Cortisol metabolite levels throughout the observation period.

Note that fecal cortisol metabolite observation day 2 is the day of weaning (see Fig 1). The cortisol metabolite concentrations that differ significantly to those on day 0 are labeled with a * symbol. The concentration is given in ng/g of feces. P-values for each plasma cortisol observation day compared with day 0: day 2: p p p = 0.001; day 19: p = 0.003; and day 21: p = 0.462. Numbers of included foals per day: days 0–9: 10; day 19: 6; day 21: 3. One foal (F10) was excluded on day 19 because of falsified results (labeled with a ° symbol). The boxplots show the median values (black lines), the mean values (black x), the upper and lower quartiles (blue boxes), and the 5th and 95th percentiles (whiskers).