How are your weanling orphans doing?

[Clarion]

Okay, I know when TJ was first orphaned there were a few other folks up her who had orphans and annikak just mentioned one in the worming thread. So if you a 2007 orphan, how are they doing? Are they undersized for their age? Anyone else still struggling with the pot-bellied orphan look? Anyone having any orphan -related problems with theirs.

TJ is doing well. He is still quite a bit smaller than his companion who is a week younger but he is growing steadily so I hope he might eventually catch up.I haven't sticked him lately, but a couple of months ago he was around 13.1hh and I know he's grown since then. His butt is probably a hand taller then his withers, he's just ridiculously butt high at the moment. ( He was so small when he was born we had to borrow my dog's winter blanket for him because he was too small for the foal blankets. So I'm pretty happy with how far he's come)I still have no idea where he'll end up size wise. His parents were 16.1 and 16.2. At first I thought I had a pony foal for sure, now I am hoping he catches up enough that I don't end up with a honey. He's got a great appetite and looks healthy in every way except that he still has a bit of a pot belly. He is a bright, impish character that is confident and sensible. He is the leader between him and the other colt even though Adam is probably a hand taller at this point. He was semi-adopted by Adam's mom so he always went out with other horses. I think this saved him from picking up too many of the spoiled orphan behaviors.

So where are your guys at now?

[Sassenach]

Little Lady our orphan is doing well - she's still a bit smaller than the others (granted they are both colts and big brawny things) but is good in all other respects. Very dainty and pretty you couldn't mistake her for anything other than a girl.

She's been weaned from her 'babysitter' (2yr filly who adopted her and served to teach her horse-stuff) 2yr filly took the weaning harder than she did. She's having no problem socializing with the herd and is quite the charmer when she wants to be. Old QH gelding adores her and acts as 'uncle'

[smilton]

I'm still struggling with the pot bellied look. I had a hard time getting their gut flora right this time around. I've gone through alot of tubes of probiotic beyond the yogurt they got originally. One still has looser stool than I would like but looks healthy otherwise. I had 6 last year.
One has reactions to vaccinations and must be pretreated with banamine for every vaccine. One bites anyone who will let him (AKA Gator). One thinks people are playthings. I lost two due to untreatable conditions (ruptured bladder, extreme foal narcolepsy). It's almost that time of year to start all over again.

[Clarion]

Six orphans or just six foals??My guy has never--knock wood, knock wood--had digestive problems, no diarrhea, etc., just has the pot belly. I think TJ would have been confused and thought he was a person if one of our mares hadn't taken him on--she never let him nurse, actually he never even tried--but she took care of him like he was her own. If she hadn't enabled him to be part of the herd, he would definitely thought he was a person because up until she adopted him, we couldn't put him out with the herd. One of the other mares kept trying to kill him. My otherwise very reliable babysitter gelding also tried to kill him whe we tried to put him out with him. I think he was just so tiny, no one was quite sure WHAT he was. So he spent the first month he was orphaned going out with me as his turnout partner until Ellie decided to allow him to join her family. Sitting in a field for hours a day with him was just tons of fun.:rolleyes::sleepy:

I'm so sorry you lost two of your foals, smilton

[Sassenach]

Six orphans or just six foals??My guy has never--knock wood, knock wood--had digestive problems, no diarrhea, etc., just has the pot belly. I think TJ would have been confused and thought he was a person if one of our mares hadn't taken him on--she never let him nurse, actually he never even tried--but she took care of him like he was her own. If she hadn't enabled him to be part of the herd, he would definitely thought he was a person because up until she adopted him, we couldn't put him out with the herd. One of the other mares kept trying to kill him. My otherwise very reliable babysitter gelding also tried to kill him whe we tried to put him out with him. I think he was just so tiny, no one was quite sure WHAT he was. So he spent the first month he was orphaned going out with me as his turnout partner until Ellie decided to allow him to join her family. Sitting in a field for hours a day with him was just tons of fun.:rolleyes::sleepy:

I'm so sorry you lost two of your foals, smilton

Yes for our orphan filly our friend's 2yr filly was a life-saver. That mare was *born* to be a mother. We also turned them out with another friend's yearling filly. We tried to handle her as little as was necessary to avoid her being dependent on humans and think she was one and let Lass and Aisling teach her the ropes of being a horse.

[Clarion]

Oh and Smilton--TJ went through a mouthy period too--his nickname was "Chessy Chompers" for awhile--but he got over it and is really quite good now.

[smilton]

I had six orphan foals last year. Only one was from my horses the others came from neighboring farms. They included drafts, mini horses, mini donkeys, mammoth donkeys and QH foals.
Gator is extremely mouthy. He was a dummy foal so he had more hands on assistance than most. He had a gastric tube for the first two days before he removed it. Then I had to tube him every two hours for the next two days. He was also unable to get up on his own so he had to be assisted for the first week. Most of the orphans I have raised I try to handle as little as possible and find them a buddy. Unfortunately recently Gator's buddy started beating up on him so he has had to come back inside for some TLC.
There's no telling how many I'll get this year. I've already got the kit ready.

I could have tried to save the narcolepsy baby but I wasn't sure what her quality of life was going to be. She had some neuro issues as well.

[shawneeAcres]

THank goodness I am not the only one! My orphan (orphaned at 36 hours of age but with GREAT Igg levels) has basically been very healthy, i.e. no problems BUT is AWFUL looking! He looks to me like a 4 month old pot beliied FUR BALL!, but in reality is an 8 month old. He is fairly small and just seems so underdelvelopd but vet says he is fine and will catch up. Has virtually NO topline in spite of living out with his wenaling filly buddy and running around. He is nicely uphill (and always has been) and a FABULOUS mover whcih is what is keeping me optomistic! But I am "hiding" him! LOL

[Clarion]

We should have a "Hiding Our Orphans" clique. Mine was the cutest foal you'd ever want to see--if really small--but he is an undersized, pot-bellied ragamuffin now. He's actually growing pretty quickly, but he was just so far behind it will be a LONG time, if ever, that he catches up with others his age. I wish he was uphill, but right at the moment his butt is probably a hand higher than the rest of him. He still had a cute head and a fabulous personality though, so I'm hoping everything else will come back and he will end up as I imagined he would be when he was 3 weeks old.

So those of you have ones that are potbellied--do you think it is just
"orphan" pot belly or do you think worms could be playing a part? Mine has been wormed monthly since he was a month old, and is on daily wormer since he was about six months old. He got the potbelly right after his mom died when he was month old, but since it hasn't gone away now that he is 8 months old, I'm wondering if it could be more that just the pot belly created from being an orphan. My vet thinks I should panacur "powerpak" him, but since he is so small, I hate to do something that might disrupt his digestion or overstress his liver. What are you guys doing with yours?

[shawneeAcres]

We should have a "Hiding Our Orphans" clique. Mine was the cutest foal you'd ever want to see--if really small--but he is an undersized, pot-bellied ragamuffin now. He's actually growing pretty quickly, but he was just so far behind it will be a LONG time, if ever, that he catches up with others his age. I wish he was uphill, but right at the moment his butt is probably a hand higher than the rest of him. He still had a cute head and a fabulous personality though, so I'm hoping everything else will come back and he will end up as I imagined he would be when he was 3 weeks old.

So those of you have ones that are potbellied--do you think it is just
"orphan" pot belly or do you think worms could be playing a part? Mine has been wormed monthly since he was a month old, and is on daily wormer since he was about six months old. He got the potbelly right after his mom died when he was month old, but since it hasn't gone away now that he is 8 months old, I'm wondering if it could be more that just the pot belly created from being an orphan. My vet thinks I should panacur "powerpak" him, but since he is so small, I hate to do something that might disrupt his digestion or overstress his liver. What are you guys doing with yours?

My vet says it is due to the fact that the orphans are eating more roughage than they would if not orphans, and their gut cannot handle it. However, I am getting ready to powerpak him just in case, I dont think it will hurt him, this is ONE TOUGH little guy!

[Clarion]

My vet said the same thing, but I thought by 8 months old, their guts would be used to the roughage because they are normally weaned by then and I had hoped it would start to improve, but it hasn't. That's why I was beginning to wonder about the worm issue. I just hate to put him through it if he doesn't need it. I one time bought weanling that was pot-bellied and wormy looking when she arrived(not an orphan). My vet then suggested a powerpak treatment. We got through about three days of it and then she got such bad diarrhea that we had to stop. It did seem to help in long run, and got rid of her pot belly, but after having a foal one time almost die from diarrhea(caused by antibiotics and stress), I am now pretty paranoid about upsetting digestive balances in a baby.

[Slewdledo]

Great thread!

Hops is doing OK. She's still small but she's in with a superstar filly who'd make anyone look scrawny.

She has lost most of the potbelly. I Powerpac'd her in early December and I don't know if that had something to do with it or not - her manure is good and bally now, too, not splat. I only used 2 tubes of the powerpac so I plan to do it again in the spring.

She developed some pretty serious neurological issues in November and was on stall rest for about 3 weeks. Vet said to supplement with Vitamin E and selenium. She's now got back at least 95% of what was compromised. She's finally walking fine, too. Her right hock still pops up funny but she's not gimpy and that's the main thing. It might not be pretty but it doesn't hurt her!

All in all, right now, knock on wood, NO complaints. She's finally pointed in the right direction. I have gray hairs because of her. Come 2009, hopefully it'll pay off with a trip to the winners' circle at the racetrack. :)

[classicsporthorses]

God Bless you smilton for raising 6! I have raised 4 in the last 5.5 years and that was enough. Of all of them PJ, the one we just rescued has really be the easiest! He's turned 1 month old on the 17th of January. He came small, okay my regular babies are HUGE (like in nearly 11 hands when they are born so he seemed small), but he's growing like a weed now.

We have not had any problems at all with him. He came to our farm at 4 days old and was already drinking from a bucket. Just the other day I introduced a bit of grain, sounds like he's eating dry granola, and he nibbles on hay already. He blankets well, is learning to lead without the butt rope and in general is a very good boy-with MAJOR cuteness factor going on. He's just so easy and sensible.

Yesterday I had him outside in his little pen with a new blanket on and it was a tad to big. I was cleaning his other one. Well, He would bend down to eat some hay and that blanket would come right up over his head, did not bother him a bit. He's walk around with it that way, naked butt showing to everyone. I took it off and put a lighter one on for the time being.

The hardest part actually is this darned weather. I can't get him out enough to run around. My babies are born June-August so I have them right outside with mommy to run around. I don't have an indoor so that is not the option. I am hoping things will moderate some soon.

[shawneeAcres]

My vet said the same thing, but I thought by 8 months old, their guts would be used to the roughage because they are normally weaned by then and I had hoped it would start to improve, but it hasn't. That's why I was beginning to wonder about the worm issue. I just hate to put him through it if he doesn't need it. I one time bought weanling that was pot-bellied and wormy looking when she arrived(not an orphan). My vet then suggested a powerpak treatment. We got through about three days of it and then she got such bad diarrhea that we had to stop. It did seem to help in long run, and got rid of her pot belly, but after having a foal one time almost die from diarrhea(caused by antibiotics and stress), I am now pretty paranoid about upsetting digestive balances in a baby.


My vet felt it would not hurt to powerpak him, but waiting til weather is a bit nicer. She said that now his body has to catch up to the pot bellied gut!

[grayarabpony]

I didn't have a problem with my guy being pot-bellied, but he did get a lot of Probios as a baby and was put on Strongid C when he was four months old. I did that because when I brought the yearling pony here, she had been on Strongid C at her first home and when I took her off she did not look good. I think the new mare I had there had a parasite load that wasn't being controlled by every-2-month deworming, which wasn't helping matters any. So I dosed everybody with ivermectin, put them on Strongid C, and everybody looked better. Sold the mare, and a couple of years later took the youngsters off the Strongid C and they've been doing great.

[Clarion]

Wow classic, it must be hard raising one this time of the year. He sounds like a cutie though. Mine never ever did accept bucket feeding. We tried for weeks but he refused. We ended up having to syringe it in with a 60cc syringe. He would suck it out of the 60cc syringe but not out of a bottle and even though he was perfectly capable of drinking water out of a bucket he wouldn't touch the milk out of a bucket. I'm so glad those days are over!:) TJ is also turned out with a really tall baby which makes him look even smaller. He holds his own though...he's a tough little kid. And our other colt is extremely good about never kicking him even if TJ kicks at him. They roughhouse, but Tj gives as good as he gets.

smilton--I can't imagine raising six at once. Did you get ANY sleep???

[Clarion]

I didn't have a problem with my guy being pot-bellied, but he did get a lot of Probios as a baby and was put on Strongid C when he was four months old. I did that because when I brought the yearling pony here, she had been on Strongid C at her first home and when I took her off she did not look good. I think the new mare I had there had a parasite load that wasn't being controlled by every-2-month deworming, which wasn't helping matters any. So I dosed everybody with ivermectin, put them on Strongid C, and everybody looked better. Sold the mare, and a couple of years later took the youngsters off the Strongid C and they've been doing great.

I thought that might help too. All my horses, including the orphan, are on Strongid C2x. I paste worm the weanlings monthly in addition to that until they are at least a year old. It hasn't helped with this guy. I've never had one have trouble with a pot belly before, but I've never had an orphan before either. He started getting the pot belly almost immediately after he was orphaned. I did have him on probiotics, but that hasn't helped either. Good ideas though.

Slewdledo--did the vets ever figure out what caused the neurological issues? Did they think it was from a vitamin defiency or did they just think the vitamins would help. I'm glad she's doing better!

[shawneeAcres]

I did have another filly, whom was not an orphan, but one that I had owned the mare, raised a filly and bred the mare back, and then subsequently sold the mare to a new new owner. She was an older TB (19) and a hard keeper, well I guess the folks jsut really did not know how to feed her or soemthing, but anyways, she had a filly. Went and saw the filly at 5 days of age, mare needed soem vittels, which they said they were really feeding her etc and filly looked good and heatlhy and I boguth the filly, to pick ehr up after weaning, as it would be last foal this mare would have. At any rate when I picked the filly up she looked terrible, I think she may have not had good antibodies, etc we went thru a bad respiratory illness, then some BAD colic incidents, which honestlyt he vet did not feel she would survive. At any rate we ended up powerpaking her when she was doing abit better, and putting her on dialy strngid for several months, She turned right around and is now a good sized, healthy coming two year old. Back on two month working rotation now.

[Home Again Farm]

For those raising orphans, keep the faith. Mine was the most pitiful — very sick for a very long time, bedraggled, tiny, went through the pot bellied stage and had to learn to be a horse. Here she is as a three year old. :yes:

http://www.homeagainfarm.com/images/Rina_insp_sadl_trot.jpg

[Bugs-n-Frodo]

http://www.homeagainfarm.com/images/Rina_insp_sadl_trot.jpg

Gosh I just love her so much! She is fabulous!

[Clarion]

Wow, Home Again, spectacular! What's her breeding?

[Home Again Farm]

Thanks bugs and Clarion. She was an ET baby that was rejected by the surrogate mom. She is Bugatti/ Weltbekannt/ Rubinstein I.

What I really wanted to emphasize by posting her picture was that all the blood, sweat and tears that you guys are pouring into these little motherless babes can pay off. When mine was going through the worst, my tackroom looked like a pharmacy and I was running on no rest and total stress. But the result was well worth it. So, hang in there and believe in your little ones! :yes:

[shawneeAcres]

Thanks bugs and Clarion. She was an ET baby that was rejected by the surrogate mom. She is Bugatti/ Weltbekannt/ Rubinstein I.

What I really wanted to emphasize by posting her picture was that all the blood, sweat and tears that you guys are pouring into these little motherless babes can pay off. When mine was going through the worst, my tackroom looked like a pharmacy and I was running on no rest and total stress. But the result was well worth it. So, hang in there and believe in your little ones! :yes:

She is lovely now, and would love to see pics when she wasnt BUT I would never post pics of my little orphan as gosh awful that HE looks so am sure that you would not either! LOL At least I CAN say mine has been HEALTHY as a horse (snicker!) his entire life. He never had even one setback, took to drinking out of a bucket like a champ, only on a bottle a very very short time. We did try a nurse mare, and he did get to nurse off her for about 10 days, but only when we held him and the mare, she would not accept him otherwise, so he got some "real" milk at least for a epriod of tiem (supplemented with formula). of course, in spite of it he still looks jsut totally weird, to be honest, very immature looking his musculature jsut doesn't seem to be like I would expect, but I truly hope he comes around. only real issue is that he has an umbilical hernia we have to have reparied and want to do it when he is gelded and that does worry me a bit that it may set him back, so have been putting it off.

[classicsporthorses]

It is hard Clarion this time of year. He is actually been the easiest foal we have raised-in that he came to us on the bucket. THe last one we had would not drink from anything so we have to force feed him at first through the syringes. Fortunately after a month my wonderful foundation mare accepted him (she had a colt at her side) and she nursed both of them until they were weaned.

I look at my 5.5 year old stallion, who was my first orphan and I marvel at the horse he has become. He and I have such a bond, like no other. All of my orphans are expected to abide by the same rules as all of the horses on the farm. This way they too grow up to be solid citizens.

[noblecolors]

Do any of you have pics of your orphaned babies when they were 3-6mos old? I have purchased some nursemare babies in the past that have looked Fuzzy,potbellied but healthy. All the babies had clean fecal tests and played like normal babies had great apetites as well. They do seem a little small for the 1st year then cattch up very quickly after that and have had no health problems to date(knock on wood!!!) Seems as though these babies had a descent start before I got them. Just wondering how they compare so as not to fool myself on what healthy looking orphans should look like as I might buy more but want the healthiest babies I can get.

[grayarabpony]

Pics of my guy at 3 months:

http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL903/3592946/18513559/296393368.jpg

http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL903/3592946/18513559/292479102.jpg

A pic at 5 months:

http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL903/3592946/18513559/292479067.jpg

[noblecolors]

It is hard Clarion this time of year. He is actually been the easiest foal we have raised-in that he came to us on the bucket. THe last one we had would not drink from anything so we have to force feed him at first through the syringes. Fortunately after a month my wonderful foundation mare accepted him (she had a colt at her side) and she nursed both of them until they were weaned.

I look at my 5.5 year old stallion, who was my first orphan and I marvel at the horse he has become. He and I have such a bond, like no other. All of my orphans are expected to abide by the same rules as all of the horses on the farm. This way they too grow up to be solid citizens.

I couln't agree with you more. My oldest Orphan is 14 yrs old. My next oldest is 8yrs. They are both so in touch with us. They look at me as Mom but they know to respect me as well as love me. Noble plays silly games with me, and understand everything I say. He is so very funny. Prissy is so kind and sweet she will do anything I ask of her. SOOOO wonderful!! She Will be nominated at a very young age for the Super Trooper Award in our area which honors wonderful horses that have made a positive impact on someone. Prissy has 2 very challenged therapuetic riders that arrive in wheelchairs and smile soooo big when they ride her by themselves. 1 actually shows her at some of our local shows, As well as all of our 4-5 yr olds learn to ride on her and they love her. She teaches them such confidence and will only move faster when she knows they are ready. Pretty cool when a kid want to go faster than they are ready for but she wont until they learn how to ask properly. Smart girl!!! I'm not too proud. Anyway Glad to hear more good reports on orphan babies. Would be interested to know if big breeders agree with hand raising orphans or do they feel it is smarted to let that performance geared baby to have a real mom?? Please respond

[Lenny]

They always catch up to the ones that had moms all the time. Just have to give them time.

[grayarabpony]

I am glad to hear of all of these orphans doing well. My gelding grew up to be 16 hands -- his mom was 15.2 or 15.3 and his dad 16.1 1/2, so he's right in the middle. Now I wish he wasn't so big, lol. We were not strict enough as he was growing up though -- he tends to invade personal space too much, etc so we are being more strict with him now. I would say it's always better to find a mare for an orphan -- hand-raised horses do suffer deprivation IMO. My orphan could always access other horses -- http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL903/3592946/18513559/292475265.jpg -- but wasn't turned out with other horses until he was 4 months old.