You have waited eleven months for your foal to arrive. Now he is here what can you do to ensure he gets off to the best possible start in life?
Make sure that the foal sucks. A normal foal should stand and drink from the mare within two hours. If the foal is having difficulty sucking, or is not interested, he may have serious problems. Call an experienced horse vet sooner rather than later.
Colostrum, the first milk, is very important. It contains all the antibodies your foal needs to protect him from infectious disease. A foal needs between 1.5 – 2 litres of good quality colostrum. It is most important to make sure he gets enough.
If the foal won’t suck you can collect some colostrum from the mare and give it by bottle. Or the vet can put it directly into the foal’s stomach using a tube. Colostrum substitutes are available if the mare doesn’t have any milk.
The foal’s intestines can only absorb colostrum for the first 24 hours or so. After that, the vet can give a plasma transfusion to boost the antibodies if necessary.
Check that the foal is passing meconium. Meconium is the firm dark feces that has built up...
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