Agressive mare with her foal...

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DancinWithDiamonds

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Ontario, Canada
Some of you may remember the drama surrounding my TB mare and her strange behaviour towards her foal. Pawing at him, being agressive towards him, etc. We put them out on 24/7 turnout, and things were great until this weekend. Zoey kicked her foal right in the head, and broke his nose. He still eats his grain, drinks water, and nurses a bit. However, he is still underweight, nurses less and less each day from him momma and he seems scared of her now. She was out on a breeding lease, but they are terminating the lease, given her poor mothering skills. Baby is 3 weeks old, and now I have to bring them home. This is a 6 hour trailer ride, and I dont know how to go about it. Mom and baby will definitely be separated as soon as they come home, he will only be a month old, but I have a surrogate who will take a foal without question, so at least he had a mother figure. I would really apprecaite any suggestions...once I work this out, they are coming home!!
 
In a dangerous situation such as this, six hours will seem like six months.

That is one long jouney under these special circumstances and I would hate to even think of the hazzards that you can face on the road in a mess like this.

I would sell the mare where she sits and bring the baby home.
 
Could someone travel in the trailer with them and you could build a divider similsr to a creep feeder so the foal can see momma but cannot get hurt by her.

That is so SAD, is she a first time mother. Poor foal must be very tramatic for him/her.
 
Marty, beleive me, I thought of selling the mare, but I just can't. She was the one horse in the world that taught me the most. She is not riding sound anymore, and obviously not a good mom at all, but I owe her a good retirement at the very least for what she's done for me.

We had a creep feeder area in her stall, to try and give the foal a "safe place" to lie down without mom stepping all over him, but she proceeded to rip it off the wall so she could get to him.

Talking with some other people, I think I may just ship them up in two different trailers, and put my mini gelding in with the foal until I can introduce him to his new momma.
 
I am just wondering if bringing them home may very well be the answer.

How stressed out has she been since away from home? Was she that way before leaving?

I have a boy who was nutso when away, but once home he was great. Wondering if on some level it may be the same and she just needs to be home.

Good luck.
 
She was always a mare who took time to get settled when we were showing. She only moved a few times in her life. When she was 10 she went from BC to Ontario. When I bought her, she came home after a few hours in the trailer I though for sure she would be anxious, but she surprised me, and settled in well. I thought for sure when she left on the lease she would take at least a few weeks to settle down (which is why she left early in the pregnancy) but she settled right away, made friends with the other mare there. She kept good weight, never paced in her field, even got used to the bugs, and loved her 24/7 turnout arrangement. About 3 days after the baby was born, she started acting all crazy. She came into heat, and everything escalated. She was going to be re-bred, but had a positive culture, and then broke her baby's nose. The woman leasing was breeding for re-sale, and just didn't want to take the chance with this mare. Of course, I completely understand. I just never thought she would be that bad of a mom. I expected a few mistakes, but never this....
 
Talking with some other people, I think I may just ship them up in two different trailers, and put my mini gelding in with the foal until I can introduce him to his new momma.

Sounds like a plan that makes sense to me.

I didn't realize that you had a history with this mare. I admire you for wanting to do right by her after she served you well.

Have you ever thought of having some blood work done on this mare? You know like after human women give birth their hormones go nutty and causes them to get post pardome depression and act all goofy. So why can't this happen in mares? They tell me after I gave birth I was no bowl of cherries........

I have a half TB nut case here too. Could have sold him ten times over when he was at the top of his game, but I didnt' because I figured that once anyone knew how hard he was to live with, they would have beat him. His testosterone has always been out of whack and hard to stablize. There have been times when it seemed like he has gone completely insane. Once he's high, man he's high. But I feel like you do. He has served me well and worked hard for me so we're in it together forever too.
 
As the wife of a (now parttime) shipper, you are risking the health of the foal at this time.

The foal needs a shipper who is willing to stop every 2 hours and check on the foal. The foal may need its own feed (with foal lac pellets) and water plus electolytes to encourage drinking.

It's a scarey situation and you need to find a very caring transporter.....even with possibley paying extra for the extra care.

Sorry for being a downer, but just need to warn you. I'm sure you feel you're between a rock and a hard place because the best place for both of them is with you!

MA
 
Thanks for the link Marty, I will look into that. I know that the vet looked her over. Once at birth, and again a day after she started her bad momma behaviour. He did not find anything, I assume he would have been thorough, but you never know...

After thinking it over, I am going to go down myself and ship the foal with my mini gelding. This way, I can be in control of my stops, and I can make sure that the foal drinks, etc. The woman who does all my shipping for me (she is an absolutel doll) is going to bring my mare up for me next time she needs to fill a spot on her trailer.

I appreciate everyone's input. I will get around to posting pictures when they are home. My foal looks a bit like the character Alf because of the swelling in his nose, but he's being a real trooper!
 
Hi - I read your post above several times to be sure I was reading it right. I remember when this foal was first born too. I don't mean to be insulting (believe me!) but I'm wondering, if this mare is such a bad mamma, was she sent out to be bred again? You might want to rethink that? Is that what you mean by "out on a breeding lease?" Or was she sent to another farm so they could use her as a broodmare, being bred again, nonetheless.

How is it known that she wouldn't treat another foal the same? Sorry, but kicking him & breaking his nose is almost equal to trying to kill him.

I understand this is her first & sometimes mares just don't get it. But, you do realize, this behavior might not change just 'cause it's a different foal?? I'm sorry, I really don't mean to offend you in anyway. I'm just wondering about these things.....................The mare might be wonderful for you in all other ways, just maybe not meant to care for a foal?

I hope your diilemma works out. Sounds like the right track with your using two separate trailers. Good luck. Let us know how it works, ok? & please keep us posted on the little boy's progress.
 
That poor baby, I'm glad you'll be separating him from his mom and bringing him home with the gelding. It'll be alot of work but he's gotten the best milk from mama and now you'll have to do the job. I'll pray for you both. I admire your devotion to the mare in her later days but I must agree she doesn't seem like a good candidate for a brood mare. A pasture ornament sounds better. Please let us know how the colt (his name? a pic) is doing.
 
I am NOT going to be using this mare as a broodmare anymore. It is more than obvious now that she no longer is being clumsy. Many people told me to give her a few weeks to settle into motherhood, she was just getting used to it, etc. The breeding lease is not going to be continued, it is just not a safe situation. I'm going to start a new thread for advice about raising an orphan foal, I will post a picture of him there....
 
It sounds like you've got all your ducks in a row for this baby to blossom. It's a hard decision to make, isn't it? Good luck to you & to him.
 

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