Added: 4 years ago
From: horseprofessor
Views: 30,539
Sort by time | Sort by thread (beta)

Link to this comment:

Share to:

All Comments (42)

Sign In or Sign Up now to post a comment!
  • My wife and I have picked up every foal we've had and when the kids were big enough, they picked them up too. They recognize the 'lifter' as someone who is able to pick them up for the rest of their lives, even when they're big. So they'll be calmer and MUCH easier to train. I always urge people to pick them up while they can.

    Have had many horses over the years and sometimes they don't make it. Tears shed over the few that didn't, but it's a part of life.

  • Congrats on learning the value of picking up a foal. I raised about 50 foals over the years and every one of them I picked up and held several times a day

    Being restrained without being hurt is the basis for EVERYTHING they will ever learn in life, and makes them willing horses.

    |

    As a result, by the time they were weanlings, you could lead, tie, bathe, trim,. load in a trailer, clip, you name it. Vets and farriers loved my horses. They were easy to catch too

    Good work!

    Herbrightness

  • I thought you were supossed to let it get up on its own...

  • @crazywatergirl923  some cant get up and if you dont pick them up they cant nurse

  • guys really give them a break things happen to foals allll the time yes its sad it died but u cant prove it the persons fault and they were just trying to help it because it was about to calaps by being so weak

  • poor baby hse was so pretty

  • We had a foal last year that was born in the field - it was oddly the first chestnut it's dam had ever thrown, and it was somehow brain damaged. Me and my mom used coats to dry it off and pull it up onto its feet, but it couldn't get it's legs up under itself. It was lying on the floor tossing its head and hitting itself on the ground, and we eventually had to call the vet to have him put down. The mare was on the other side of the field. Guess she knew he wasn't right.

    I hate it when foals die!

  • some people actually weights the foals holding them. you + the weight added by the foal from the person.

  • ok folks just so you know a lot of mares will try killing their foals before their first heat cycle and they don't kill them because of scents.They are not cats and dogs.try working in a breeding farm or with a vet that specializes in reproduction then you'll understand a lot more

  • sorry to hear that she died

    ;[

  • there are a couple of foals at my barn. Natalia got stuck under the fence yesterday! :P

  • whatever person. I stand by my oppinion

  • You have a right to your opinion. I was tempted to give you more facts of the situation, but I get the impression that facts don't affect your opinion anyway.

  • That is a poor foal! you shouldnt pick them up thats why it died!

  • You are mistaken. The foal could not get up on its own at all (though it struggled and struggled trying) and needed help to try to nurse. It never did nurse, but ended up being fed with a syringe. Read the other comments to get the full picture.

  • Wow mrshorsejumper, wow.

  • We had a foal at our stable who almost died when he was born because his owners started desensiting him 15 minutes after he was born. Than his mother wouldn't except him. He had to have blood transfusions and ever thing. Than after all that the owner didn't want him So I bought him. I spent all summer feeding him every 4 hours. For the first 3 nights I sleep in the lounge with him just in case. Yep, I made him a stall with hay and bedding in the lounge. My other horse loved him being around her.

  • Sad story with a wonderful ending! You're my type of person---I admire people like you.

  • why do you do that??!!!!!!!!!

    the poor foal!!!!

  • Thts a good way to pick up a foal but i think its camra shy lol

  • bones do NOT break easily after birth. quite the opposite. The cartiledge in the bones is at a much higher amount right after birth than at any other time in the foals life. It wont hurt the foal at all, and unless they drop it, which they didnt! the foal is fine!! The bones will not break, they are to flexible to break, if they werent pliable foals would be born all the time with broken bones. Dont judge unless you know facts.

  • littlemrsWayside is right after all in wild some mares have to give birth in rough terrien and cuz the bone are better in the foal then its like a shield bubble well nt really but still its true

  • Guys! Its completely okay to pick up a foal. -.- It does not hurt them :P Its NOT ABUSING.

  • actually your wrong, Picking up a newborn foal can be dangerous to its bones. Bones break easily right after birth up until 3 days at the least. Picking a foal up to soon can cause troubles it your not handleing it right

  • Thank you for the caution on handling foals. It is indeed important to be very careful. Rest assured that, this foal was handled well, and except for the scene shown here, was only picked up because it was absolutely necessary. (as said above). She was totally unable to get up on her own and was continually struggling to do so. She could stand and walk once helped to her feet. She never suffered any broken bones or injuries of any kind.

  • no it's not....every youngborn mamals bones are really flexiable after birth. thats because there is more organic substance in the bones.

    old mamals have the oppoiste thing. they have more non-organinc substance, so their bones shatter and break more easily

  • thats too bad. But such a mellow mare!

  • Thanks. She knew she was well-loved and was monitored continuously. The first day and a half, we really thought she had a good chance, even though she would not nurse and was being fed with a syringe. During her last hour, when it was obvious she was dying, I sat in the stall with her and pet her as she breathed her last. We all did a lot of crying.

  • Thats so depressing...That foal looked so beautiful too =C...I hope you took good care of it and it was happy the two days it lived T-T.

  • no wonder it was week you kept picking it up

    no i am only joking it wasnt your fault something like that happend to my friends mare it was so sad me nd my friend cryed for nearly a week :(

  • Oohh, poor thing. It reminds me of a book I read called "A Horse Called Wonder", it's in the Thoroughbred series.

  • aw its all legs! so cute!

  • was the mum called Queenie?

  • No, the mother's name is Gigi

  • oooh. how long ago did you get her?

    Its just cause she looks very much like a mare called queenie that had unfortanutly had to be sold.

  • She's not mine, but my neighbor says that Gigi was a gift(as a baby)to her dad from a close friend - a Paint horse judge from Ohio.

  • Thanks. Let me know how your new baby does. I'd be very interested. This mare/foal actually belongs to my neighbor. They originally planned to re-breed, as they had a live foal guarantee, but apparently have decided not to do so, at least not at this time. Right now, they are planning to see if the mare might make a good vaulting horse. I'm trying to introduce vaulting to this area and am currently working with one of my own horses toward that end. Perhaps their mare will work out better.

  • This is very sad and I can sincerely sympathise. My mare has a seven year old daughter and in May this year had a foal that died during the birth. Like yours it looked premature and small and we then discovered a mummified twin in her womb. Twins were not detected on any of the three scans she had prior to giving birth. Are you breeding from your mare again? Mine is at stud again now. I pray that she settles and has a single bouncing baby next year. Best wishes to you.

  • Heyyy come check out my horse videos everyone

  • is he heavy?

  • She was extremely light, and much smaller than a normal newborn foal. She was like a premie even though she was full term.

  • to be honest i wouldnt call your self a horse proffessor.

  • Actually, in my "name" of horseprofessor, I am really combining terms. I love horses and have dealt with them for 38 years, but I am a teacher of science and math, therefore the "professor" part of my name.

  • maybe instead of carrying her around you should have carried her to her mother for some milk....may have helped her survive!

  • We did carry her to her mother many times. She never could latch on, but we did feed her mother's milk from a syringe. We always held the baby and syringe near the mother's nipple, so the baby would get the idea of where it should come from.

  • sorry to here you lost the foal its so sad, we lost a foal this year too to neumonia (spelling?) and another one broke its pelvis at 9 days old and we dnt know if he will b ok yet.

  • I bred from my mare in the UK years ago, the foal stood at over 12hh at birth (TB x TB). Poor little thing couldn't stand up by herself for the first 4 days, I used to have to pick her up and walk her over to the mare every 2 hours to feed, the mare was so gorgeous she used to reverse up to me so I didn't have to drag the foal all the way across the stable, and would meet me in the middle. The foal reached 17hh at 18 months of age.

  • Wow, that's amazing. This mare wasn't that cooperative. The foal could not latch on, so we milked the mare and fed through a syringe. But sometimes the mare had to be hobbled to cooperate.

  • why is everyone picking up this foal? I don't get it? And although the mare looks more than happy, surely it's a bit un-necessary to have so many people messing about in the stable?

  • My biology class did a quick field trip to see the baby, and examine the placenta and the deceased undeveloped twin. One of my students was permitted to pick up the baby. The baby did require picking up at times, since she could not get up on her own, though she constantly tried. She was fed mom's milk through a syringe while being held in position under mom, hoping she would learn that that is the place to eat when she was finally able to nurse.

  • That would explain it, thanks. Please don't think I was being rude! Just curious. Glad to see that it survived, so many don't. Good luck! x

  • Actually, the baby died several days later. She had multiple complications. She never was able to get up on her own, though she could stand and walk once up. She never did nurse. The last day, she couldn't even stand at all. She must have been underdeveloped internally, as well as externally. My guess is that she died of liver problems, as her eyes turned yellow in her last hours. She was well loved and we did all we knew to do for her.

  • Am so sorry to hear that, just makes me realise how important scanning for twins is, something that we do on TB's as standard. Any twinning can be found at 16 days, and with a good vet one of the blastocysts can be 'squeezed' leaving the remaining pregnancy - hopefully! It amazes me how many twins we come across, considering it is so rare for the mare to carry them to term, even then, as in this case, the chance of survival is so slim.

  • Yes, this mare was scanned, but the twin was missed. Another mare, who was not scanned (not sure why not), has a single, healthy, gorgeous 4 week old. The man who owned these mares, died in January, and his daughter (my neighbor) has them now at her farm. She uses a different vet. They had a live foal guarantee, so she will re-breed.

  • What a shame the owner passed away. What do you do? If you don't mind me asking? Are you in the breeding industry yourself? Or just have an interest?

  • Just a large interest. My husband and I have a small 26 acre farm with 2 geldings. My mare died last year at age 30. I homeschool my two sons and teach high school science classes at my home for groups of homeschoolers. I'd love to talk more. Is there a way to exchange e-mail addresses? Could you do a comment that I don't approve for posting and include your e-mail?

Loading...
Alert icon
0 / 00Unsaved Playlist Return to active list
    1. Your queue is empty. Add videos to your queue using this button:
      or sign in to load a different list.
    Loading...Loading...Saving...
    • Clear all videos from this list
    • Learn more