Crowell-Davis, S. L., Houpt, K. A., & Carnevale, J. (1985). Feeding and drinking behavior of mares and foals with free access to pasture and water. J. Anim Sci., 60(4), 883–889.
Abstract: The feeding and drinking behavior of 11 mares and 15 foals living on pasture with free access to water was recorded during 2,340 15-min focal samples taken over 2 yr. Lactating mares on pasture spent about 70% of the day feeding. Foals began feeding on their first day of life. As they grew older, they spent progressively more time feeding, but still spent only 47 +/- 6% of the time feeding by 21 wk of age. Foals fed primarily during the early morning and evening. While grass formed the major proportion of the diet of both foals and mares, they also ate clay, humus, feces, bark, leaves and twigs. Almost all feeding by foals was done while their mothers were feeding. Movement to water sources was frequently, but not invariably, carried out by an entire herd. Frequency (P = .005) but not duration (P greater than .05) of drinking bouts by mares increased as the temperature increased. Frequency was greatest at 30 to 35 C, at which temperature mares drank once every 1.8 h. Frequency of drinking varied with the time of day (P less than .01), being rarest during the early morning (0500 to 0900 h eastern daylight time) and most frequent during the afternoon (1300 to 1700 h). Drinking by foals was very rare. The youngest age at which a foal was observed to drink was 3 wk, and 8 of 15 foals were never observed to drink before weaning.
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Crowell-Davis, S. L., & Houpt, K. A. (1985). Coprophagy by foals: effect of age and possible functions. Equine Vet J, 17(1), 17–19.
Abstract: In colts and fillies observed from birth to 24 weeks old, coprophagy occurred from Weeks 1 to 19. Its frequency was greatest during the first two months. Coprophagy was rarely observed in mares and stallions. Foals usually ate the faeces of their mother but were observed to eat their own and those of a stallion and another unrelated mare. Urination by the foal occurred before, during or after 26 per cent of the coprophagy incidents. It is hypothesised that foals may consume faeces in response to a maternal pheromone which signals the presence of deoxycholic acid or other acids which the foal may be deficient in and which it may require for gut immuno-competence myelination of the nervous system. Such a pheromone may also serve to accelerate growth and sexual maturation. Coprophagy may also provide nutrients and introduce normal bacterial flora to the gut.
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