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A weanling horse is a foal that has been weaned, usually between four and six months old. Once it is a year old, the horse is referred to as a yearling. Weanlings are separated from their dam and often grouped with other weanlings to keep each other company. Weaning is a very stressful time for a foal. [4] [5]: 231
A foal at about weaning age. A foal is an equine up to one year old; this term is used mainly for horses, but can be used for donkeys. More specific terms are colt for a male foal and filly for a female foal, and are used until the horse is three or four. When the foal is nursing from its dam (mother), it may also be called a "suckling".
Weaning in horses usually takes place when the foal is 4 to 5 months old, [30] as by this point the foal no longer needs nutrients beyond what the mare offers. [31] Prior to weaning the foal, there is usually a creep feeder set up to allow the foal to begin consuming feed that the mare cannot access. [31]
A foal will begin to eat hay, grass and grain alongside the mare at about 4 weeks old; by 10–12 weeks the foal requires more nutrition than the mare's milk can supply. Foals are typically weaned at 4–8 months of age, although in the wild a foal may nurse for a year.
Editor's note: This is an updated version of the original story. Three young foals showed signs of injury prior to the removal last week of seven horses from a Cumberland County horse farm ...
Neonatal maladjustment syndrome (NMS) is a syndrome where newborn foals exhibit uncommon behaviors, occurring in three to five percent of live births. These behaviors can include aimless wandering, hypersensitivity to loud sounds and brightness, weakness or coordination issues, and the incapability to nurse.
Under ideal conditions, a yearling will have already been trained as a suckling or weanling foal to lead, to have its hooves handled, to be groomed, clipped, blanketed and loaded into a horse trailer. If these tasks have not been accomplished, the yearling year is a time they are often done, in part to get the horse used to human handling ...
Foals appear normal immediately after birth. JEB affects tissues including mucous membranes, so one of the first signs is blistering of the gingiva and tongue after the first attempt at nursing. Within the next few days, the foal develops lesions all over the body, especially over pressure points. [2]