.  No problems there, both mares had babies of their own.

Then, there's this year's current foal.  Her 1/2 sister was ALWAYS turned out with her AQHA mom before mom foaled.  Now mom wants her to stay FAR away from her little sister and my now 3 yr old AQHA filly was devistated that mom didn't want her around, until my old gelding took her under his wing so to speak...

I figure by the end of this month, mom will start to lose interest in this new filly...(Thank you God!)...

Answer 5

I just went through this. I had one mare who was being wicked as she'd lost twins this spring and maybe she was jealous. The first trip out was a fiasco as I did it wrong by trying to put the new pair out into the herd without intros. So I waited a couple weeks and I arranged it so that the dam and foal could be in an area where the other horses could get used to them over a fence. After about a week, I let the mare & foal out first, then let out one other horse at a time. By now, the mom was not so possesive, the foal was older and stronger and the novelty had worn off for the other horses. It went fine, the problem mare was no longer interested and they all get along very well.