Quick Tips
Babies Working alone on newborns standing Working alone on newborns standing: Anyone who has been breeding for a while is likely to face a foal with problems. Sometimes, treatment may need to be rendered without a helping hand. Spend some time halter breaking the foal (which doesn’t necessarily mean teaching him to lead in this case, but, more importantly, teaching him to stand when the halter is held). This should be done slowly and quietly, allowing the foal to accept being held without panicking. An 8-foot long, thick cotton lead can be wrapped around the foal’s body to encourage forward movement or discourage leaping toward you by applying light pressure either to the buttocks or the chest with the rope in hand. If you must work on a young foal alone and need two free hands, loop the end of the rope through the line by the halter, lower it across the foal’s chest and behind the buttocks and secure it between your thighs. Treating a foal who can’t stand still: If the work you must do on a foal is extensive and painful, sometimes the best approach is to lay him down. There are a number of ways this can be accomplished, but this is best learned with some experienced help as it’s imperative you don’t cause more injury to the youngster in your effort to secure him on the ground. Once you are comfortable with an approach to lay him down safely, though, you can secure him fairly easily. By immobilizing the neck and/or head, you will prevent him from rising. Generally a secure leg across the neck can accomplish this. The same leg and/or an extra hand can generally secure the front feet as well. It’s very important to have someone attending to the back feet as well, as they can hurt you if let loose. Usually, foals that are immobilized a couple of times learn to stay put as subsequent treatment sessions are required. Taking a temperature: Young foals can be tough to persuade to take a thermometer in their anus willingly. Clearly, it’s best to have two people when medical treatment or monitoring is necessary on a baby, but that’s not always possible. If you must take a temperature alone, assuming your foal is halter broke, loop an eight-foot cotton lead rope around his body with the end crossing the through near the halter and tucked between your knees. Put one knee against the front of his chest. Then, flip the tail up over his back to help immobilize him. If he starts sinking behind, reduce the pressure on the tail. So long as you have the tail cocked, this should help render the foal relatively still for thermometer insertion and reads. Digitals tend to be inaccurate, even though the quick read is a relief. Still, it’s better to give it the two minutes or so with an old-style device to ensure you are gaining useful information. Helping a foal stand to nurse: Inevitably, if you’re breeding horses, there will come a time when you have a foal (usually a colt) that cannot or will not stand on his own. This generally involves a lot of sleepless nights, but the returns are rewarding if you can get him healthy enough to survive independently. To save your back and encourage some departure from the helpless attitude, stretch his forelegs out in front of him and scratch your fingers on his back above the point of the hip. Make sure your have adequate footing for the colt to gain traction as he struggles (mats are not a good idea with a foal who is challenged rising to his feet). A good bed of sawdust under ample straw can help when your stall floors are otherwise slippery. If he still can’t rise on his own, you’re going to have to pick him up, but extending the front legs will lessen your burden. Support and steady him after he rises and encourage him toward your mare’s teats. Teaching a foal to lead: Best done with two people – one to handle the mare – this is something that can also be achieved alone, with some ingenuity and patience. Start the work in the foaling stall with a long cotton lead rope. Attach the snap to the halter and wrap it around the horse’s butt, back to your hand. If the foal resists moving forward with pressure to the halter, apply pressure to the butt rope. This is most easily achieved initially turning the foal toward you to encourage forward movement. Once you are comfortable with the foal’s responsiveness in the stall, you can start leading him out to the pasture with the mare on your off side. Avoiding the needle: Did you know that you can administer Ace and Banamine orally? Sick foals object pretty quickly to being treated as pincushions and anything you can do to avoid injections will make life easier for both of you. Simply draw the fluid with a needle into a syringe and remove the needle prior to quietly encouraging the foal to accept a dose of drugs through his mouth. New Borns: Many ascribe to imprinting, which basically involves exposing the just delivered foal to a variety of exercises intended to acclimate the foal to human contact immediately, in areas including the ears, hoofs, anus and other body parts. This approach has merit, but often good handling early is sufficient. Foals untouched in early life can become unruly weanlings. It’s important to at least get your foal used to your touch and willing to be guided around the stall with your hand. This doesn’t mean chasing him around the stall and cornering him with a tackle. Instead, enter the stall slowly and ease your way to the foal. Usually, if you can put an arm under his neck, you can stabilize him to get him comfortable with your touch. It’s a good idea to put a halter on a new born within a week or so and get him used to being led or held by the head. If you must move the foal and are having trouble gaining cooperation (once you’ve taught him to lead) heading to a particular destination (such as a trailer that’s carrying his mother to a stallion), try flipping the tail up over the back. You’re likely to hear a lot of screaming, but this will temporarily give you the control you need to move him without hurting him. Weaning: Separating a foal from a mare is a lot easier if you have multiple mares and foals, but it can be done with a single offspring at the farm. If you’re dealing with only one foal, determine who his new friend will be prior to weaning. Generally a yearling of the same sex works best, but if that’s not available, a solid stable buddy will work (Porky, our old gray mare, serves this purpose in the unfortunate years we’ve had at Halcyon Acres when only a single foal was born and our yearlings were too rambunctious). Turn this horse out with the mare and foal (in many cases, it’s good to have others in the paddock as well, provided it is large enough, as a mare will chase a young horse away from the foal and prevent the intended contact if the new horse is focused on two sole friends in his realm) before weaning. On the day that you decide to separate mare and foal, find two pasture areas on the farm that are out of sight of each other, or at least, a good distance apart. Turn the buddy out first. Then, get the foal and put him with the buddy. Turn the mare’s company out before you put the mare in her paddock. In terms of the subsequent night stabling, you need to get a read on the foal. In most cases, the best scenario is to put the two in separate barns. Sometimes, though, it’s best to keep them in sight of each other for a little while. In the rare occurrence when you are dealing with a particularly athletic or troublesome creature determined to impale or injure himself to find his mother, building stall walls to the ceiling may be necessary. Additionally, it may be necessary to initially separate him in a stall vs. a paddock. Keep him in this stall prison (as harsh and hard as it is) until he settles down (sometimes days) to avoid serious injury as these foals are also likely to try and leap over stall walls or crash through fences and hurt themselves in the process. |
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