Question: How soon after birth will my foal nurse? How often will it nurse? Should I be concerned about aggression by my mare?

Answer: Foals generally nurse within two hours of foaling. Nursing is a seeking behavior, and the foal may try and nurse the wrong end, under the belly, the mare’s neck, almost everywhere until it figures out where the teats are located.

Mares may exhibit semi-aggressive behaviors when a foal seeks out the teats, such as ear-pinning or threatening to kick. However, once a foal is nursing, these behaviors rarely stop a nursing bout. Newborn foals will often nurse about four times per hour, while older foals will nurse about once an hour, with longer and longer episodes between nursing bouts as they get older and begin eating solids. When a foal is very young, the mare will stop a nursing bout, while the foal most often stops a nursing bout when it’s a little older.

Mares with young foals will stay right around the foal, which is called the recumbancy response. However, the foal is primarily responsible for mare/foal proximity. The olfactory and vision senses play a role in recognition. Mares seem to be able to recognize their foal’s vocalization better than foals can recognize the vocalization of their dam. Foals who have become separated from their dams will move toward any mare’s vocalization at first. Foals may not definitively recognize their dams until several weeks of age. This is generally not a problem in a herd situation because most mares will not allow a foal that is not their own to nurse, and new mothers are very protective of their foals for the first few weeks.