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While most mares are good mothers, it sometimes happens, especially with a first foal, that the mare ignores her baby, won’t let it nurse, or even attacks and injures it. Exhaustion, discomfort from the delivery, and unfamiliarity with the foaling routine may each play a part in making the mare refuse to care for her foal.

Rejecting or injuring newborns has been seen in zoo animals of various species, and one explanation is that these animals live in artificial environments and social settings where they have never been exposed to newborn animals and the mothers that nurture them. There is some evidence that horses in wild or feral herds have few if any cases of foal rejection. When domesticated horses live in large pastured groups that include individuals of varied ages, there are rarely problem with foal rejection among mares that give birth to their foals in the field. This may be one of many advantages for horses that grow up in contact with others of their kind. Fillies that have seen mares and foals together are more likely to react normally when they have their own foals.

First-time equine mothers should be attended as they deliver their foals, and assistants should be ready to intervene if the mare seems aggressive toward her baby. Following a normal birth, the mare will rest briefly and then will begin to sniff and lick the foal. If the mare is too tired to move toward the foal, the baby can be moved close to the mare’s head so she can reach it more easily. One old-timer’s trick is to sprinkle some salt on the foal’s coat, tempting the mare to begin licking, but the amniotic fluid is salty anyway and most mares will start to lick without this step.

A common problem is that the foal wants to nurse soon after it is able to stand. At this time, however, the mare’s udder is swollen and painful, sometimes causing her to kick the foal if it approaches her hindquarters. The mare may need to be milked out by hand to relieve the pressure, and in this case it is important to save the colostrum (first milk that contains vital antibodies) and give it to the foal by bottle or tube. The mare may need to be restrained by using a twitch or holding up or hobbling one of her legs to allow the foal to nurse the first few times. Usually the mare will be more comfortable as nursing continues and she will allow the foal to suckle without further problems.

Some first-time equine mothers seem to be afraid of their foals, possibly relating their recent discomfort to the newborn foal that had suddenly appeared in the stall. If the foal stands and moves toward its nervous dam, this can be interpreted as a threat and the mare responds by biting or kicking the unknown interloper. One theory is that it is preferable to keep the foal from standing until the mare has approached on her own and begun to lick her offspring. Most mares are not aggressive toward their foals after this happens, and may even become so protective that humans have a hard time approaching either animal.

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