Pool of Knowledge

One of the experiences that brought home this creed  began several years ago in the  breeding barn.  An old mare ready to breed with her 10 day old foal was placed in a stall to wait  for her date with the stallion.   We were just finishing up  the breeding of another broodmare when the old gal had a heart attack.  Right there in front of us, she quickly drew her last breath,  leaving an orphaned foal to be raised. 

Fortunately  at the time we were teaching at the University of Maryland and had plenty of  volunteers to help with the little filly.  In fact, the foal ended up getting more care and attention  than it could have possibly received from its biological mother.  For the first six months, the orphan rapidly outgrew its peers in both height and weight gains and maintained this position over the first year.

The orphan filly was a joy to work around.  She thought of herself  more as a human  than horse.  She was turned out with a herd of about fifteen other yearling during the summer. In  the fall she came back into the barn for breaking.  For the next eighteen months the orphaned filly,  Itsasadstory, was kept in training until she was laid off due to a minor injury. Due to her lack luster career, it was decided to put “Story” into the broodmare band.. 

But sending the filly to the breeding farm was the beginning of another sad story.  The  mare  stood at the pasture gate waiting for a human --any human -- to come and give her some  attention.  She did not care to socialize or herd-up with other mares in the field.  Her long wait at the gate limited her grazing time and the mare began to lose weight.  She dropped off so much  that we finally brought her back up for her daily feedings. 

Introduction to becoming a pasture horse then occurred gradually over the course of  several months.   The mare was fed in the barn and was turned out for increasing longer and  longer amounts of time.  Finally, Itasadstory worked through the trauma of separating from people and becoming a broodmare.  We thought we were home free. 

Not true!  With spring came the birth of Anotherstory.  Her mama did not have much problem carrying the foal or birthing the baby.  She would even let the filly nurse with a little encouragement from her human friends.  But that was the extent of her parenting skills. 

She did not lick her foal.  She did not bond with her foal.  She did not teach the foal to follow and stay with her.  Nor did she try to protect the foal. 

For years we had been doing studies on the effect that age at weaning has on the physical well being of foals.  We had weaned foals from six weeks to six months of age measuring weight, height, feed efficiency, pulse, respiration and temperature.  We looked at blood screens and monitored health charts and growth curves.  Analysis of all this data  collected over a seven year period showed essentially little or no differences in these values based on age at weaning as long as the foal’s nutritional needs were met. 

But after seeing a nine day weaning and the subsequent development and birth of the next generation, we questioned whether we were measuring the right things.  Maybe we should be looking at social  traits instead of physical development. 

Reworking the design, we decided to wean two groups: one at eight weeks; one at twenty..  At twenty-four weeks the groups were integrated and their social position measured by determining their pecking order within the herd. 

To get this ranking each foal was pair with its herdmates in a neutral stall and feed was presented in one bucket.  The horse that got control of the feedbucket won the trial and was ranked higher than the loser. 

Lo and behold, the results were unexpected.  All of the later weaned foals were dominant over the early weaned group.  This was true in spite of the fact that the early weaned foals often made more  aggressive type gesturing .In the end, the bolder, more confident, later weaned group 
got the feed. 

During the next two years, this study was continued on fifteen more foals.  The results were  the same. 

Following these young horses into training and handling, we looked for observable differences.  While  scientific studies were not conducted, a couple of  generalizations  jumped out to us. 

Earlier weaned foals were more insecure and therefore more likely to become dependent upon their human trainer. 

Later weaned foals were less fractious and more confident.  They demanded that the trainer earn their respect before they became willing to submit to control.  “When is the best time to wean a foal” is one of our most frequently received questions. The lessons of Itsasadstory and the resulting study on the effect of early weaning on social development have led us to this  answer:  “There is no such thing  as the best time to wean a foal.”  There are many factors that will determine the right answer for you.  The amount of time that is available to care  for the foal and the kinds of facilities available for the housing of young horses are just two of possible management considerations that must be answered on an individual basis. 

The  kind of horse that you want to raise is also a part of the decision making process..  Foals that are aimed towards  performance  in head to head competitions would be best left with their dams as long as possible.  We personally practice this philosophy on our foals headed for the race track.  Somewhere between six and seven months of age, we separate these foals from their dams for about sixty to ninety days.  After the mare has completely dried up, we return the foal to her pasture where the pair remain together for as long as our management system allows.  In some instances, we have left fillies with their dams till the following summer. 

On the other hand, foals that are destined to become companion animals are usually more willing to adopt a human owner as its mentor.  We also implement this weaning practice.  Young horses slated for a life with intense human contact are weaned at about ninety days.  The sooner the process of becoming thoroughly humanized begins, the better.    The goal is not to traumatize the foal but make it feel secure and comfortable around people. 

As for weaning at ten days.  Absolutely not!!  Plan B for orphaned foals:  Get a good nurse mare. 
 

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