Neonatal Foal Behavior- What’s Normal?

-Neonatal foal behavior Righting reflex-The foal will right itself into sternal recumbency (sitting up with the chest or sternum toward the ground) within 30 seconds-2 minutes.

-Neonatal foal behavior Suckle reflex– The foal should have a strong suckle reflex within 2-20 minutes. Foals may even suckle on themselves before they stand and find the udder.

–Respiration (breathing)– The foal will have a regular respiratory pattern and effort. Respiratory rate 30 minutes post foaling is 60-80 breaths/min. Respiratory rate 1-12 hours post foaling is 30-40 breaths/min.

–Heart rate/Pulse– The foal will have a strong regular pulse. 1-5 minutes post foaling, the heart rate is >60 beats/min. 10-60 minutes post foaling, the heart rate is 80-140 beats/min. 24 hours-5 days post foaling, the heart rate is 80-120 beats/min.

–Stand– The average time it takes a foal to stand is 1 hour. It is abnormal if it takes the foal longer than 2 hours to stand.

–Nurse– The average time it takes a foal to nurse is 2 hours. Fillies are sometimes faster at learning to nurse than colts. It is abnormal if it takes longer than 3 hours to nurse. Remember 1-2-3 rule.

• Nurse
• Sleep
• Urinate
• Defecate
• Play
• Repeat

After the foal has successfully stood and nursed, it will quickly adopt the full schedule of nurse, sleep, urinate, defecate, rinse, and repeat. After a day or two, it will add in to its schedule to play and explore its environment. First urination can be within 6-10 hours after foaling, and first defecation is the passage of the meconium and occurs within 2-12 hours post foaling. It is routine for some foal managers to administer an enema to the foal to aid in the passage of meconium, especially if the foal is straining to defecate.

-A foal will nurse for approximately 1-5 minutes, 5-7 times an hour.

-Daily milk consumption is, on average, 24% of body weight. So a 50kg foal will drink approximately 12 liters of milk a day.

-The nutrition is used for the foal’s basal metabolism, thermoregulation, water requirements, and growth.

-Foals sleep in sternal or lateral recumbency and spend about 1/3 of their time laying down during the first week-2 months of life.

-The sleep periods are approximately 7 minutes but can be longer.

-Foals are easily aroused from sleep and will get up quickly to suckle on the mare.

-Foals frequently urinate because milk is mostly water, and their milk consumption exceeds their water requirements, resulting in diuresis.

-Therefore, the color of a foal’s urine is usually clear to very light yellow.

-A foal should not strain to defecate.

-After the passage of meconium, the foal passes milk feces which ranges from orange to brown in color and is the consistency of pudding or slightly more formed. The milk feces usually blends in with the bedding and is sometimes not seen.

-A foal should not have diarrhea or fecal staining on the anus or hind limbs. Foal heat diarrhea is considered normal for a foal to have diarrhea and occurs at a time that would correspond with the mare’s first postpartum estrus; the foal is 6-10 days old. The foal will be bright, alert, and playful. Diarrhea last about 2-5 days, and usually, no therapy is required other than cleaning the foal.

-A normal foal is bright and inquisitive.

-When approached, the foal will usually quickly move away from the handler to the far side of the mare.

-Foals are very sensitive to tactile stimuli.

-Movements of the head are jerky and exaggerated.

-A foal should gain approximately 1.5-1.7kg (3lbs)/ day.

-Foals identify their dams by sight and smell and spend 85% of the time within 1 meter of the dam.

-Loss of affinity for the mare may be an early sign of a neurological disorder Neonatal Encephalopathy (NE), aka Dummy Foal Syndrome.

-Coprophagy is the consumption of the dam’s feces.

-This is a normal behavior that is important for the foal to establish appropriate hindgut flora.

-Coprophagy is observed starting at 3-5 days of age and continues til 5-6 months of age.