Foal care
A foal of any breed requires special care, since its immunity has not yet been formed, the pet is susceptible to various infections. It should be said that the most difficult for both the owner and the foal is the first year of life. At this time, you should pay maximum attention to caring for, feeding and looking after the baby. Foal care begins from the time it is in the womb.
Foal
Features of caring for a pregnant mare
In order for the foal to be born on time, and also not to suffer from diseases, it is worth starting with caring for a pregnant horse. Pregnancy lasts about a year, this is how much a mare bears a baby. Throughout this period, the animal will need special care.
First of all, a foal mare should receive the highest quality feed, which will take into account all her vital needs. You also need to create conditions under which the animal will be maximally protected from stress and worries, because these factors can become the cause of spontaneous abortion. A miscarriage can also occur because the horse has been overfed.
Below is a list of recommendations for caring for a mare in position:
- It is worth abandoning the use of low-quality feed in the diet, giving preference to first-class hay and grain. The same goes for water: you need to ensure that there is enough of it, so that it is clean and fresh. As for water, it is worth giving up cold water during pregnancy, since the animal can get sick if it drinks it.
- Feeding should be done strictly according to the schedule, preferably three meals a day. However, in the last trimester, it is recommended to increase the number of meals to 5, at which time the portions of the diet should, on the contrary, be reduced. You need to water the mare in the same amount.
- It is necessary to try to protect the mare from injuries, fractures and bruises, especially dangerous injuries to the abdomen, where the unborn foal is located.
- During pregnancy, especially in the last months, it is necessary to free the animal from work and any physical activity: this can negatively affect the condition of the foal.
- You need more time to walk the filly: this will benefit the expectant mother and child.
- As for the conditions of detention, the filly should live in a well-ventilated warm room, where she can give birth to a foal and raise it in the future.
It is also worth mentioning that during childbirth it will not be superfluous to have a veterinarian present in case something goes wrong. It is especially not recommended to accept a foal for those who have only recently taken up animal husbandry. Although usually the mare gives birth herself without assistance.
The birth of a foal
Everyone is looking forward to the very moment of the birth of a foal.It is important for the mare to give birth normally, without complications: this will be a kind of guarantee that the baby will not have health problems. So, when this cherished day comes, although usually the birth itself occurs at night, it is worthwhile to properly prepare the stable for the reception of a new resident. For the mare, you need to create a place with a new clean bedding on which she can give birth to a baby. Lack of bedding or drafts will harm both mother and baby.
At the most crucial moment, when the foal passes through the birth canal, you need to stand in such a way that the horse does not see either the owner or any other people. The fact is that the natural instinct at the moment commands the foal mare to retire in order to be left alone with his task.
When self-regulating the process of childbirth, when there is no veterinarian nearby, you need to take care that after birth, the foal is not in the amniotic membrane for a long time. If the mucous membrane did not rupture on its own after contact with the floor or the mother did not lick it, the newborn should be immediately helped, otherwise there is a risk of self-strangulation.
How to organize postpartum foal care
After the foal has lost the amniotic membrane, it is time to cut the umbilical cord, although it also happens that it breaks automatically. It is worth preparing all the necessary sterile instruments in advance. You need to take a silk thread and tie it tightly to the stump of the umbilical cord, forming a tail. Those who first encounter such a procedure should also study in advance how many centimeters you need to retreat from the baby's belly. Usually doctors recommend backing off about 15 cm.
It is also necessary to ensure that the head of the foal is not covered with intrauterine mucus, special attention should be paid to the nostrils. A piece of gauze and a syringe may be required to cleanse the nasal passage. This step cannot be neglected, because sad statistics show that many deaths have occurred from the fact that mucus on the head got into the horse's respiratory tract.
If all the preparatory steps have passed without problems, the horse and natural instincts do the rest. Unlike a human cub, a foal is able to stand up on its own after two to three hours, after which a new stage of care begins - feeding the foal.
Feeding your baby
As in the case of humans, there is nothing better than breastfeeding, because no artificial formula can replace the unique composition of breast milk. If the foal domestic mare does not oppose the fact that the foal sucks milk, the baby, along with calories, receives an irreplaceable supply of vitamins and very important substances. It is believed that the most robust and hardy riding horses are those that have been fed naturally. It is worth saying that during the first month of life, the dairy stallion does not need any other food except milk: it contains all the essentials at the moment.
When the animal reaches the age of 2 months, it is worth thinking about the fact that its diet needs to be enriched with other products. The first complementary food should be oats, but always crushed to the state of flour. If you want to give a whole grain, you must first soften it - boil it, and only then give it to the baby. If you regularly adhere to the foals' feeding schedule, introduce new products gradually, then weaning the baby will pass without problems.
The advantage of proper nutrition for babies is also the fact that the growth of mass in this case occurs faster. The same goes for the growth of muscle mass, so these horses always look attractive. Of course, a lot also happens under the influence of genes and foal breed.
When to wean a foal from its mother
How long does it take for weaning to be painless and easy? This question is asked by many novice livestock breeders. Unfortunately, there is no definite answer to it - it is worth weighing all the factors, such as belonging to a particular breed, the conditions for keeping riding horses and how healthy the newborn foal is at the moment, and only after that figure out the answer. Usually a period of about 6 months is kept, after which the foal is considered an independent adult, which passes into the group of weaners (this includes animals up to one year of age). Thus, usually a horse is separated from a half-year-old foal.
Breeding foals spend a longer time with their mother, which are needed to support the tribe, in this case it is justified. Also, a good reason for a longer stay with the mother is the situation when the foal has diseases or develops more slowly than it should be, then the period of stay with the mother can double.
There are also factors that, on the contrary, accelerate the weaning of foals, including purebred ones. The main reason is the mare's illness, during which she simply cannot feed her child on her own and take care of him enough.
How to separate mom and foal correctly
You already know at what age it is recommended to transfer a foal to weaning groups. However, there are other recommendations that relate to accounting for other conditions, for example, the season. So, the best option is considered to be weaning of young stock in the spring. The fact is that this way the baby will be able to spend the winter next to the mother, who will provide him with food and warmth.
On the forums dedicated to horse breeding and foal breeding, you can read a lot of recommendations and stories from personal experience on separating young stock from their mothers. Experienced breeders recommend carrying out the procedure in this way:
- If there is more than one lactating mare in the herd, then all of them are separated from their children at the same time.
- Riding horses with babies can be brought for feeding. While the mares are busy eating, the young should be discreetly removed from the tail so that the mares do not see it.
- You should try to keep the weaned foals together in the same herd, both in the pasture and in the stable.
How to properly care for foals after weaning from a mare
While the foals were next to their mother, they received food on demand, that is, there was no clear meal schedule. This is due to the physiological structure of the digestive tract of babies, because their stomach has a small volume and simply cannot hold a lot of food. If you immediately start feeding a foal in the same way as an adult riding horse, there is a chance that unpleasant gastrointestinal symptoms will appear: diarrhea (diarrhea), colic and constipation. Moreover, in some especially advanced cases, the condition of the foal's health deteriorates so much that he cannot even stand on his feet.
In order not to provoke the development of such dangerous complications, you need to approach the issue of feeding the baby responsibly from the very beginning. Feeding should begin with minimal portions, allowing the foal's fragile digestive system to fully digest and assimilate the food. At first, you need to feed the animal with fresh hay, chopped oats, carrots and a small proportion of bran.
However, it is not only the question of feeding that interests foal owners. It is also worth talking about the importance of physical activity for young animals. Just like adults, foals need to expend their energy and strength. For this, regular grazing in the fresh air is ideal, during which the baby can move freely, jump and jump, as well as communicate with his relatives.
A healthy foal will never stand still with its head down.This is necessarily a cheerful animal that cannot stand in one place for a minute, but constantly walks somewhere, explores something and shows curiosity.
For the safety of the baby, you need to make sure that there are no potholes and depressions in the pasture that an inexperienced animal can catch on to. By the way, leg injuries in young horses are not uncommon.
Raising a foal
The first thing to worry about when talking about caring for a foal is, of course, health. But this fact does not mean that the upbringing of the animal fades into the background. It is recommended to start direct training of foals no earlier than the moment they reach the age of one and a half years. It is believed that by this time the young horse has gained strength and is ready for a certain kind of stress. Exercise and training normally depends on the purpose for which the foal is raised and what breed it belongs to. For example, heavy draft horses are trained through group lessons, while representatives of purebred tribal riding individuals receive special attention - individual training is provided for them.
As strange as it may sound, you need to choose a suitable nickname for the foal. Usually, when choosing a name, the characteristics of the character, appearance of the pet are taken into account, attention is paid to its distinctive features and characteristics. For example, a skewbald horse can get the name Pegasus, and an animal with golden hair - Golden, with a long tail - Bouncer. As for the sound, for the horse it is worth choosing a name that is easy to pronounce, usually it consists of a maximum of 2 syllables.
What should the lessons be focused on? When training purebred breeding individuals, attention is primarily paid to learning how to run and walk correctly. They usually start with jogging. If we are talking about heavy draft horses, then here you need to work on other skills: on endurance and the ability to carry heavy loads on your feet. Also, in parallel with physical activity, the horse is taught to noise, harsh sounds and other external stimuli that can frighten him.
Typical diseases of foals
There are a huge number of horse diseases, but not all of them can affect young animals. How do you know if something is wrong with a foal? It is possible to determine whether a foal is healthy or not by external signs. If the animal began to eat poorly or completely refuses food, if its weight began to noticeably decrease or its growth stopped, if the gait became shaky and unsure, this indicates that the foal is not healthy. It is recommended not to engage in self-treatment, it is better to immediately seek help from a veterinarian.
Despite this, a first aid kit should be completed to provide first aid to the animal. It usually includes the following:
- sterile gloves;
- syringe (enema);
- syringes;
- cotton wool and bandages;
- hydrogen peroxide;
- tourniquet to stop bleeding;
- local antibacterial agents;
- cooling gel for joints and muscles;
- antipyretic drugs;
- drugs to stop bleeding.
It is worth saying that its cost can range from 5 to 15 thousand rubles.
The most common ailment in a foal is considered to be a joint, or pyemia with streptococcus lesions. It occurs at the stage when the umbilical cord is cut in the newborn foal. The reason for the infection in the animal's body is the unsanitary conditions in the stable and the work with non-sterile devices. The danger of the disease lies in the fact that a fragile organism is not yet able to resist infection, so it spreads with lightning speed. As a result, both internal organs and bones can be affected, due to which the animal is culling.
Conclusion
Earlier, it was repeatedly said that beautiful foals require more close attention from humans than adults, it is much more difficult to leave them due to the not yet strengthened immunity of babies.There is no need to spare time and effort, because it is the foals that are the achievement and wealth of the horse breeder, and therefore their health is of paramount importance. It will depend only on the owner whether it will be possible to grow a healthy and venerable horse of one breed or another from a newborn foal. If you do not pay due attention to the issue, it is quite possible that you will have to grab your head in the future.