Fostering orphaned foals
When a mare dies after foaling, the South Island Foster Foal Service will try to match the young orphan with another horse which has lost her own foal.
Service co-ordinator Anna Miles said the alternative to matching was for a foal to be hand fed, which is very labour intensive with two hourly bottles for the first six weeks, three hourly up to 12 weeks, then four hourly.
Last year, Miles said, she was notified of 31 mares which had lost their foals and 13 foals which had lost their mothers. The service successfully matched eight of the foals with accepting mares.
The service is administered by the Canterbury, Marlborough, Westland and Otago branch of the NZ Thoroughbred Association but is not confined to thoroughbreds and any horses can be matched.
In the North Island, the service charges $200 per match but in the South Island there is no charge because Miles is a volunteer.
Her passion for looking after foals was sparked after spending six months working at the Irish National Stud through a NZ Thoroughbred Association scholarship in 2001.
Though she grew up with horses, on a North Canterbury farm, it was the first time she had experienced fostering foals.
‘‘I find it very rewarding when there is a successful outcome ... It is my way of repaying the association.’’ Miles has been coordinator for the fostering service for the past three years, operating in the foaling season between August and December.
Some mares accepted an orphan foal immediately, others took about three days to warm to the idea while others just straight out rejected them, Miles said.
Mares could breed every year from the age of 3 to 20 with gestation taking about 11 months, 11 days. A little subterfuge had to be used to get another foal accepted – tactics include rubbing the orphan foal with the mother’s milk, or putting the dead foal’s skin on it. If foals were hand reared, they often became too close to humans, she said.
‘‘They do not have boundaries and by the time they get to 550kg they can become bossy and not respectful.’’
Miles shares her time between relief teaching at Waimate High School, breeding thoroughbred foals and organising the fostering.