Savage Mare Query.

Oh I believe it does happen - probably more than you would imagine.  I'd expect a mare to take a dislike if she had felt pain and was then not struck by maternal bonding.

I haven't witnessed it myself, but we had a sheep who took a dislike to one of the twins she had just produced (they weren't her first either although she had only ever reared one live one previously).  Anyway, we tied her up in the horse trailer overnight with a lunge line wrapped round her so she could reach hay/water but lambs could suckle in the hope that 24 hours later, she'd be OK.  Not a bit of it.  The ewe lamb, she still allowed to suckle but we ended up having to bottle feed the ram lamb as she tried to batter him at every opportunity.

http://www.lambadopter.co.uk/

Here you go Vel - a study and report into mare and foal bonding (and problems):

http://research.vet.upenn.edu/Portals/49/Lab%20Publications/Mare_and_Foal_Bonding.pdf

Savage Attack

"Savage attack of a foal is relatively rare, and is usually lifethreatening to the foal.
The mare attacks the foal offensively,seemingly unprovoked, with a lowered head and opened
mouth biting or grasping at the withers, neck, or back of the foal (Figure 4). The dam may lift, shake,
toss, or stamp and hold the foal to ground.

Savage attack of foals is not well understood and can take place soon after parturition or some
days later.
There may or may not be normal bonding behavior, depending on when the mare became aggressive toward
the foal. Savage mares may still show some elements of good maternal behavior, for example the “tending or recumbency response.” It has been noted that attacks are not often to a recumbent foal.

Tranquilization and restraint can be attempted, but relapses are typical.

It has been suggested that there is a potential genetic and/or hormonal basis to this behavior, but it is
still most common in primiparous mares.

There are instances in which a dam redirects aggression aimed at nearby horses, which are visible but cannot
be contacted, toward her own foal.

Similarly, sometimes a mare with a tendency for food-related aggression will threaten her foal away from her
grain bucket.

Both of these are considered forms of displaced aggression. The aggression usually consists of head or bite threats, and occasionally kick threats that are typically momentary and usually not life-threatening.

interesting read!

Yes, I can confirm TIME CHARTER did try and savage her foal. I was there! It's unusual but not unheard of in maiden mares, especially those with 'masculine' tendencies. She was as nice as you like with people but mucked up hormonally with the first foal. She improved each year thereafter, though.

We have it happen quite a bit with our cattle - we do a lot of embryo transfer work - and we get quite a few heifers who would thump seven bells out of their calves in the first few hours but the majority soon calm down as their 'hormone surge' lessens and they return to normal. Some continue to blank their calves or actively prevent them suckling but they get tied up and shackled and there seems to be a magic two week period when after that, they just suddenly start to like their calves and their maternal instinct kicks in! I have no idea, looking back, if that might not well have been the case with TIME CHARTER - maybe if the foal hadn't been so valuable, with less human interference, she may have eventually come round to the idea but hindsight's always 20/20 !

I also have a mare that will not let her foal share her food ......

Thanks, everyone! Winning Colors - you were there!!

You havin' a day oot in the country, Tommy? Hope you brought some Tunnock's tea cakes for a picnic...there is a nice pic of Dario Franchitti posing with Ye Olde Vintage Tunnock's van, recently...

http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01557/SNA30TUNN1_1557114a.jpg

By the way, Tommy - I remember you posting the link to footage of Zenyatta and her Bernardini foal. The lady wife and owner was all teary and sentimental discussing the big Zed and her foal, and the foal walked under his huge mother. Such strange circumstances in nature, perhaps "too wonderful to know."

"Savage attack of foals is not well understood..."

Aha! That photo may have been taken in Japan, Vel!

http://www.tunnock.co.uk/about-us/still-hungry-for-success.aspx

"Nowadays containerloads of product are shipped to destinations as far apart as the Caribbean, Kuwait, Canada and Japan.  No matter the climate - hot or cold - Tunnock products have  a universal appeal. Thirty plus countries across 6 continents just can't resist their enduring flavour.

The future aim is to convert even more countries to these Scottish delights, giving a greater number of Scots abroad these special reminders of home.

                                      Tunnock's - A success in anyone's language"

There are some very strange circumstances in nature Vel, like this Goat and Pony acrobatic act, as seen in the papers the other day:

http://miburl.com/79oOD0

"Karen, 35 said: 'Henry and Catkin get on really well. I don’t have a clue why Catkin jumps onto Henry’s back, maybe it’s some sort of game.

'They stay stationary like that for quite a while - sometimes 15 or 20 minutes - easily long enough for me to go back to the house and get my camera, then get back to the field."


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2206690/Acrobat-animal-farm-Gymnasti...
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By the way Vel, there's now a limited edition canvass or print available of the Mighty Zenyatta and her foal ('Z12'):

http://www.zenyattashop.com/artwork.html

Whilst it's very good, it doesn't match up to 'The Queen's Dance'. How I wish I'd have bought a print of that when it was available (and it was, when I first saw it).

Update on Zenyatta: The foal has now been weaned and turned out into a paddock with others of his age and is getting along fine - as is Big Z, who is still in foal to Tapit.

The original is LIFE-SIZE, Tommy...jeez...I painted Galileo and it's more realistic than that print...it's the only painting I've refused to sell and it's 24 inches square. It's propaganda, really, as he was drenched in sweat that day. I saw a cracking poster at one of the televised meetings - it was in the background as William Buick was being interviewed - by artist STANLEY ROSE. An unusual angle on speed and the horse, probably inspired by the term "horse power."

I always think, instead of buying prints, it's better to buy decent equine art books, like Royal Blood by Richard Stone Reeves or the book that came out when they had the huge Degas exhibition in Washington, featuring all his horse paintings and sculptures.

I thought Franchitti had made it to Uddingston.

BTW - there was another animal story in the papers, about a mother panda who lost her cub and they gave her a soft toy panda instead.

Another BTW, Tommy - I'm not convinced these giclee "prints" are real prints...real prints are things like wood-cuts, litho-stone prints, etchings and so on. Giclee is just a high quality photo reproduction, probably costing £1-£2 per "print" to produce.

Vel, I caught a glimpse of the marvellous Zenyatta  statue which has recently been erected at Santa Anita  whilst watching the Breeders' Cup meeting the last couple of nights, which has led me to search for a better look:

http://tinyurl.com/d459rsn

I wouldn't mind that in the back garden!