Thearrival of a new foal is the culmination of planning, hopes and dreams—unless something goes wrong.
Only about 5 percent of mares experience foaling difficulties, but it happens. Sometimes a mare dies during or shortly after foaling. Some mares reject their foals, while others don’t produce adequate milk or get seriously injured and can’t care for their babies.
In any of these scenarios, prompt intervention is needed to give the foal its best chance for survival.
Raising a “bottle baby” is certainly possible, but not the best option for a foal, who ideally needs to be raised by a horse to be properly socialized.
Enter the nurse mare.
In the traditional nurse mare business, mares are bred to have a foal each year so they’re available for lease if needed to raise another mare’s foal. When that nurse mare is called into duty, her own foal is left behind to be raised on milk replacer. Often called “throwaway foals,” some of them end up in the slaughter pipeline.
The nurse mare industry has long been a reality, but not one that people spoke of with pride. It’s a tragic irony that a business created to save valuable foals makes orphans out of others.
A team of two people is optimal for pairing: one to safely handle the foal and one to handle the mare.
COURTESY LAURA PHOENIX
Laura Phoenix worked in the traditional nurse mare business before leaving it due to ethical concerns. After learning about hormonally induced lactation (HIL), she gave it a try with two of her own mares.
COURTESY LAURA PHOENIX
ETHICAL OPTION
As a young woman, Laura Phoenix worked in the traditional nurse mare business, but grieved over the brutal truth of those foals left behind.
“It was always sad,” she says. “I didn’t like coming home to the orphans.” She later left the business because of that aspect.