weaning time

Do you know what ‘weaning time’ means? In the wild, foals (baby horses) stay with their mothers until the mare’s next foal is born the following year. But in domesticated situations, foals are typically weaned much earlier, typically between four and six months of age.

Why are foals weaned earlier in domestic situations? For a few reasons…

One common reason to wean early is that the foal is taking too much from its mother. For Spike, pictured above, he is growing like a weed, big and strong. But that takes a lot out of his mother, Jazzy. While she is getting a lot of food, double or triple the amount the other horses in the barn receive, she’s still a little thin. She has also made it clear that she is ready to send her foal out on his own. When he nurses, she will sometimes turn and bite Spike, letting him know that he is hurting her (he has teeth and is probably biting her when he nurses). Additionally, some mares are bred again, and they need energy and nutrition to help their unborn foal grow.

Another reason to wean around four to six months is to prepare the foal for sale or training.

If the foal is eating on his/her own, and has gained some independence (wandering away from their mother to be with other horses), then the foal is probably ready to be weaned. Spike spends most of his time away from his mother, playing with Sassafras, our yearling gray filly. It’s time to wean Spike.

Is weaning stressful? It can be. Some mares and some foals will scream for each other for a day or two. Others barely notice the change. When we weaned Sassafras last year, she barely noticed that her mother, Luna, was not in the pasture. A few calls to Luna at feeding time, and then Sassy decided she was fine and wandered off with her friends. Now, Luna is back out in the pasture with Sassy. They remember each other, but Sassy knows that she can no longer nurse from Luna. We hope that Spike’s weaning next week is just as uneventful.