Question: My name is Sam, and I just got my horse insemenated tuesday and Wesdnesday. I was just wondering, don't you wean the baby's at 6 months old? And, when should I start training her baby? I've owned my horse, Pleasure for 2 years, and we've never bred a horse or anything before. Right now, there's a baby horse at the barn that I've been helping to train, and she's about 10 or 11 months old right now. So, could you please email me back? Thank you very much!!!

Answer: Hello Sam, Industry standard for weaning a baby from the mare is approx 6 months. This timeframe can be adjusted from 4 months to 8 months depending on the circumstances. As young as 4 months old if the mare is having difficulty nursing the baby and keeping her own weight adequate or if you need to show the mare or sell the baby at a younger age. As old as 8 months (I wouldn't let it go longer than that since it gets more difficult to control the baby during the weaning process the older it gets) if all is going well and maybe you don't have a way to adequately separate them at an early time. When you wean the baby it is best if you can completely separate the mare and baby by taking one of them off the property. If they are in ear shot of each other, and that can be 20 acres away, they can find a way to get back to each other despite fencing, etc. Regarding training - you can start training the baby the second it hits the ground by "imprinting" the foal - check out the book and/or video "Foal Imprinting by Dr. Robert Miller" who is widely accepted as the leading expert on the technique. Be sure that you know what you are doing or you can actually cause a lot of resistant issues if you do the imprinting incorrectly - if you are unsure of doing it properly you'd be better off not doing it. Even if you don't imprint the foal you can start training it within a day or two of birth by introducing everyday horse stuff . A halter (make sure to not leave the halter on the baby unsupervised) to start teaching it to give to pressure and lead, introducing brushes, hoof picks, saddle blankets, clippers, etc - just keep your little introduction sessions to 20 minutes or less so not to stress the baby. The most important thing to remember is that each time you introduce a new item or behavior (like leading) that you end the session with the baby relaxed and accepting of the item in question - so go slow and in very small steps. Got the pics of the mare and she looks very nice. FYI when trying to get a mare in foal (especially with AI) you have more success if they are in a gaining weight mode - not so as she gets fat but mares are more reproductively receptive if they are gaining weight versus loosing or staying the same. She looks fit and lean and might be more receptive if she put on a few pounds. Amber