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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 795
  
Location: GODS country | Does anyone have any experience with orphan foals? I am looking at purchasing a colt that was orphaned at 5 weeks old. He is a little smaller than the other colts his age, but not much. Do they grow and mature as well as a regular weanling or will they always be smaller/runt like? His sire is 15.2 and the dam is 15.1.
---in the picture, the roan is a weanling also, but his sire was 16.1hh plus. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 795
Location: GODS country | ecranch - 2013-12-30 8:19 AM
Does anyone have any experience with orphan foals? I am looking at purchasing a colt that was orphaned at 5 weeks old. He is a little smaller than the other colts his age, but not much. Do they grow and mature as well as a regular weanling or will they always be smaller/runt like? His sire is 15.2 and the dam is 15.1.
---in the picture, the roan is a weanling also, but his sire was 16.1hh plus.
Can't attach picture..... |
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  The Color Specialist
Posts: 7530
 
Location: Washington. (The DRY side.) | If they are well taken care of, you will never know they were orphaned. I had a filly that was orphaned at 2 weeks old. Even at a baby, people were surprised when I told them she was an orphan. She was the same size and looked just as good as the colt that was raised by his dam. There are other board members that have had orphans and they too looked great. Could be that the colt you are looking at would have been smaller even if he were raised by a mare. There is no way to know. |
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 Roan Wonder
Location: SW MO | If fed well & taken care of they should mature just fine. We have a mare that was orphaned at 4 weeks, she had major health problems as a baby including a broken ankle. As an adult she is 15.2H
I will attach a photo of her.
The main problem a lot of orphans have is they are spoiled they think they are a person instead of horse and are very bad to be in your space.
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 cocoa61712.jpg (47KB - 254 downloads)
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 The Bird Lady
Posts: 6440
Location: The end of the Earth, SE AR | I have raised 2 orphan foals.
1 orphaned at 5 days is now 2years old and 15.1 she never looked stunted or different than other foals. She was raised on foal lac and powdered goats milk and yes, we kept her on it til she was 4 months old and eating horse feed. Sure we spent alot of money on foal lac but we wanted to raise her as if she still had a momma giving her milk.
2nd orphan lost her momma at 3 months old and she went straight to eating Equine Jr. and is a normal looking 10 month old. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 795
Location: GODS country | He has been well taken care of, she suggested a higher fat diet for him until Spring when he could be on pasture. He is Bully Bullion bred and she also said that the other foals out of this stud tend to grow a little slower anyways.
---can someone else try to add a photo? |
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | I agree about the attitude, that is what I have experienced when handling orphaned foals. |
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 Special Somebody
Posts: 3951
Location: Finally horseback again.... | I have one that was orphaned at 6 weeks. She is a BIG girl.
Never took milk but raised her on foal pellets and calf manna. She never looked stunted.
She was an evil little devil till she turned three and we started riding her though. She was good with Hubby, but I had to feed with a stick cause she would back up and kick at me. Got her hiney beat. The first day he saddled her, she bit him on the butt and rode off. Never been a problem since.
Edited by Canchasr1 2013-12-30 9:17 AM
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 993
Location: Northern California | If taken care of and supplemented properly, he will be fine!!! I had a mare that was orphaned, and yes her name was "Annie," and she maxed the scale out at 1250 on a slim day!! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 795
Location: GODS country | So what feed program did you keep these orphans on? |
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 Expert
Posts: 1229
Location: Royal J Performance Horses, AZ | I just purchased this mare in April and the night she foaled out in May I lost her. I had intended to sell her foal and breed her back how i wanted. Well that all changed She had a sorrel colt with a big ole blaze, and with all the ,tears, care, money, emotion, and time put into this little guy i still cannot part with him.
He was on goats milk from birth until 3 months old. Then we put him on alfalfa/grass mix with equine Junior. and he's still on that combo to this day. I had a colt come in with his momma that was 2 months younger than my orphan. and you could tell my orphan was bigger. Even now I dont think he's stunted at all. His dam and sire were 15.2 HH and i think he's right on track to meet their height.
The 1st and 2nd picture are him at month and a half. I'll see if i can find another current pic of him now.
The picture of him with the black and white colt was born on March 1st. So B & W colt is about 3 months older than him here
Edited by Fancie_That_Chrome_ 2013-12-30 12:07 PM
 (rsz_royal_dashfor_corona RJPH.jpg)
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rsz_royal_dashfor_corona RJPH.jpg (39KB - 259 downloads)
rsz_royal_dashfor_corona_2.jpg (19KB - 267 downloads)
royal butt shot.jpg (71KB - 267 downloads)
rsz_1royal_and_dealer.jpg (94KB - 295 downloads)
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 795
Location: GODS country | Fancie_That_Chrome_ - 2013-12-30 11:53 AM
I just purchased this mare in April and the night she foaled out in May I lost her. I had intended to sell her foal and breed her back how i wanted. Well that all changed She had a sorrel colt with a big ole blaze, and with all the ,tears, care, money, emotion, and time put into this little guy i still cannot part with him.
He was on goats milk from birth until 3 months old. Then we put him on alfalfa/grass mix with equine Junior. and he's still on that combo to this day. I had a colt come in with his momma that was 2 months younger than my orphan. and you could tell my orphan was bigger. Even now I dont think he's stunted at all. His dam and sire were 15.2 HH and i think he's right on track to meet their height.
The 1st and 2nd picture are him at month and a half. I'll see if i can find another current pic of him now.
The picture of him with the black and white colt was born on March 1st. So B & W colt is about 3 months older than him here
He looks great! This makes me feel better! Could you add a picture of the colt? I can't for some reason! PM me your email. |
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Expert
Posts: 1229
Location: Royal J Performance Horses, AZ | Here's ECRanches foal she's looking at
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rsz_orphan_foal.jpg (95KB - 262 downloads)
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 795
Location: GODS country | Fancie_That_Chrome_ - 2013-12-30 2:57 PM
Here's ECRanches foal she's looking at
Thank you for adding! The roan behind him is a month older and out of a 16.1hh plus stud. He is an early May baby.
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| On young foals like this to yearlings+ ... the longer the length of the tail
and mane will tell you the stunting affect if any that has taken place
on a particular foal ....
Edited by BARRELHORSE USA 2013-12-30 3:37 PM
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 I Don't Brag
Posts: 6960
| My colt was orphaned at 3 weeks. He is 2 1/2 years old now. His momma was barely 15 hands until she hit her 8 yr old year, then she got taller and broader. His daddy was "maybe" 14.2...more like 14 hands, but was only a 3 yr old. This colt is about 15.3 at the butt and still growing! He did have the typical orphaned pot belly his yearling year, but never suffered in his growth. He got Mare's Milk milk replacer until he was about 3 months and started adding Patriot Jr as soon as he would eat it (which was almost right away). AM considering switching him over to the Gro Strong Ultra Fiber like the rest of the herd, soon.
He wasn't your typical orphaned, emphasis on "wasn't". Lately he approaches you head on and insists on getting his head above you. When you try to push him aside, he pushes back and rears. Naughty boy!! SO glad I cut him early! Am still trying to figure out the best way to nip this behavior in the bud. My attempts at schooling seem to make him worse. Right now it is a game to him but it wouldn't take much for him to become aggressive and dangerous. Any suggestions? |
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Veteran
Posts: 268
| I raised an orphan which the mare died when the foal was a week old. We raised her on foal replacer until she would start to eat foal pellets then slowly onto grass. Big thing was we tried to treat her like a mare would. If she would bite us, we would grab her neck skin and pinch. A kick would deserve a kick back.....etc. as they get bigger they can become very dangerous. We did under no circumstances "spoil" her. We would put a big horse in with her everyday. She needed to learn "horse" language. She is now 6 and you would never know she was an orphan. She maybe matured a little later but not much. She is respectful of people and is not dangerous at all because of being an orphan. Good luck. |
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 Sweet Tea
Posts: 3496
Location: Home of the World Famous "Silver Bullet" | foals can be taught to nurse a goat. a stand has to be built for the goat to stand on. and she is suppose to jump on it when she is ready for the foal to nurse. sounds good and i did see this once as a young person.  |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 938
Location: Canada | I had one too. Lost his momma at 2 days old. I gave him foal lac and got him a nurse mare. I supplemented with foal lac while her milk came back in full force (she had lost her foal about 2.5 weeks earlier). He got his babah (bottle) twice a day and her 24/7. She loved to have a sip too!! She loved milk. He was a very small foal (born tiny) and middle of June. I weaned in January. He grew all wonky and uneven for what seemed like forever. Then he started to even out and grow better. Today he is coming 5 and is about 14.2-14.3 and he has not finished growing whatsoever. He comes from a lineage that is very very slow to mature. His sister had her last spurt at 7. I don't expect him to be a monster, but I think he will make 15HH (mare was 15.2, stud was 14.3). He's right on track.
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 Horsey Gene Carrier
Posts: 1888
Location: LaBelle, Florida | I had friend who's mare died when the colt was about 4-5 days old. She fed him with a balanced diet and after I reminded her he needed to be put in with other horses to learn 'manners' he did great. |
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