????'s about Weaning ...Update with funny story today Sat.

[Laura S]

Well, I finally did what I've been dreading the most about having a foal....Weaning! I have just one mare/foal and a gelding. So I had a friend take the mare to her farm yesterday. I feel terrible for the foal, but she has the gelding to keep her company. It has been about 20hrs and she is still whinnying for her mama, and occassionally still trying to climb out of her stall. Poor thing. The mom is doing great, taking everything in stride, never even sweated up or got anxious. I just got back from visiting the mare and her udder is very hard. My friend said milk was streaming out this morning, but now you can just see milk on the teets, but not dripping. Her udder is not warm to touch or anything, just pretty hard. So I am wondering how long does it take to dry up? What should I be looking for if things aren't going normal? And should I milk a little bit out to relieve the pressure?

[appyday]

NO do not milk her or she will produce more milk..I take grain away for a few days and just feed hay/water at this time...

[Terry Wallace]

It will take a week or more...do not milk her...leave her be. It will be longer before the bag goes back down to normal. keep your weanling away from her for at least four months.

[Carol Nelson]

Well...I don't know what planet I fell off of...but this is my experience with weaning and it's a whole lot less traumatic than described. When I wean my babies, I simply move mama to an adjacent pen. Sometimes I start out just feeding them separately, and then put them back together, and gradually increasing the time they are apart. Since we have the 2 x 4 foal wire just about everywhere, they can't get to mama to nurse.
With my Pinto mare, Canela, she did swell up and become increasingly uncomfortable...so I let her baby nurse a bit, then separated them again. Sure it takes longer...sure it's a little inconvenient for me, but it takes practically no toll on mother or baby...and you don't have to listen to the crying for days. It also helps if you have another little one close by so they keep each other's minds off of what's going on.
When mama is dried up, which takes a couple weeks or so...I go ahead and put them back together if I need to because of space. I rarely have the baby start to nurse again..seems they can smell that milk is gone and they don't even try.
There's been instances where I had to take baby away from mama cold turkey because of injuries and having mama just a touch of a nose away surely helped there too. I believe it speeded the healing, as I couldn't have a baby running up and down a fenceline stressing him or herself out and perhaps injuring himself further.

[Pasogirlz]

We put our weanling in w/my old Arab mare....and he suckeld her until she gave milk. :shock:

Our mares stayed wet for months. We had to keep Echo separated permenatly after that. :-?

[Terry Wallace]

Welll... I have had nearly every foal that was weaned..try to nurse its mom again when they get back together after four or five months. They seem to always try again..and it is the mare who puts a stop to it, as she is done with that and its a cold-turkey weaning here.

When we wean, we take the foal to the other side of the property. I always have a babysitter horse that they know well and goes with them.
The neighing back & forth lasts about one day.

If you put the foal back with the mare too early..I about guarantee she will milk back up in no time.... all it takes is them bumping on the udder to get the mare back milking if the foal comes back too early...just as Lori described....even a mare with NO foal, can let down milk from this bumping action. it will be very watery and not really good...but it sure can be "induced". It used to be called "witches milk"...because even an unrelated mare can let down milk if the bumping of the udder continues.

[PasoVicki]

I have no experience with weaning . . . yet . . . but I will throw in a word of caution to watch your mare's udder closely. When Danesa weaned her last foal, she got mastitis, and her udder is only functional on one side now because it wasn't treated aggressively enough.

[Laura S]

Ok, thanks everyone. I did try the gradual method of weaning by separating them in stalls for longer periods of time each day, but I could tell there was no way that was going to work. I am home until school starts again, so this way I can spend tons of time with the weanling and visit the mare daily. I plan to keep the mare away for about a month, then once she comes home I can keep her in a separate paddock from the weanling and gelding. I am just worried about mastitis in the mare. Thanks for your help! :D

[motorgypsy]

We do the adjacent pasture weaning ourselves and have had no problems. How old is the weanling? We also did the out of sight but not hearing and the weaniling called for one day and then just occasionally they would check in with each other and go about their business. Yes we had an adult companion or more than one in several cases.

Now back to the udder - you can get a shot to dry them up and you might want to check with the vet. It makes them a lot more comfortable and less risk of mastitis.

Our foals were six months or older when weaned. They were put back with mom after a month with no problems. One did allow minimal suckling. We left one filly with mom for 9 months because mom was the only one who could discipline her and mom weaned her without separation. They have been separated now for a year with no problems but weren't separated until the foal was at least a year old.

Good luck!

[macadoo]

Don't forget your mare has to be exercised every day...walking her on a lead works...also, no grain for several days...I used to lead her at a brisk walk for about 1/2 hour every day for a couple of weeks...Good luck... :D

[Laura S]

Hi MG's, the weanling is 5 months old. She seems back to normal this morning, so will try putting her in the paddock with the gelding today. He is a good old boy. The day we brought the mare to my friend's he kept trying to nuzzle Solana over the stall door. I'd say the calling/whinnying lasted really about 24 hrs.

Thanks Macadoo. I was thinking I was going to just let her rest unitl her udder wasn't hard anymore (I remember feeling that way myself and it was no fun, lol!). But I can definately walk her daily. I am hoping to start short rides in the middle of the week.

[Laura S]

I just got back from visiting my mare. Her "bag" is back to normal size when the foal was nursing. Not hard or swollen anymore. Phew, I lost sleep worrying about her last night! Took her on a walk on the trails and am looking forward to riding her Monday!

[Laura S]

Wow, this is quite the learning process!! I finally let the old paso gelding in with the filly in a small paddock area. My husband had the gelding and I had the filly. She was obnoxious towards him. They sniffed, then she put her nose right under his tail. I could tell he thought that was quite rude, but he just stood there. Then she tried to jump on his back.

So, things calmed down after awhile and I let her go, and walked him around. Things were fine. She really didn't act like she missed being around other horses! I let him go and she really started trying to boss him around. ANd he has always been the boss of all the horses I've ever had here! She was trying to push him away from the water trough, so he gently bit her neck and she didn't really care. Then they just started eating hay. I figured I could go clean stalls now.

So next thing, I hear a "slurp, slurp" and I look out and she is trying to nurse off of him. He is half hung down and he had the most aweful confused look on his face! :shock: Poor guy. I wish I had a camera to get a pic of what he looked like. The filly wouldn't stop, so I went out and slapped her on the butt. I told Mario NOT to let her do that. Then she tried to head bunt his imagined "udder" and he never even kicked! After awhile he figured out how to swing his butt away from her when she approached. Then she thru a few complete hissy fits!

I could not believe it! My sweet little palomino filly that I felt sorry for taking her mama away has turned into an obnoxious bossy brat! Mario is worth his weight in gold! He is such a good babysitter and he will gently teach her who the boss is. She has many lessons to be learned. :roll:

Probably you all go thru this with your weanlings. I am amazed every day what I am learning. Just wanted to share. I'm sure tomorrow will be another interesting day! :lol:

[Cam]

:lol:

[CarolU]

Oh...THAT is too funny! What a great story!

[PasoVicki]

That is so funny . . . you must have the world's most patient gelding.

[motorgypsy]

Young fillies can be sooo bossy!!!! I'm laughing so hard tears are running down my face!!!