[Mutrok]

Originally Posted by CowGirlUp1833

Usually because they get rebred....

but a mare in a pasture is much different then a wild one....

Well of course But just the same there are many cases of mares both in the wild and domesticated who will wean the foal themselves even without being rebred. And then a lot of the time the mare will not tollerate being with the foal anymore.

[Solsalia]

Why is it convenient?

As others have said they do not need to nurse for nutritional value and it is taking away from the mare. Just as woman nurses her baby if she does not keep up on her vitamins/nutrition they will be taken away from her and given to the baby. I was told I need to make sure I keep calcium in my diet when nursing because after a certain age/time I will not absorb anymore and it will be taken from my body and I cannot replace it. Hence why a lot of women get Osteoporosis when older. This could be taking unnecessary minerals/vitamins from your mare.

[Haas Horse Farm]

IMHO:Its convenient because they do not have to do anything.... sad that someone wants to have the offspring suffer in the long run because they do not want to go through what it takes to wean one. The longer they wait the worse it will be. Unfortunately they are not the only ones I know that have this going on.

[Xiphias]

I am a believer in weaning them by 6 months....the guy up the road, did not wean his POA pony from it's dam, and even though he rebred the dam, he did not think she was in foal...well she was, she had the foal out in the pasture, the yearling would not let the foal nurse, and the foal died....that was so sad, it was a beautifully marked filly foal too....they really need to be weaned...for more reasons than one...Cathy

[faroutfax]

We let Dutchess and Lady wean tem selves. But in all honeslt I don't think I'd do it again. If there is any way you can separate them I would. It took Lady 3 years to wean Dutchess!

[CJ]

The biggest basketcase horse Ive ever seen in my life I think was- a filly who was not weaned until she was brought in to be broken- at 18 mos. ALL that horse did was stand +- in its stall and BUCK. Im not even sure what her face looked like; we rarely saw it. Physically there might not be a reason to wean. Pscyhologically, Oh Yeah, IMO.

[romyhorse]

Originally Posted by solsalia

Why is it convenient?

As others have said they do not need to nurse for nutritional value and it is taking away from the mare. Just as woman nurses her baby if she does not keep up on her vitamins/nutrition they will be taken away from her and given to the baby. I was told I need to make sure I keep calcium in my diet when nursing because after a certain age/time I will not absorb anymore and it will be taken from my body and I cannot replace it. Hence why a lot of women get Osteoporosis when older. This could be taking unnecessary minerals/vitamins from your mare.

I have to agree. When my mare was put down we were offered a nurse mare for her foal. The nurse mare had just had her foal weaned. We thought this was a bit strange as it was just the start of the foaling season, so we queried this. It turned out the weanling was actually a yearling! We didn't take up the offer as we thought it would be too much of a strain on the mare.

[4hooves4me2]

Originally Posted by Haas Horse Farm

IMHO:Its convenient because they do not have to do anything.... sad that someone wants to have the offspring suffer in the long run because they do not want to go through what it takes to wean one. The longer they wait the worse it will be. Unfortunately they are not the only ones I know that have this going on.

That was so pleasantly stated-with truth throughout!!

[harli36]

Originally Posted by Haas Horse Farm

It is common sense that says if you wean them at 4 to 6 months that both the mare and offspring do better.

Really that's news to me. We used to let the foals wean themselves. This however wasn't a large breeding operation and the mares weren't bred back to foal the next year. The foals and dams were usually sick of each other around 8 or 10 months. But around 6 months or so, depending on what we were doing with those horses that year, the mares were expected to start working again. So the foals would have to be content in their pasture by themselves or with the babysitter horse for periods of time. The foals were also worked with every day too. IME these foals were easier to work with then foals who were weaned at 4 or 6 months but also worked every day. The key is to make sure that they are worked with just like any other horse. If you let them rot away in a pasture for a year or however long of course there is going to be problems. But IMO even though the milk isn't doing much nutritionally it's important for the foal mentally. THe foals that were weaned later on were very mentally stable foals and were like that the rest of their lives.

All the horror stories you hear about foals who were weaned late is usually due to negligence in working with the foal from day one.

A yearling still on his dam does seem to be excessive though. By this time the foal should be comfortable staying with other horses and he should be getting worked with. If him and Mom can do that just fine then I don't see a problem with it. Sometimes they do completely wean themselves even though no official weaning by the owner has been done. If that is the case then count your lucky stars and no need to worry any more.

There was one foal I worked with who was never officially weaned from his dam but after he was 7 months old or so you would never even know he belonged to her. He shared a pasture with her and a few other horses and was a complete joy to work with.

[aBreeze]

Obviously I need to clarify a few things.

Stella is an 8yr Shetland Pony mare, and Tulah is her first and only foal.

They spend the night together in a 12x12 stall, then in the morning Stell goes out into a pasture with a herd of horses, and Tulah either goes into a paddock or gets babysat by her "Grandma" (an old, arthritic mare whom has the run of the property but rarely goes farther than 100ft from her stall).

Depending on which paddock Tul's goes in she may or may not have access to her mama's milk through the fence.

Stella is ridden once or twice a week, and goes to a show every other weekend. Tulah stays home.

Tulah is halterbroke, leads, stands tied, picks up her feet, clips, etc. We are working on disengaging her hindquarters.

So thats basically what I have...

Here is a photo of Stella from this weekend at a show.


and Talulah a month ago...