ORPHAN FOAL
- Thread starter GAILS
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LisaF.
Guest
I must have missed your first post so I am really not sure what you are doing.
I will never forget my orphan foal....His name is Charmer and he is a beautiful gelding right now.
Anyway, back to what I was saying...I will always give credit to Laura from Flying A farm for helping me save my foal. I started out with Foal lack powder and fed him from a regular baby bottle. ( I cut the nipple to make it larger) and then went on to Foal Lack Pellets when he was older. That was so many years ago, I can't remember how often or how much. If I remember right I fed Charmer in the beginning every two hours out of the bottle.
You may already be doing this I am not sure. So, I hope I am not giving you information you already know since I missed the first post.
Please don't worry about asking so many questions. I think without my vet and this forum I would have lost Charmer.
I wish I could help more. I will keep watching this thread and if I can think of anything else I will let you know.
I will never forget my orphan foal....His name is Charmer and he is a beautiful gelding right now.
Anyway, back to what I was saying...I will always give credit to Laura from Flying A farm for helping me save my foal. I started out with Foal lack powder and fed him from a regular baby bottle. ( I cut the nipple to make it larger) and then went on to Foal Lack Pellets when he was older. That was so many years ago, I can't remember how often or how much. If I remember right I fed Charmer in the beginning every two hours out of the bottle.
You may already be doing this I am not sure. So, I hope I am not giving you information you already know since I missed the first post.
Please don't worry about asking so many questions. I think without my vet and this forum I would have lost Charmer.
I wish I could help more. I will keep watching this thread and if I can think of anything else I will let you know.
Lucky-C-Acres-Minis
Well-Known Member
One big thing is to make sure you treat the foal as a horse and not as a 'pet', if you can find him/her a buddy, whether another mini or perhaps a goat, that way he/she won't get as attached to you.. Our orphan filly (who's now a 2 year old) can be a royal PITR because at the time we had no way of getting her a buddy at first, but come weaning time, we buddied her up with another filly we had born and to this day they are bets buds, though the orphan gal still craves much more attention from us then any of the others..
Mona
Well-Known Member
Thankfully, I do not have experience with an orphaned foals, but I do remember reading that you are not to let them get spoiled...as in do not let them get away with doing things to you that you would not tollerate from any other horse. They can get spoiled and grow up to be an ill-mannered horse.
Good Luck with your baby!
Awww...thanks Lisa, I was glad to help
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LisaF.
Guest
Your welcome Laura...and I do feel in all my heart you are the one that helped save Charmer.
Gail,
As I remember, your little orphan is already eating from a bucket, right? Once the feeding problem is taken care of.......then, expect to worm and vaccinate a little earlier than you would other foals.
As has been posted above, the other important thing is to make sure your foal KNOWS THEY ARE A HORSE. We were fortunate that we had a filly born within a day or so of our little orphan guy, so we made him spend most of his time with that filly and her mom. He was also turned out with the moms and babies on pasture daily. Yes, he knew he was "special".....and still does, but he gets treated like a horse too.
As I remember, your little orphan is already eating from a bucket, right? Once the feeding problem is taken care of.......then, expect to worm and vaccinate a little earlier than you would other foals.
As has been posted above, the other important thing is to make sure your foal KNOWS THEY ARE A HORSE. We were fortunate that we had a filly born within a day or so of our little orphan guy, so we made him spend most of his time with that filly and her mom. He was also turned out with the moms and babies on pasture daily. Yes, he knew he was "special".....and still does, but he gets treated like a horse too.
l so agree treating them as a horse is all important...l only wish l would have known that before l spoiled our orphand because l felt so bad her mom died who fast got out of hand and was a royal pain to train and as she aged have respect for humans..she's good now but took 3 years of hard work getting her to that point.
