12 utterly gorgeous foals we can’t get enough of
Here is our selection of the class of 2020, fluffy-eared, long-legged equines to help brighten your day...
Foals
A foal is the name for a young horse from birth up to one year of age (when they become a yearling). A foal is either a colt (male) or filly (female). A mare carries her foal for a pregnancy period of around 11 months. Foals are typically weaned from their dam (mother) at between six months and a year after birth.
A foal’s initial food source will be to drink milk from its dam. The first milk or colostrum is extremely important as it contains vital antibodies to help to foal thrive. Foals will typically drink from their mothers for at least four months, after which time the mare’s milk becomes a less importance nutrition source as the foal becomes able to digest grass, forage and supplementary hard food.
If a foal is rejected by its dam, or loses its dam through illness or injury, then they can be hand-raised by providing milk via a bottle or bucket. However, hand-reared foals can struggle from a lack of equine ‘instruction’ as their dam teaches them what is acceptable behaviour and and how to interact with other equines. Foals that miss out on these lessons have to carefully managed to ensure this does not have a negative impact as they grow up.
Small horses that measure under 148cm to the top of the shoulder when they have reached maturity are called ponies. Foals are horse or ponies of any size aged from birth to one year.
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Joy from sadness: mare adopts late fieldmate’s foal to raise alongside her own
All three have bonded and both foals are doing ‘very well’
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Game of Thrones newborn colt lifts spirits at charity
The mare’s pregnancy came as an ‘extra surprise’ after she was part of a multi-agency rescue in June 2019
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Newborn zebra brings ray of Hope as world battles health crisis
Grant’s zebras are registered as near-threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list
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Horses have five toes during foetal development, study finds
Researchers looked at younger embryos than had previously been studied
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Bright future for orphaned foal after traumatic start to life
The foal was rescued with his 27-year-old dam
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Abandoned foals found near road spark ‘SOS’
‘People arrived en masse to come and assist and we are so grateful to them’
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‘We can’t rest until we find her’: owners’ heartbreak over stolen foal
‘If someone has her we ask they put her somewhere safe so we can find her. The longer it goes on we’re losing hope’
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A progressive approach to weaning foals *H&H VIP*
Ready to wean? A progressive approach is preferable to sudden separation, explains Kelly Harrison-Tait MRCVS
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The risks of twin foals
Twins remain a rarity in the horse world — with good reason, as Andrea Oakes discovers
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Two elite foals sell for £40,000 each at Bolesworth auction
‘This auction highlights the strength of British breeding and marks the beginning of a new era for buyers searching for British-bred elite sport horses’
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‘He should still be with his mother’: abandoned foal with blue eye rescued
‘It’s lucky he was found relatively quickly as had he been left for much longer, it’s unlikely he would have survived’
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‘We had two mouths to feed and a mare without milk’: breeder surprised by twin Shetland colts
‘We have been breeding for nearly 40 years and have never had twins – as much as we treasure and marvel at them, we hope it’s a once in a lifetime event’
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Giant teddy helps orphaned foal recover after traumatic loss of dam
‘We’re all glad she was found and rescued. Now she just needs time and a lot of care’
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Rare sight as ‘close friend’ broodmares foal down next to each other
‘It was a lovely sight when both mares started foaling one after the other’
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Connemara mare gives birth to ‘miracle’ twins
‘It was a case of really nurturing them to keep them alive’
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‘I remember screaming down the phone to the vet ‘I have three legs’’ — how surprise twins gave a mare owner a ‘terrifying’ ordeal
When Belgian showjumper and breeder Anne-Liza Makkinga’s foaling alarm went off one day in May, she was unaware her mare Cacharelle’s birth would quickly turned into a “terrifying” ordeal
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Three adorable Suffolk foals boost breed numbers
‘I chose mares as far genetically removed as I could get. Each of my mares is a different line and they went to a different stallion’
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Owner’s Badminton dream for half-Fjord filly
‘I always described Maddison as a Land Rover Defender, and her foal is more like a Range Rover Sport’
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‘Cheeky’ Connemara twin foals make surprise arrival
‘It was like she wondered where the second foal had come from but she took to them straight away’
