Mrs. 4444 asked me what it takes to wean foals. Everyone who raises horses does this a bit differently, but here's how our operation works.
From May to the end of July the mare herd is split into three bands. Each band is placed with one of our studs (Tiny, Cowboy and Dealer). During this time period the mares foal and re-breed. We like for our foals to be born in May or June when the threat of blizzards is past. It also ensures that they are old enough to survive the nasty winter weather that they'll have to deal with before they turn a year old.
At the end of July the mares and studs are split and all the mares and foals are put together in a half section pasture.
Starting in early August we haul mares, foals, studs and the few geldings we have to rodeos. The foals wait in pens behind the bucking chutes while Mom goes and does her eight seconds of work. We are usually done with rodeos by mid September and it's back to lounging in the pasture all day.
We like to wean by the end of October so that the mares have one less mouth to feed through the winter. We have a panel corral set up in the pasture that the mares hang in. This makes it really easy to round up, sort, and haul when it comes time to rodeo or wean.
This time we had two people on horseback and one on a four wheeler. The herd is rounded up and put in the corral where we sort off a mare and her foal, take pictures, sort off the foal, and give the mare a dewormer. The mare is then turned back out into the pasture.
When all the mares are separated from the foals, the foals are loaded in a trailer and hauled to the corrals near the house. The foals are hauled because you cannot herd them without their moms and also because this gets the separation over with quickly.
Once the foals are at the home corrals an older gelding is turned in with them. This helps keep them calm. The gelding acts as a babysitter and mentor as the foals get used to life without Mom. The foals are fed hay and are grained daily so that they start getting used to being around people. Like I've said before, our horses aren't tame but we don't want them to be wild because that's how people and horses get hurt. The horses need to learn that people won't hurt them, but their job is to buck people off.
After about a week, the foals are moved to a pasture near the house, but away from the mares and are checked on and grained often so that they get used to people being around. As the foals get older they are broke to lead and then moved to a remote pasture and allowed to just grow up. When they are two years old they are brought to town where they are messed with in the bucking chutes. They are haltered and have a saddle put on them. They are petted until they see that they will not be hurt and learn how to stand and be calm. The saddle has a rope attached that allows the saddle to be released and fall off when we want it to. The two years olds are bucked with just a saddle many times throughout that summer and messed with in the chutes. The foals are kept separate from the herd until they are three years old.
So there is a very long description of our bucking horse operation. Thanks for reading my blog and please feel free to comment.
Thanks for reading my blog and please feel free to comment!
Thanks for reading my blog and please feel free to comment!
