EQUESTRIAN we were offered a mare that was due to be weaned from her own foal, so was still producing milk, and the owners were confident that the mare was a good mother. Once the mare had settled in a large stable at the stud, our vet attended and injected the mare with Prostaglandin (PG), commonly used in foal fostering to help induce maternal behaviour and increase the chance of the mare accepting the foal. A side effect of PG is to induce sweating and we wiped the mare’s sweat over the foal to help the foal smell like the dam and improve the chance of her accepting the foal. The vet also gave her Oxytocin to let her milk down. We then brought the foal into the stable and into a feeding position alongside the mare, encouraging the foal to find the mare’s teats. The mare quickly accepted the foal suckling and gradually we moved away and within 1½ hrs of starting the process, we had left the mare alone with the foal, just keeping watch on the cameras. As the mare wasn’t producing quite enough milk, we started her on Domperidone - a drug that helps build up milk production - and we increased the quality and quantity of her feed. While her milk increases, we are still supplementing the foal with a few bottle feeds, but the foal much prefers drinking from mum and her bottle feeds are reducing. A week later and the mare and foal are happy together. If the foal wanders too far away, there is a low whickering from the mare and the foal quickly responds and moves back to her new mum. It is a pleasure to watch them together and marvel at the natural maternal instinct.
If the foal wanders too far away, there is a low whickering from the mare and the foal quickly moves back to her new mum.
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all images - Courtenay Hitchcock
