Fostering Orphan Foals: providing a helping hand to those who need a first step up in life

Sadly, some foals are orphaned and need a first step up in life. Samantha Feighery RVN, lead clinical nurse at Rossdales Equine Hospital, outlines fostering and hand-rearing procedures.

Why are foals orphaned?

A foal may be orphaned for the following reasons:

• Death of the mare
• Rejection by the mare
• Mare illness, injury or disease

The tragic loss of a mare is the most common reason for hand rearing / fostering a foal. This can happen immediately post foaling or following colic, other unrelated injuries or disease.

It is not uncommon for maiden mares (a mare who has never had a foal before) to reject the foal and they may even attack the foal when it tries to nurse.

If a mare is severely compromised, either due to suffering from/recovering from a debilitating illness or disease, for example immediately post-operative colic surgery or from laminitis, she may not be able to nurse her foal.  In severe cases the mare’s milk production can be greatly reduced, or she can stop producing milk altogether. The mare may also need to be confined to a stable for a prolonged period.

Hand rearing an orphan foal is a big undertaking and extremely time consuming. There is a large risk that the foal will become excessively bonded to humans, resulting in behaviour issues.  In the long term it can be much more beneficial to foster a foal to a nurse mare: in addition to meeting their nutritional needs, the foster mare will teach the foal normal horse behaviour patterns such as grazing and socialising with other horses. If a foster mare is not available then it is imperative that horse contact is maintained with a nanny gelding and/or bucket buddy.

If the mare is lost at the foaling, the primary concern is for the foal to receive the mare’s colostrum (first milk). This can be done by milking the mare and giving it to the foal by a bottle. If a vet is present at the foaling, they may choose to administer the colostrum via a nasogastric tube as this prevents any aspiration, which can lead to pneumonia.

Foals are born without a fully developed immune system and this colostrum is full of important antibodies to provide the foal with immunity against infectious pathogens. If a foal does not ingest enough good quality colostrum in their first 12 hours after birth, it will not have adequate protection against disease and is at  increased risk of developing serious medical infections. Generally, a foal needs 3-4 litres of good quality colostrum over the first 12 hour period to ensure their antibody/ immunoglobins (IgG) levels are to a satisfactory level.

If you can’t obtain colostrum from the foal’s mother, high quality frozen colostrum may be available from your local vet or from a local stud – it is wise to check this in the lead up to your mare foaling. Alternatively, there are a number of commercial colostrum replacers available on the market and as mares generally foal at night time, it is recommended to have this in your foaling kit.

The quality of the colostrum can be checked with a Brix refractometer and should ideally be >22%.  A blood sample can be taken by your vet to test the foal’s immunoglobin (IgG) concentration if you are concerned that the foal has not received enough good quality colostrum within the first 8-12 hours after birth.

Fostering the foal onto a Foster or Nurse mare

The ideal foster mare is an experienced mare who has recently lost her own foal.  Therefore, it can be an idea to:

• Contact your local equine veterinary surgeons and stud farms as they may be able to help you locate a mare who recently lost a foal.
• Use a social media appeal to try to locate a foster mare in the local area.

There are also specialised companies that provide commercial foster mares and they will assist in the fostering process.

Fostering technique

Once you have organised your foster mare, a plan needs to be put in place for the successful introduction of the mare and the orphan foal. This process should not be rushed. It needs to take place in a calm, safe environment with plenty of time and patience needed for a positive outcome.

If you have received a foster mare from a specialist nurse mare service, they will generally assist you with the fostering process.

If you need to oversee the fostering process yourself, allow plenty of time and a minimum of two people to foster the foal. The whole process may take a couple of hours or a couple of days.

The safety of the mare and foal is essential; you will need one person to hold the mare and one to assist the foal.  To minimise injury to the foal by the mare certain steps are necessary, including physical restraint and possibly chemical restraint (sedation), or drugs that reduce anxiety.

There is a medication that a vet can administer to the mare that will induce maternal behaviour. This can be extremely helpful depending on the mare’s situation and demeanour. The use of this hormone can result in less restraint needed for the foster mare.

The process for fostering should be as follows:

• When the mare arrives, give her time to settle into her new surroundings. Once she is settled, loosely hobble the mare’s hindlimbs with commercially available padded hobbles. Depending on the mare’s temperament, she may need some sedation/ or to be blindfolded for the first meeting. In some circumstances a strong menthol-smelling paste is applied to the mare’s nostril area.  A haynet tied next to where the mare is being restrained can also provide a distraction. The mare must have someone holding on to her.
• Skip the foal’s last feed prior to the fostering process to ensure that the foal is hungry.
• Bring the foal to the same side of the mare as the person restraining the foal, but do not let the mare sniff at the foal or come to the front of the mare. If the foal has never nursed from a mare before, use the bottle and teat to guide the foal to the udder.
• It’s important to keep calm and quiet, but do reprimand the mare if she tries to bite or kick the foal.
• During the initial fostering process the foal must never be left alone or unsupervised with the mare.
• If you do not have the time or personnel to stay with the mare and foal continuously during the fostering, remove the foal from the mare’s box and keep in a nearby stable. The foal should be allowed to nurse from the mare at least every two hours.
• If the fostering is going well, first remove the blindfold and then the hobbles. Allowing the foal to stay in with the mare for longer periods under supervision will get the mare accustomed to having the foal moving around the stable.
• The mare and foal should not be left unsupervised until you are confident the mare has accepted the foal.
• Typical signs that the fostering is successful are a lack of aggressive behaviour from the mare towards the foal, the mare will whinny to the foal, she may try to look at or groom it, and she will allow it to nurse. She may also become upset when you remove the foal from the stable. This whole process usually takes 24-48 hours.
• It’s important to remember that not all mares have the right temperament to be a nurse mare; if the mare continues to show aggression and won’t accept the foal, it is advisable to look for another nurse mare or hand rear the foal.
• In some instances, especially for mares that have rejected their foal, the use of hormones, cervical stimulation and applying the mare’s vaginal fluid to the foal can help with acceptance.

Hand Rearing

If a foster mare is not a viable option, the orphan foal will need to be hand-reared using milk replacer. This will require a lot of time and labour, and at the start the foal may need 24-hour care.  Of course if the foal is older this may be more achievable if there is adequate horse companionship for the foal.  The following are important considerations when you are choosing to hand rear foals:

• The milk replacer must be similar to mares’ milk. Calf and lamb milk replacers are NOT suitable for foals as they have different requirements and tolerances.  Unsuitable milk and milk replacers can cause developmental problems and gastrointestinal upset such as diarrhoea. It may be worth discussing milk replacer options with your vet to ensure you choose a product that is as close as possible to mare’s milk.
• Feeding frequency. A normal 7-day old foal will nurse from the mare around 4 to 7 times per hour, making it impossible to mimic this feeding pattern in an orphaned foal without a foster mare.  When hand rearing foals, particularly within the first two weeks of life, the foal will need to be fed small meals every one to two hours.
• Having a Companion. Horses are herd animals so it is beneficial to introduce a companion to keep the foal company and encourage normal equine behaviour. This is ideally a sensible, gentle older horse or pony.

Foals can be trained to feed from a bucket or bowl from a very young age. Bucket training has many advantages and the foal will be less ‘humanised’. Excess human bonding often leads to behavioural problems later on. Bucket feeding is less time consuming than bottle feeding and reduces the risk of aspiration pneumonia.

During the first 2 days, a healthy 50kg foal will consume 5-7 litres of milk and should be feed every 1-2 hours. As the foal grows, the foal’s intake needs to increase.

Using a high quality Mare’s Milk Replacer will only be effective if it is fed correctly. Feeding too much, too little or large meals of milk replacer will cause problems like stunted growth, a pot-bellied appearance and diarrhoea.

How much to feed?

The following table provides a guideline for the number of feeds and amount of milk replacer to feed an orphan foal.

These feeding frequencies should be used as a guide only. Feeding this frequently is time consuming and difficult if only one person is involved. If feeding this frequently is not possible, feed as often as you are able, with a minimum of four feeds per day being acceptable after the first two weeks. The more frequently you can feed, the better for the foal it will be.

Practical points to remember when hand rearing a foal:

• Follow the specific directions and instructions for the making and the concentration of the milk replacer.
• Wash buckets and mixing utensils in hot water after each use and clean with washing up liquid at least once a day. If the facilities allow – the whisk and jug to reconstitute the milk replacer can be keep in a Milton solution between uses and this solution changed daily.
• Keep a record of the quantity of the milk consumed.
• The best protocol would be to prepare the milk replacer fresh for each feeding but if time is an issue, the foals daily ration of milk can be mixed ahead of time but ensure it is covered, stored in a cool area/ fridge until it is used. Any milk that is not consumed in 24 hours should be discarded.
• Weigh or weight tape the foal regularly to ensure the foal is gaining weight. A healthy foal should gain on average 1kg a day.

Where possible in the first one to two weeks, milk should be consistently fed at body temperature. After this time, it is acceptable to feed milk at the foal’s environmental temperature.

It is advisable to feed foals small feeds frequently; large volumes of milk can cause malabsorption of the milk, which can result in the foal getting very little nutritive value from the milk. It can lead to diarrhoea and may contribute to the cause of the ‘pot-bellied’ appearance common in hand reared animals.

Once the foal is drinking from the bowl, begin feeding from a light-coloured plastic bucket which can be secured to a wall or fence at a height that is below the foal’s chest. As the foal grows, you can gradually increase the milk volume you feed and decrease how often you feed.

In addition to frequent milk feeds, all foals must have constant access to clean fresh water, hay, fresh grass or pasture turnout with a companion.

A high-quality creep feed containing protein, minerals and vitamins can also be introduced from two weeks of age to help support bone and muscle development and promote a strong immune system. Milk pellets are also available and can be useful in some cases.

Any changes in the foal’s normal behaviour, for example if the foal is not hungry/not drinking or is less active and appears dull, signals a problem and you should contact your vet immediately.

Hand rearing an orphan foal is a labour intensive and at times difficult task, but it can be very rewarding. If hand rearing is done correctly the foal can have normal growth rates and develop normal equine behaviours.