Question for those who keep grown offspring with dams....

[Tremor]

I have two retired broodmares who are kept with two of their grown foals. (Yearling to five years old)

One of my mares is VERY attached to her offspring who are a yearling and a two year old. She will whinny for them and run up from the pasture to great them specifically. This same mare has been protective of ALL of her foals. We kept her 1st foal until she was 3 and they were very attached.

The other mare could care less about her offspring but normally does greet them when they go out with the herd after I've worked with them.

I'm curious if its normal for a mare to be so attached to her weaned and grown offspring? I don't really mind except for the fact that the offspring tend to focus on her voice when I'm working with them.

Does anybody else have protective mares?

EDIT: I cannot help but think that this is caused by her anxiety issues. She fears trailers. She will not go in one and I have been working with her on it for MONTHS. She shook violently when I did get her in once. She also will not let you touch her legs near it. So, I cannot help but connect these anxiety issues/fears to her offspring? Is that a too human thought? I spoke with her past owners about a month ago and they mentioned that she had always hated trailers.

Is it at all possible for a mare to have a fear of being separated along with being in a trailer? I feel like I'm not explaining this right?

 

[billiethekid40]

I don't breed so I don't have personal experience but I would say that YES it is normal. Both are totally normal in fact, some mares keep the tight bond and others do not. Some horses bond tightly to an unrelated horse in the same manner but I can say that yes I have indeed heard of and met some horsie moms who can't "cut the cord" so to speak.

 

[Tremor]

I don't breed so I don't have personal experience but I would say that YES it is normal. Both are totally normal in fact, some mares keep the tight bond and others do not. Some horses bond tightly to an unrelated horse in the same manner but I can say that yes I have indeed heard of and met some horsie moms who can't "cut the cord" so to speak.

I bet in human form she would be one of those "Monster Moms". I could just imagine it!

 

[Riverrose28]

It's called being barn sour. Separate the older mare where she can't see the offspring. If that is not possable then at least take the offspring away for a couple of hours each day until she stops screaming for them.

 

[Tremor]

It's called being barn sour. Separate the older mare where she can't see the offspring. If that is not possable then at least take the offspring away for a couple of hours each day until she stops screaming for them.

I must say that I have not heard of the term. What exactly does it mean?

 

[Riverrose28]

What it means is, that when you take one horse from another, the screaming, running, etc. starts. The horses are attached to each other, so separating them causes stress, so you need to separate slowly so they know the one they are calling for will return, just not on their terms, but yours. Horses are horses and this happens alot with all horses. We used to have only trail horses, when we took one away the others would go crazy, it happens, just try to acllimate them to the separation.

 

[valshingle]

I call it herd bound rather than barn sour, but it describes the same thing. I do have a big horse that lived with her son, after he was weaned and gelded, until he was six. She eventually relaxed about having him around.

I have two show horses that recently became very attached to each other, so we've been keeping them apart as it became a problem when one was out of the stall showing.

Good luck, she sounds like a very anxious mare.

 

[mini horse mania]

I had a mare that was never separated from her 2 yr old filly.thats how I bought them....and sold them.i tried everything to separate them.i ended up with torn up fences...and injured horses from them tearing themselves up to get back together.the 2 yr old even tried to run through the horse trailer wall to get back to mom.

 

[Helicopter]

I bought a mare and her 3 month old foal. By the time he was weaned (and gelded) they weren't taking much notice of each other but after weaning she just adored him. He's 3 years old now and she still loves him and he 's pretty keen on her too. I put her back in the paddock the other day after working with her and he rushed over and had a "drink". She's dry of course but she was more than happy to let him suck.

Big baby. That's him in my avatar with the blaze and his half brother.

 

[minie812]

I have ONE mare that is like that with ALL her foals. At weaning time I have learned to seperate for short periods of time and it sometimes takes several attempts to finally get her over it. The weaning foal could care less until it sees Mama all worked up. She just LOVES her babies.

 

[AnnaC]

Amongst my large herd of girls we have my old original mare plus her daughters, their daughters and their daughters! LOL!! They all have their own friends amongst others in the herd, but they also know and remember each other and are often to be found grazing or snoozing next to their dams. But I never had trouble at weaning nor at anytime when I wanted to separate any of them, I think because there have always been plenty of others to keep them company.

Until this time round with my original old girl. She has a two year old filly who adores her, and trails along behind her all the time. She was 'properly' weaned without a problem - moved over to daughter's farm with the other foals and spent the winter of 2010 and last summer there. Back here for last Autumn and she immediately found her Momma and stuck close to her. Mother is now pregnant with her last foal (retiring after this one) and a few days ago left here for daughter's farm along with the other pregnant girls - foaling over there in July - and the filly was quite upset, just wandering and calling, not getting in a state. After 24 hours I took the chance and removed her from the main herd and popped her in another field with my three elderly retired girls. She settled immediately (she and her Momma had been in with these old girls as they are on my good grass field and I wanted my old lady to have as much good grass as she could eat). So little one is now happy with old companions and Momma is free to think about her new baby, not that she was attached to her 'constantly trailing' filly anyway.

So your mare is being perfectly normal - some mares are just made this way. I think you will just have to do as others have suggested and separate them for very short periods to start with. Make sure you have somewhere safe to leave the youngster, preferably with a companion, and take the mare off out of sight for a short while (5 minutes to start with), then return and rejoin them. Then do the same with the youngster, leaving the mare behind this time. Just keep at it, slowly increasing the time apart once they become more settled. It might take a long while, but it will work in the end.

I dont think that your mare hating a trailer has anything to do with being separated. She has probably had a bad journey or even an accident in the past, poor girl. If they have that sort of fear of a vehicle, I dont think they ever get over it - it could have been a simple thing like a thoughtless driver going too fast or 'swinging' round corners, where she found it difficult to keep her feet. Some people shouldn't be allowed to drive horses!!

 

[Tremor]

Thanks guys.

I spoke with my vet about this on Monday and mentioned my intentions to "give up" on trying to get her into a trailer; calmly and to leave her a pasture puff with my other ex-broodie. She agreed that it would probably be best for her to just be a pasture puff because trying to get her into a trailer would be too stressful.

This is my mare that I had been working on jumps with and was hoping to train to drive and show. Its kind of sad that it may be best for us both to not trailer her. I really wanted to, but it does mean that I can now focus on my two youngsters; her past foals who LOVE the trailer. *shocker*

 

[Riverrose28]

Is there some way to put the trailer in her paddock, and put food/grain at the door then leading into the trailer? Also I had a bad loader, she just didn't like the trailer, not bad driving or an accident. I got in the trailer since I couldn't put a 32 foot trailer in her paddock, held the lead and gave her some grain everytime she sniffed the trailer floor, eventually hubby put one foot in, I gave her somemore grain, gave a tug and she got in, gave her more grain, then unloaded her. Did this three days in a row, then did it with the trailer hooked up and drove her down to the intersection, did a turn around came home unloaded her. She's been fine since.

 

[Tremor]

Is there some way to put the trailer in her paddock, and put food/grain at the door then leading into the trailer? Also I had a bad loader, she just didn't like the trailer, not bad driving or an accident. I got in the trailer since I couldn't put a 32 foot trailer in her paddock, held the lead and gave her some grain everytime she sniffed the trailer floor, eventually hubby put one foot in, I gave her somemore grain, gave a tug and she got in, gave her more grain, then unloaded her. Did this three days in a row, then did it with the trailer hooked up and drove her down to the intersection, did a turn around came home unloaded her. She's been fine since.

We actually have the trailer out with the horses. They all steer clear from it when they rough house though.

Whenever possible I open up the doors and let them jump in or investigate it. Most of them do jump in.

When I do this the mare mentioned will stand at the opening but will not jump in or try to do so. She seems interested in it; especially when her offspring are in it. She will also chase other away from it so that she is the only one near the opening. She knows what she needs to do but when I try to help her in or put the halter on she will act scared; as if she's never seen it before.

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

Some foals will continue to nurse and act like foals well into 2-3yo if never truly weaned. I've always been taught to never reintroduce mother/daughter/son until they are adults.

 

[Katiean]

When I brought my prego mare home to foal, my stallion threw a screaming fit. She was his second mom or rather he was raised by 2 mares. After a couple of days he calmed down. I am just not sure how he is going to react to the new foal. I am planning on him not being a stallion when she goes back to the barn.

 

[HGFarm]

Yep, sounds like she is just a nervous nellie 'clingy' type of personality who has never been taught that it's ok to be away from others. My opinion... it's like having a child who has a big tantrum every time you ask it to do something it doesnt like, so you just give in every time.

We bought a full sized horse one time who was SO horse sour, you could not get her more than 40 feet from another without her exploding- even while out riding her. This doesnt work when you have cattle to work. It was pretty exciting but with persistance and patience and lots of 'starting from scratch' she got over it and became one of the best horses I've ever had.