This has probably been asked before but...is like to know peoples views.

what age is okay to wean a horse? l always thought it was 6months or thereabouts. due to it being both nutritionally and psychologically bad?

opinions please and voice your opinion. 10points to the best answer EG giving a reason as to why they think that age is correct! also the reason ''that is what l do with my horses'' DOESN'T count. =]

=]
the nutrition bit sounds wrong l mean its nutritionally and physcologically bad for them to be weaned younger. if it can be helped.

The range from four to six months of age is the recommended weaning age. A veterinarian will advise you on the best age to wean your horse, as all situations are different.

l think a lot of issues go into deciding what age to wean. We look at condition of the mare & foal. If we've got a foal really pulling a mare down l might consider weaning a little sooner. Or if we r getting ready for futurities. We will start weaning between 4-6months of age. l want to make sure the foal has had time to get over the stress of weaning & be back in top form again. Now if a foal has had a stressful birth or born later in the year l might leave them on the mare longer. We've not done it, but l have seen foals left with the mare for closer to a year old. The mare is allowed to wean the foal.

spellcasterminis has a great answer. She hit every nail on the head.

The longer a foal can be left on is better mentally obviously. The dam can teach them & guide them longer. You also have to look at the dams health though.
If the pasture is not great, the mare is not in great health or had a hard time producing for the foal (especially if he is a big eater) it will drain the mare & u have to wean earlier than normal.
If the foal is a big eater & is growing fine, eating grain right along with mom & is on target, sure, u can wean.

l prefer a later weaning though (6-12 mos). To me a foal left with the dam longer has a better mind. My mare was actually weaned by her dam.never taken from her side.

Four to six months is the normal rule. After four months the nutritional value of the mare is milk starts going down so there is not much nutritional value there. Before they hit four months l always start separating them for short times & add to the times until l have them separated for a whole day. Then when they get weaned they do not seem to care very much, but l handle mine a LOT when they're babies.

As for it being better mentally to stay on the mare longer, or it makes for a better minded horse because they learn from the mare, well, not always. They do learn from the mare and, in my experience, that has been detrimental rather than helpful in some instances. If u have a mare that has traits you'd rather not see in the foal such as agressiveness towards other horses, aggressiveness towards u at feeding time, running from you, etc etc etc, remember that she is going to teach those things to the foal.

l generally wean at four to four & half months & have not had any problems whatsoever. The babies have great minds, it does not hurt them mentally at all. l believe if a baby is allowed to run with its mother until ''the mare is ready to wean it'' you're asking for a whole lot of trouble later on with separation anxiety, for the mare & the foal!

In the wild the mare will wean her foal just a few weeks before the new foal arrives. Some mares wo not wean a foal at all & the newborn dies. I've known of mares that continued to nurse their baby & the baby was 5 or 6 years old! So, letting a mare wean the foal does not work as well as it seems it should.
Later is often better. The mare does have things to teach the foal & if she has problems with a personality u do not want to have the foal learn, then why r u breeding the mare?
Personally l think that time is not nearly as important as how u wean. The less stress the better & weaning slowly & keeping the foal in his herd is best.

It depends on circumstances.

In general, u want to wait until the foal is old enough to be getting the bulk of its nutrition from grazing & supplemental hay/grain feeding before u wean. For most foals, that is around 4-6 months. However, there r other factors to be considered.

One is the physical condition of the mare. Generally, in commercial breeding operations, the broodmare manager wants to get the mare back in foal as quickly as possible. If she needs to gain weight (it is hard to get an underweight mare back in foal), the manager might want to wean the foal early to allow the mare to gain more weight. The foal can be given supplemental feeding (calf manna top-dressed on a concentrate supplement or something of that sort) & will usually do just fine.

FWIW, very few commercial breeding farms wait until a foal is 6 months to wean. Since most foals in the Northern hemishere r born between the end of February & the end of May, that would put weaning in September through November, & at least with Thoroughbreds, that would not work. In September they have the yearling sales going on, & by November you're getting into the breeding stock sales. If a mare is consigned to a sale in November, the farm needs time to get her into shape-- put weight on her, make sure her coat is in good sleek condition, get her mane & tail neat & even, work with her enough so that when she is shown at the sale she is not a wreck. That all takes time. Most farms prefer to have weaning done by September or October at the latest.

Psychologically, most foals have outgrown the need to have mama hanging around all the time by the time they r three to four months old, & r perfectly capable of being weaned. Most farms do not wean all their foals at once, anyway. They will do a couple of foals every couple of days, starting with the most mature or the ones whose mothers need a break the most. Properly done, the separation is minimally stressful for all concerned.

if there is only one baby it is nice to keep him with mom longer, but if there is a bunch to teach each other things then you can do it younger. it also depends on the mare and how long she is comfortable with it