How Do You Care For An Orphan Foal?
Foals are orphaned for a variety of reasons: their dams reject them, their dam dies during or shortly after foaling, or their dam has no milk or is unhealthy and cannot care for them. Raising an orphan is a challenge. While not all orphaned foals can be prevented, avoiding breeding mares who have rejected more than one foal in the past, avoid breeding unhealthy mares and avoid breeding mares with severe lameness problems that may prevent them from caring for their foal. If you want to watch your mare foal, observe from a safe distance and don’t bother her unless she needs assistance. Give the mare and foal time to bond. If your mare is frightened of the foal or aggressive with the foal and tries to kick, bite, strike or stomp him, remove him from her stall immediately so she does not injure or kill him. Foals should nurse within the first hour to two hours of life. If the mare tries to hurt the foal, you may be able to restrain her in a set of stocks and allow the foal to nurse. If the
