Foal Proud Mares !

I've started a new thread re: foal proud mares- please delete admin if in the wrong place !

my rescue mare who foaled yesterday is extremely foal proud, she has threatened to kick so many times and even double barrelled me - thank goodness the stable door was between us !

Once the foal was born we left her alone and watched from the camera, everything was fine until i went into the stable some 4 hours later and she made it perfectly clear it was her baby !!!!!!!

I've never had a foal proud mare - HELP

You'll probably need to catch the mare, and tie her in sight of her foal or have someone knowledgeable hold her; just so you can do necessary things to the foal like dip navel. Otherwise, at least for the first week, mostly let momma take care of her baby; after about a week, she should lessen her protectiveness some, and hopefully let you handle her baby.

Good advice. Some mommas will be in "protect mode" for several days after the birth. That's fine, as the bonding is important. Once baby starts running around and driving her crazy, you'll probably see that attitude change -- as she'll start looking for some "relief" from the craziness! LOL

Never heard it called that before - new term for me ("foal proud").

When you do handle this baby - please, please, please - make sure that the BABY is between you and the mare - ALWAYS. If the baby moves (or the mare does) - move it around until you have the baby between you and the mare again. It becomes a very real dance (w/ full size horses - it can be a dance for life - literally).

Also, the person handling the mare should be knowledgeable in handling aggressive horses - as that is what the mare is. Again, the handler handling her should not get between her and her foal. YES, she's protecting her baby. But that can still be very dangerous. And minis may be small, but they can do a lot of damage - in a smaller area with teeth (mares favor), fore hooves and rear hooves... I have learned the hard way - and have scars to show for it - from when I was a teenager...

Later, when the mare settles down some what, you can sit in a paddock or pasture (keep an eye on the mare) and wait for baby to approach you. I've found that some babies out of protective/aggressive mares will stay away and others are actually more curious. But that curiosity can make the mare mad - and that's what you have to watch out for when the foal approaches YOU. Even if she appears to have settled down, she may become aggressive and try to move her foal away from you OR attack you.

Chandab - we'd already done the navel dip - thank goodness !

The protectiveness has lessened a little but not much, would just like to get them out on pasture, they do have a little turnout area outside the stable so I leave the door open during the day.

We are very carefull when in her stable, just sitting and waiting for Twix to approach us, at the moment she's not backing up with a warning kick as soon as we enter the stable.

Hopefully she'll settle down soon !

First day out today for Twix and Whisper Gold !

It's taken 8 days for Twix to calm down and would'nt trust her 100% yet but she's happy to have her halter on and be led into her paddock, Whisper had other ideas and went the opposite way ............. Twix did'nt seem to mind as she had her eye on the grass !!

Anyway they both enjoyed some lovely sunshine today !

Awe, they are both so pretty! Glad that she is doing better for you!

So cute now you can give lots of hugs to the baby...or at least when mom is eating grass

What a pretty picture of momma and that sweet little one! Sometimes it's the babies that bring momma around. They are so inquisitive, momma just seems to give up sometimes!