Getting advice about foals

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zoey829

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When do you Introduce mares and foals together? When do you turn them out with the rest of the herd? When do you leave mare and foal outside with just a lean too? Or do you bring them in every night?
 
With our foals, I do not introduce pairs until the foals are 2-3 weeks old, and when I do begin turning them out together I only start with two pairs who get along well together and work from there.. Our mare/foal pairs come into the main barn at night..
 
Our foals go out with other mare and foals as soon as they are born. Then at about six to seven days during breeding season they go into the pasture of the stallion they are scheduled to be bred.

mares_foalsDSC_2318.jpg
 
I love your pic!! That is so cute! I have 2 mares that are best buddies and I was thinking about leaving them together. One foal is 1.5 wk and the other is just a couple days. I was worried about kicking. But they share a fence line. We tried it for a couple hrs and had a great response. They were so happy. I was just worried about doing it for a longer pd of time.
 
As long as the birth was normal and both mom and baby are healthy, we give them at least 24 together for bonding. Then we turn them out daily with other mares and babies. As long as we have the stall available, we allow the mom and newborn to be in their own stall at night. However, we have a barn set up with a large indoor central area, and we use that for our slightly older newborns at night too.
 
we have an area where the mare and new foal

can be turned out alone but come up to the gate to visit the other mares

mom gets used the other mares through the fence and gets less protective.

usually 1-2 weeks depending on our schedule they go back with the other mares

we usualy add 1 other mare then a couple hours later maybe another

an so on so the mare and new foal aren't too overwhelmed with all the attention

then just leave the gates open usually the heard of mares without the foal go into the

area they haven't been and and mom and baby go investigate the other area

so they are usually separate for a couple hours anyway by choice then slowly

work their way together. But we are sure its a day where we can keep a good eye on things

Our horses are all in stalls at night babies included

it has worked for us so far

Lori
 
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I have a nice big foaling stall 10'x14' so if the weather is rainy or cold when they are a few hours old, they can stay inside and still have room to move around. I do try to get them outside for a few hours if it is nice weather.

For the first week I put them out with a blankie on in a paddock with a run-in shed, no other horses around, during the day, and in the stall at night. Then if the mare is more dominant, they go out with the herd of mares (I only have 5 mares) during the day, I make sure they have plenty of room to move around. They still go in the stall at night for the first few weeks.
 
I have an are plus field so they have plenty of room. The mares just want to be together. I did it yesterday for a few hours and stalled them at night. I usually wait about 2 wks but these mare are leaving the foals to be next to each other It is really cute how they act
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Oh by the way. Why I ask???? We had a filly Wed. I will post pics tonight! Thanks to Mare Stare I got a call around 12:05 and was able to monitor!!
 

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