Protective Mare

[shannonw]

Our mare foaled yesterday morning! She had a colt! I will post pics later; he is a cutie! Anyway, she is doing a great job taking care of the little guy but is extremely protective of him. She will not hardly let us pet her let alone get a hold of the foal. She tried to kick me yesterday, tried to kick my husband this morning, and did kick our gelding. We have a small place so it is hard to keep everyone separated. Right now we have them in the pen we have for our rabbits so she and the foal can keep separate from the other animals right now.

I am pretty sure her being so protective is normal, but how long does this phase last? She has never had this sort of demeanor before and it is pretty upsetting to see her so agitated. Is there anything we should or shouldn't do when being around her? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Holly at WhiteTailsMinis]

Hello! Congratulations on your new foal.

As for the mare is she a maiden? It will take a couple of days for the protectiveness to wear off. She will come around. If she is a maiden this is all new to her. We had one this year that was a maiden and before she had her baby, you could touch her all over, brush her and pet her and she wouldnt care. She didnt like her bag being touched though. So we were a little worried that when she foaled that she wouldnt let the baby nurse. But nope, she let that baby latch right on with no problems. But she wouldnt let you touch her. She would put her hears back and spin her butt around. She even tried to kick a couple of times. And no way would she let you even look at her baby. She would move her and the baby to the back of the stall and hide it. In order for us to take care of the foal when it was born we had to put food in front of her face and snatch the baby and take it to the stall next to hers so she could at least see her baby. We would do what we had to, to the foal then put it back. But after a couple of days she was fine. We could touch her and put a halter on her, and we could love the baby. It will take a couple of days, but just take it easy and let her know that you are not going to hurt the baby, lol and she will come around.

Enjoy you new baby!

 

[Make A Wish Miniatures]

She is just being very protective. I have a mare who is like that only worse. Don't turn your back on her when you go into the stall. I kept a short catch strap on my mare for about two weeks or you could not even get near her she would bare her teeth at you or turn around and kick. I you want to mess with the baby I would suggest you have someone else hold the mare and give her a treat or some alfalfa to keep her mind of the foal. would definetely not put her out with other horses or the foal could get in the middle of a kicking match. I you don't have a lot of turn out space maybe you could alternate horses. My mare does this every time she foals but it will get better . Let her be alone with her foal so she does not have to worry that the other horses are going to take it. By the time weaning time comes my mare can't wait to get rid of her foal. Good luck,but be careful

 

[Tab]

I'd simply tie the mare so that I could handle the foal consistently. It will help in the process of gentling the colt once he finds that you aren't the enemy, and it will teach the mare to relax and trust you around her foal. Keep working with them and you will make progress! Hope this helps.

 

[shannonw]

Thanks so much for the replies! Yes, she is a maiden mare. This is a first for all of us...lol Holly, it sounds like exactly the same situation you had with your mare. I am so happy that she is taking to her foal so well. It is a relief to know that she will ease up in a few days.

 

[Holly at WhiteTailsMinis]

OH your so welcome Shannon. I also just want to say with this mare, I found it alot easier and calmer when only one person was trying to earn the mothers trust with her and the baby. I would talk to the mare sweet and softly. And it seemed alot better when it was quiet around the barn. When the mare would be eating I would go through the door in the back of her stall and coax the baby to come to me and I would slowly and quietly touch the baby so the baby wouldnt run off and act like something happened to it. And the mother would turn around to see what I was doing with her baby and to see that I wasnt huring her baby, and she would go about her business eating. This was my experience with a VERY protective mother. Its going to be different with alot of people, and alot of others are going to have other ways of handling this kind of situation. But this is what worked for us ( I also have a way with stubburn horses, they seem to click to me, I think its soft talking, lol ). I hope this helps and that your mare should come around soon. Its just all to new to her.

 

[AnnaC]

Firstly let me say many congratulations on your new healthy colt

Secondly may I also say how lucky you are to have a caring, protective mare! She is following her instincts at the moment and IMO anything you do to try to 'break' those instincts is only going to stress and frustrate her. Here we are strong believers in the fact that babies belong to their Mommas, they are not ours to fuss and fiddle with. We are always there for the birth to offer assistance if necessary, to help break the bag and to dip the cord. After that there is a warm feed for Momma and pain relief, again if necessary, then we are 'out of there'! O focurse we are watching for the afterbirth to fall away, to collect it and inspect it, but other than that and keeping an eye on the progress of the foal, we do not interfere in any way. The mare is left to bond with her baby in peace and quiet - we have also found that babies learn to drink a lot more quickly if left alone, instinct will drive it to keep looking for Mommas 'sweet nectar' even if it takes several hours! We used to have a lot more trouble in the past when we got over anxious about baby drinking, and used to try and assist. (All this is supposing that there is nothing wrong with either mare or foal)

For the next day or so Momma and baby go out into their own private space, which is when we muck out the stable and bed up again. After the first day some of our mare are happy for us to clean up their droppings/stables when they are in there - again we ignore the foals - but some are not and we respect that and simply continue doing the stable when they are out of the way. On day two or three they are able to join the other mares and foals during the daytime (all mares and babies are in at nights for at least two to three weeks depending upon the weather) - I would never allow them to join a mixed batch of horses at this stage.

Rightly or wrongly, doing it this way, we seem to end up with relaxed mares who are happy to bring their babies over to see us when we visit their field in the day and babies who have no fear of us as we have never forced ourselves on them in those first few days. In fact the babies just wont leave us alone and by day four or five we are bombarded with little bodies if we sit down on the grass in their field LOL!! Visitors always ask what we do to make our foals so friendly, and we can truthfully say' absolutely nothing'!

My advice to you would be to leave your little mare and foal well alone to give her the confidence that you will not interfere with her foal. As it is apparent that she is a good Momma, can you get your other horses stabled for at least half the day, so she can have space to herself - your foal may well get injured otherwise and Momma's milk supply could be affected by the stress of proteting her baby.

A couple of pics to prove my point (although I will state again that the above is the way we choose to 'handle' things and just my personal opinion).

Three day old foals...

And four and five day old foals...

Wishing you good luck!

Anna

 

[wantminimore]

Anna C, your place is beautiful!!

I have a mare, not maiden, that after she has a foal you cannot get near her or the baby until it's about a month old, she'll charge at you with her teeth ready to bite

.

Congrats on your foal and good luck.

 

[shannonw]

Anna - Your place is beautiful! I wish we had that much space. Right now I have mom and foal in a small fenced area we have for our rabbits. It has cover and a block from the wind. We are plenty warm here so no worries about the cold at night. She is actually much happier this afternoon than she was this morning. I left her alone all day except to go in to give her fresh water, feed, and hay. While she was eating I had to dip the umbilical stump and she seemed fine with that. I think this morning she was a little stressed because both my husband and I were in there with her. She has never completely warmed up to my husband so that could have added to her behavior too.

We have a round pen so maybe tomorrow I will put our gelding in there and put the goats up in their pen so she and her foal will have some time to get out for a while without worrying about the other animals.

Thanks again for all the advice!