Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

>   Has anyone just let the weaning process happen naturally?
>
>   Catherine
>
>   No but I have seen full grown horses still suckling on their dams when
> people don't wean " unnaturally".
>                       Drin Becker
>                      Mtn Region
Drin is right.  And to add a comment about "natural" weaning--in nature,
the late winter feed for feral horses is usually so poor and the horses so
thin that the mares may well dry up anyway.  That isn't a "natural"
phenomenon that most of us care to duplicate in our domestic mares. 
Additionally, in nature, when the mare finally has another foal, she will
kick the older youngster off.  (She may only foal every other year if
conditions are poor--in which case she will have dried up anyhow--or she
may foal the next year, in which case she will kick the youngster off when
she becomes heavy and uncomfortable.)  Many folks are not breeding their
mares every year, so this incentive may not apply, either.  Never mind
that it is hard on the mare--nature doesn't care if the mare lives to a
ripe old age or not, but most of us do.

Abrupt weaning is easier on the mammary system in most cases, although
social results vary.  Some folks have good luck allowing the mare and foal
to continue to be pals "next door" while others have better luck just
getting it over with.  The difference has a lot to do with the foal's
personality and degree of independence.  Most of our younguns are weaned
abruptly, but they tend to be very independent anyway, and they never miss
a meal or fret.

I do like Drin's buddy system--hooking the youngster up with a reliable
older horse and then removing the mare.

Heidi


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truth, regardless of how we try make it complicated.  It just isn't.
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