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Afoal is anequine up to one year old; this term is used mainly forhorses, but can be used fordonkeys. More specific terms arecolt for amale foal andfilly for afemale foal, and are used until the horse is three or four. When the foal is nursing from its dam (mother), it may also be called a "suckling". After it has been weaned from its dam, it may be called a "weanling". When amare is pregnant, she is said to be "in foal". When the mare gives birth, she is "foaling", and the impending birth is usually stated as "to foal". A newborn horse is "foaled".
After a horse is one year old, it is no longer a foal, and is a "yearling". There are no special age-related terms for young horses older than yearlings. When young horses reach breeding maturity, the terms change: a filly over three (four inhorse racing) is called a mare, and a colt over three is called astallion. A castrated male horse is called agelding regardless of age; however, colloquially, the term "gelding colt" is sometimes used until a young gelding is three or four.[citation needed] (There is no specific term for aspayed mare other than a "spayed mare".)
Horses that mature at a small stature are calledponies and occasionally confused with foals. However, body proportions are very different. An adult pony can be ridden and put to work, but a foal, regardless of stature, is too young to be ridden or used as aworking animal. Foals, whether they grow up to be horse or pony-sized, can be distinguished from adult horses by their extremely long legs and small, slim bodies. Their heads and eyes also exhibitjuvenile characteristics. Although ponies exhibit someneoteny with the wide foreheads and small stature, their body proportions are similar to that of an adult horse. Pony foals are proportionally smaller than adults, but like horse foals, they are slimmer and have proportionally longer legs.
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Foals are born after agestation period of approximately 11 months.[1] Birth takes place quickly, consistent with the status of a horse as aprey animal, and more often at night than during the day. Labor lasting over twenty-four hours may be a sign of medical complications. Unlike most predators which arealtricial (born helpless), horses areprecocial, meaning they come into the world relatively mature and mobile. Healthy foals can typically keep up with the rest of the herd only a few hours after birth. If a foal has not eaten within twelve hours, it may require assistance.
Healthy foals grow quickly and can put on up to three pounds or over a kilo a day. A sound diet improves growth and leads to a healthier adult animal, although genetics also plays a part. In the first weeks of life the foal gets everything it needs from themare's milk. Like a human infant, it receives nourishment andantibodies from thecolostrum in milk that is produced within the first few hours or days followingparturition. The mare needs additionalwater to help her produce milk for the foal and may benefit from supplementarynutrition.
A foal may start to eat solids from ten days of age. After eight to ten weeks it will need more nutrition than the mare's milk can supply, requiring supplementary nourishment. It is important when adding solid food to the foal's diet to not feed the foal excessively or feed an improperly balanced diet. This can trigger one of several possiblegrowth disorders that can cause lifelong soundness problems. On the other hand, insufficient nutrition to mare or foal can cause stunted growth and other health problems for the foal as it gets older.
It is typical for foals under human management to beweaned between four and six months of age, though under natural conditions, they may nurse for longer, occasionally until the following year when the mare foals again. Some foals can nurse for up to three years in domesticity because the mare is less likely to conceive another foetus. A foal that has been weaned but is less than one year old is called aweanling.
Mare's milk is not a significant source of nutrients for the foal after about four months, though it does no harm to a healthy mare for a foal to nurse longer and may be of some psychological benefit to the foal. A mare that is both nursing and pregnant will have increased nutritional demands made upon her in the last months ofpregnancy, and therefore mostdomesticated foals are weaned sometime in the autumn in theNorthern Hemisphere if the mare is to be bred again the next season.
Weanlings are not capable of reproduction.Puberty occurs in most horses during theiryearling year. Therefore, some young horses are capable of reproduction prior to full physical maturity, though it is not common. Two-year-olds sometimes are deliberately bred, though doing so, particularly with fillies, puts undesirable stress on their still-growing bodies. As a general rule, breeding young horses prior to the age of three is considered undesirable.
In spite of rapid growth, a foal is too young to beridden ordriven. However, foals usually receive very basichorse training in the form of being taught to accept being led by humans, calledhalter-breaking. They may also learn to accepthorse grooming, hoof trimming by afarrier, having hair trimmed with electric clippers, and to become familiar with things it will have to do throughout life, such as loading into ahorse trailer or wearing ahorse blanket. Horses in general have excellent memories, so a foal must not be taught anything as a young horse that would be undesirable for it to do as a full-grown animal.[2]
In either case, foals that have not bonded to their mothers will have difficulty in pasture. The mare will find it more difficult to teach the foal to follow her. Other horses can have difficulty communicating with the foal and may ostracise it due to speaking a different "language". It can be difficult to lead a foal that has never even been led by its dam.
Horses are not fully mature until the age of four or five, but most are started asworking animals much younger, though care must be taken not to over-stress the "soft" bones of younger animals.Yearlings are generally too young to be ridden at all, though manyrace horses are put under saddle as "long" yearlings, in autumn. Physiologically young horses are still not truly mature as two-year-olds, though some breeders and most race horse trainers do start young horses in acart or undersaddle at that age. The most common age for young horses to begin training under saddle is the age of three. A few breeds and disciplines wait until the animal is four.
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