When does a horse stop suckling?

Answer 1

In my opinion, the mare will know the time to wean him much better than we do. Many domestic horses are weaned at about 6 months. However, in the wild (when the mare decides when to wean), foals will suckle for a year or more.

It has actually been proven that foals weaned early are more likely to develop vices, like biting, rearing, stricking, kicking, etc.

So, you can wean the horse at 6 months, or you can wait until the mare decides it is time to wean.

I would do the later. The only time I think you should wean early is if your mare is losing weight dramatically, and you have ruled out other causes, like stress, change in diet, etc. If you can find no other cause for her weight loss, the foal may be taking too many nutrients, so in this case you could try some supplements, or you should wean the foal.

Answer 2

Breastfeeding in animals is called nursing. A foal may nurse off it's dam until it is about a year old if it is not weaned sooner than this. In domesticated horses, humans typically wean foals from their dams at 4 to 6 months of age.

Answer 3

The foal can stop nursing anywhere from 4 months (at the earliest but I do not recomend it) to 2 years. Most people that I know will wean their foals at about 6 to 8 months.

Answer 4

A foal or colt will nurse off it's mom for 4-6 months sometimes a year.