# When do I put mare and foal with the other horses?



## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

caymanbaby29 said:


> Hello. I have a one week old foal and his mom that I have been keeping separate from my other two horses. Right now they are side by side and today I saw the baby touch noses with both of the other mares. Baby's momma allows it sometimes and other times gets super cranky.
> Before baby came along his mom was in the middle of the herd pecking order. The boss mare is the one I'd be a little concerned about. But maybe I'm overthinking this. As I do. Lol
> What age do you put them all out together?
> Thanks for your time
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


I tend to keep them separated until baby is a month or so from weaning and then I start adding mares. I start with the boss mare and let mom tell her in no uncertain terms how the cow will eat the cabbage, then after they settle in together for about a week I add the least mare, and then maybe 1 more from the middle of the pack. While that baby is on mom she will be in charge no matter what. Then after they've been in the herd for about a month, I take mom off on the trailer and drop her at another farm for a month (my place isn't big enough to just separate them and not have them be able to see or hear each other) while baby gets weaned. After a month, when mom is all dried up, I bring her back and they go back together. I have not had the problem of a foal going back on mom, my mares are like, "Whew, the little tick is off and he's not coming back!" and won't allow them to come back and nurse again.


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## CCBella (Jul 6, 2010)

I've had both my last two foals in with the herd from around 2 months however their dam was and still is the top mare. I kept the other girls on one side of the fence until I was sure they weren't going to be rough with the foal. When I introduced them I moved them one at a time over a period of days into the dams paddock. This meant they were the interlopers not the foal. I didn't have any issues apart from the odd snaky look from the dam.


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

With our last foal, we kept mom (maiden, #3 in the herd) and baby separate for 3 months and then put them all back together again and there was no problem or fussing at all.


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## rookie (May 14, 2012)

We are keeping mom and foal separated from the rest of the herd this year. They share a fence line only. We tried to have our thirty year old mare who has had foals before (about 15 years ago) and is the bottom of the pecking order socially in with the mare and foal. That old mare tried to steal the foal. She stands near the fence line if the foal is near the fence. Thirty year old mare and she has baby lust! I had to promise her she could have the foal when it was weaned. You can never tell who they are are going to react. Be prepared to keep them separate until weaning if they don't all get along.


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## CLaPorte432 (Jan 3, 2012)

At 2 weeks, I let my lowest pecking order mare in with mom and baby. She had been are foals before so there was no issue. I waited until baby was 3 weeks and then let the 2 boys in too. They steered clear of the little one for a week. They would not even look at her...momma was exactly the protector she needed to be. There were no problems.

Baby has grown up with my 4 adults and the low pecking order mare and the top gelding take care of her. Momma does too. They are great and baby is now a yearling.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

When one of the mares came back from the stud with her foal, she was rather possessive of the foal and even though she could see the others she would keep galloping up and down the fence wanting to get in with the others but, panicking if they came near, more wild galloping.

I put my old mare in with her. Initial reaction of the mum was to gallop off and stand in a corner at the top of the field. My old mare followed to about 30yards away, she then turned her butt to them and started grazing. Took about 5 minutes for the pair to be out of the corner and grazing fairly close. Next time I looked the foal was by my mare and mum several yards away. 

It depends on how the others react to the foal, most want to examine to close for the mare to like it. The danger comes if the foal gets in the way of a defensive kick. I would introduce the lower mare first and then the other.


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

If I had more than 1 mare foaling they were kept in a herd and new mom & foal were turned out in a few hours once baby had gotten up and down a few times. In a 1 foal year I usually waited a few days before adding back some of the mares that I knew wouldn't cause any problems. I too have a mare that loves foals and would try to steal them so she was never added to the mix until a few months later.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

I do not know what it was about my mare and foals, she loved them but never stole them! She did foster a foal, she had no milk but was certainly its mother in teaching and looking after her.

I would have mares and foals together, then as weaning neared I would put the yearlings in with them and my mare. You could bet that within a day all the foals congregated to Madam. 

When it came time for feeding in the field, I would drive the ATV around the circle of feed bowls dolling out the hard food. Madam would stand back watching, she often had two or three foals with her. They would watch as all the others went to the feeders and then just stand and wait by the last one. I would put the food in and she would stand watching the foals feed, generally taking little herself.
The others would finish and there would be some movement as the bossy ones moved on the yearlings who would go to 'share' Madam's feed. 

Anyone watching would say she was last in pecking order but, not one of the mares would do anything more than stand 10 yards away and watch. They never tried to push her away and she never seemed to give any warning or threats with facial expression. 

When it came time to wean she and the yearlings would stay with the foals and there was never any stress.


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## dbarabians (May 21, 2011)

I believe the earlier the better. Mine foal in a herd environment. If I do have to separate the mare and foal I place them in a pen adjacent to the other mares and geldings. Then as soon as I can the mare and foal rejoin the herd. I have never had a problem even when they are turned out with a stallion. Shalom


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

This is what we do as well.


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## caymanbaby29 (Jul 2, 2013)

Update - I put them all together a couple days ago and after 10 minutes of running around and posturing they seemed to say "bleh I'm hungry let's eat". The two year old wants to play more than she should but the herd boss is like a second mom while respecting the real mom. Pins her ears at the 2 year old when she's rowdy but that's it. They're a little herd again. Thanks so much for your help!


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