This message is from: Jean Ernest <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >please comment on raising a "single foal" - what are some >issues that might be different compared to having several foals born on the >property??
Does your gelding get along with your mare? When my big gelding Bjorken was born I just had him and his mom and Bjarne, an older gelding. I kept Stella and the baby in their own paddock with access to the stall and Bjarne had an adjoining paddock. Little Bjorken would go stand next to the fence where Bjarne was standing and seemed to idolize him. (Maybe a boy thing). I didn't really let them be all together all the time until he was weaned (at more than a year old) but now, knowing what I do, I would have put them together much earlier. Bjarne taught Bjorken manners and played with him a lot. Stella also played with him, but boys play harder! Bjarne was the boss (still is at 27) and I think Bjorken turned out well partly because of Bjarne's help. Older gelding are often very good baby sitters. My friends, the Brunners, who usually only have on foal at a time, have had a quarterhorse gelding as baby sitter until he went to a new owner, and now have an old pony gelding as babysitter and playmate. Nickers, the old pony, gets tired of the foal's roughhousing and teaches him manners also. They also let all the horses, except the stallion, run together in a big corral, separating them somewhat at feeding time, and at night, when The mare and foal and Nickers get the corral with the stall which they share. You may have to separate them at feeding time, but this has worked out well for us. It all depends if the mare and gelding get along. Jean in Fairbanks, Alaska Partly cloudy today and +10 F. ************************************************************ Jean Ernest Fairbanks, Alaska mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
