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RE: [RC] Weaning Help - heidiI'd like to draw on your collective resources to help me with weaning our 4.5 month old colt. We have two full grown horses: colt's mother, Zuni, and 19 year old NSH gelding, Winslow. We have two separate paddocks (half acre each) and run in sheds for both horses. I am wondering if you all have opinions--know you do, want to hear 'em--on the safety of gradually moving colt, Ishi, from Zuni's through the gate to Winslow's? Is this crazy? Winslow is a pretty gentle, levelheaded horse but confidently dominant. He's tall: 16.1 HH. Otherwise Ishi'd have to live alone with no shelter until fully weaned. How long will it take till he's completely weaned (her bag dries up, etc.)? Thank you! First, 4.5 months is a shade on the young side--although not out of the ballpark. Baby doesn't need mama's milk (and could have gotten by fine nutritionally without it for some time now) but many are still psychologically dependent on mama at this age. Is baby showing signs of independence, such as not caring where mom is, etc.? Your instincts of having an "uncle horse" for baby are good. But I'd move mom and baby in with uncle for a few days, and then remove mom. There are two schools of thought on how far to move mom--some prefer to have a more "gradual" separation where mom is still right next door, while others prefer to have mom a considerable distance away. I tend toward the latter, and find that as a whole, the mares are ready and are happiest further away. But I do think there is a lot of variation in individuals, and many do report good success weaning just through a good safe fence. How long before the mare dries up completely is somewhat variable--from a few days to a few weeks. And unless baby is psychologically ready to be weaned, you may still get nursing behavior months and months later, even if the mare is dry. If the pair is really ready, then this is a lot less likely. I usually let my babies tell me when they're ready to wean. The fillies are often ready earlier than the colts, but this year I've got a colt that I'll wager will be ready even younger than your colt. He's less than 2 months right now, and it is all I can do to get him to go anywhere with mom. I just halterbroke him the other day, and that humbled him a little--he went to her for some solace about that. But boy, is he independent! I've got another colt about the age of yours that I can well imagine leaving on the mare for another couple of months--he's a mama's boy. Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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