Walking On Volume 2, Issue 3, March 2015 | Page 14

correction. Again, this is a situation
that your veterinarian should assess and
treat.
Occasionally the newborn foal’s eyelids and lashes are turned in toward the
eye rather than turned out as normal.
This is a condition called “entropion”
and causes tearing and irritation of the
eye. If your foal has entropion, gently
roll the eyelid out and consult your veterinarian for the proper eye ointment or
treatment that you can perform.
Another infrequent problem in newborn foals is caused by an incompatibility between blood groups of the mare and
foal. This condition is known as “neonatal isoerythrolysis” or “jaundice foal.”
Antibodies to the foal’s red blood cells
are formed by the mare and secreted in
her colostrum. When the foal nurses and
absorbs these antibodies, its red blood
cells are destroyed. Without prompt
veterinary treatment, the foal becomes
anemic and dies. If you suspect neonatal
isoerythrolysis, prevent the foal from
consuming colostrum until you can get a
veterinarian to test for the condition.
Care of Orphan Foals
Orphan foals can result from death
of the mare, inability of the mare to
produce milk, or maternal rejection of
the foal. Orphan foals can be raised successfully with some extra care. As with
mothered foals, you should make sure
the orphan receives colostrum soon after
birth. If the foal cannot receive its mother’s colostrum, try to locate frozen colostrum (large breeding farms and your
veterinarian are good sources). Thaw the
frozen colostrum at room temperature.
Microwaving or heating the colostrum
can destroy the protective antibodies in
it. In the absence of any colostrum, your
veterinarian can give the foal a plasma
transfusion or an oral colostrum replacer
to get antibodies into its system.
The best and easiest solution for an
orphan is to transfer it to a nurse mare.
To transfer the foal, disguise its odor by
rubbing whiskey, linseed oil, the foster
mother’s milk, urine or feces, or any other liquid with a strong odor on the foal.
Rub the same odor around the mare’s
nose. The nurse mare usually must be
restrained or tranquilized for several
days until she willingly lets the orphan

14 • Walking On

nurse. Another solution is to let the foal
nurse a milk goat. This is a good temporary solution, but most goats cannot produce enough milk daily to meet an older
foal’s nutritional needs. You will need
an elevated area for the goat to stand on
during nursing (a few bales of hay make
a good temporary platform), and you
should pad the goat’s horns to prevent it
from hurting the foal. If these options do
not work you will have to bottle-feed or
bucket-feed the foal with a mare’s milk
replacer. There are several recipes for
mare’s milk replacer; however, the commercially available formulas are nutritionally balanced for the foal and easy to
mix and use. Whenever possible, teach
the foal to drink from a bucket. This will
save you many hours of lost sleep and
time away from work. To teach the foal
to drink from a bucket, coat your finger
with milk and allow the foal to suck your
finger. Gradually immerse your finger in
the bucket of milk. Waiting several hours
between feedings so the foal is hungry
often speeds up the learning process. If
the foal does have to be bottle-fed, hold
the bottle at the approximate height of a
mare’s udder so that the foal nurses in a
natural position. If possible, use a bottle
holder so that the foal does not assume
you are its mother. You want the foal to
learn it is a horse and to respect humans.
You should quickly and consistently
discipline the foal for inappropriate behavior (biting, kicking, shoving, rearing)
directed toward you. Orphans that are
bucket-fed or bottle-fed and those nursing a milk goat should be introduced to
other horses as soon as possible so they
will develop normal equine social behavior. Putting an old, quiet mare or gelding
in the pen or stall next to the orphan
promotes normal social behavior. If your
older horse can be trusted not to hurt
the foal, turn them out together as soon
as possible.
A healthy foal nurses from its mother
up to seven times an hour for 60 to 90
seconds each time. A newborn orphan
should be fed at least every 1 to 2 hours
during their first week of life. Freechoice milk intake is recommended for
healthy foals. During the first 2 days
of life, a foal should drink about 10 to
15 percent of its body weight daily. For
the next 5 days the foal’s intake should

increase to 25 percent of its body weight
daily. When either bottle-feeding or
bucket feeding foals, make sure that your
feeding equipment is clean and that milk
does not sour between feedings. Orphan
foals always should have access to water
and salt. Orphans should be offered
grain, milk replacer pellets, and hay after
a few days of life. However, the foal may
not consume much solid food until it is
about 1 month old.
New Foal Checklist
Several simple post-foaling management practices will help ensure the
health of your mare and foal. A checklist
follows.
1. Make sure the foal is breathing.
2. Put iodine on the foal’s umbilical
stump.
3. Make sure the foal (including orphan
foals) receives colostrum soon after
birth.
4. Make sure the foal is protected
against tetanus, either through the
colostrum or by a tetanus antitoxin
injection.
5. Make sure the foal passes the meconium and treat con stipation or
diarrhea promptly.
6. Check the umbilical stump for several days for the presence of urine.
7. Check that the foal’s eyelids and lashes are turned outward.
8. Follow your veterinarian’s advice
about any limb deformities and
hernias.
9. Make sure the mare expels the afterbirth and check it for completeness.
10. Check the mare for several days after
foaling for any sign of reproductive
tract infection.
To horse owners unfamiliar with
raising foals, this post-foaling checklist
may seem like a large amount of work.
However, it only takes a few minutes to
perform these management procedures,
and then you can relax and enjoy your
new foal knowing that you have done
your best to ensure its well-being.
Reprinted from eXtension Horses at
www.extension.org/horses and
https://www.facebook.com/
eXtensionHorseQuest