On Sat, 21 Jun 2008 07:59:00 -0700, you wrote: >Anyone, please, if you have any suggestions let me know. Any tips on >getting another mare to accept this baby? If I have to bottle feed, can she >have goat milk? Is there a horse laxative I can get Belle to take?
Liquid paraffin is one of the best, and most gentle laxatives and perfectly safe for horses, even young foals. If you have a mare with a young foal (or know someone with one) and she has a really SUPER temperament, it may be possible to get her to accept two foals. First make sure she will let you handle her udder while her foal suckles on the other side. Put her in a stable with her own foal (best when her foal is full, happy and relaxed) and hold the new foal. Smear some honey on her top lip and on the new foal's back. Have someone hold her, you hold the new foal, and let her smell the new foal. Hopefully she will lick the honey off the new foal. Hold the mare, and direct the new foal to her udder and see if it will suckle. You MAY be lucky... If not - you can buy mare's milk replacer from some feed stores, or if you google plenty come up. Here's one I found http://www.buckeyenutrition.com/equine/maresmilkplus.html Goat's milk will be OK as a stand by until you get mare's milk replacer. If you do have to hand rear, then try to not make a pet of the foal too much - it's horribly easy to allow hand-reared foals to think that humans are big friendly toys that can be rubbed on, played with, reared at etc etc. > >I thought I new a lot about brood mares and the problems they can develop, >but I had never heard of this. The vet said it is common in mini's and >shetlands, but he hadn't seen it in Icelandics. Then again, mine are the >only Icelandics he has seen. Well - and this will sound tough and for that I'm sorry - but why on earth did you let your mare get so fat in the first place? It is indeed pretty common in mini's and Shetlands, because quite a few people treat them as dogs rather than horses and let them get far too fat. There are so many good ways to prevent this - strip grazing using electric fencing, grazing masks, dry lots etc etc etc. Letting your horses get so fat is doing them no favours whatsoever. She will be much more prone to insulin resistance, laminitis, joint problems and a host of other nasties. See http://www.dvmnews.com/dvm/News/Equine-obesity/ArticleLong/Article/detail/94484 Hope your mare and foal pull through - I think you have some hard work ahead. Good luck. Mic Mic (Michelle) Rushen ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Solva Icelandic Horses and DeMeulenkamp Sweet Itch Rugs: www.solva-icelandics.co.uk -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
