Two of our mares had foals right around the last week of March . First
week of April of this year. After a couple months of being separated
(just mare and foal), we put the two mares and two foals together. At
first it was a minor battle, but they adjusted.
Last Friday we got up in the morning and found one of the mares had
gone down. The vet came and said that she was very weak and said that
her heart was not working right, and suggested putting her down,
however, he said he could give her some powerful *** and see if she
recovers, but said that there was nothing else he could do. We opted to
give her a chance. After the ***, she was on her feet and looking
better, and we took her into the barn, knowing heavy rain was coming.
Sunday came the rain, and Monday it turned to ice and severe cold. When
we went to do chores, we found her down again, and very cold. We
blanketed her, gave her more *** which the vet left for us, and got
her to drink some warm water to warm her up. Then we tried to lift her
with a hoist, and she just hung there as if she had given up. Before we
could get the vet back out to put her down, she died on her own.
It's hard to lose a horse anytime, and we had this sweet mare for years,
which makes it even tougher. But the worst part is her foal. She
screamed when we dragged the dead mother out of the barn, and seems very
depressed ever since. Being about 7 months old, the foal was ready for
weaning, but we planned to leave both foals and mothers together until
Spring (one year old). I've never seen any reason to wean them early,
after all, the mother will push them away from the teats after they are
old enough, so why rush it.
Anyhow, the reason for posting this is because although this foal filly
is now 7 months old and was ready for weaning, she is upset and
depressed. She is with the other mother mare and that mare's foal, but
that mare is not really too friendly with this foal, yet the two foals
are buddies. We're already giving the orphaned foal some extra pellet
feed, but how much should we give to supplement for the loss of milk
(which according to the vet was probably minimal). Also what else can
we do to help her cope with the loss, other than TLC and extra human
handling?
It would be easier to feed her the supplement feed without that other
mare getting into it, but we dont want to separate the two foals, since
she dont need to lose another friend right now.
One note, the vet said that she may have taken too much out of the
mother which partly caused her collapse. But he said that not
everything can be explained, and the mare may have had internal issues
that could not be determined or explained. He said he could do a
necropsy, but why bother and why spend the money, it's not going to
bring her back. Now it's the foal that needs our care. This foal looks
almost identical like her mother, so she is helping fill the loss in our
hearts.