Training of the New Foal

There are a lot of opinions about how much you should do with a young foal. For a while there were a lot of people promoting the "imprinting" of a new foal. Lately, I have seen some studies suggesting that foals that are not handled so much turn out better than the ones that were imprinted. They recommend handling the dam a lot instead. Most breeders have their own ideas about how their foals should be handled and once they have seen success with their method, they tend to stick with that. I guess I am no exception. I read the books, magazine articles, and listen to other breeders ideas, but utimately I will do what works for me.

I prefer to have foals on the ground in late April or early May because I live in Michigan and any earlier is just too cold! I want the foal born at a time when they will be able to be outside a lot and the ground is no longer frozen and hard. Because the nights are still pretty cold, I always have a supply of clean towels to dry the newborn foal so it doesn't get too chilled. I will treat the umbilicle cord with a Nolvasan solution and after the foal has nursed I give an enema. After the mare has delivered the placenta and has had a warm bran mash and maybe some Banamine paste, I get the worst of the manure and wet straw out of the stall and then leave the mother and baby alone for several hours to bond. I have cameras on the stall so I can keep an eye on things without disturbing them.

If the outside conditions are good and the foal is nursing well and everything looks good with the mare, I will put them out in a private paddock for a few hours later in the afternoon and give the stall a good scrubing. I don't halter the foal at this point, but have another person with me to take the mare while I guide the foal out. Typically the foal runs around the paddock like a maniac bucking, rearing, and jumping, and the mare chases, calling to it and shaking her head for it to stop - she does not want to run around! A little bit of this activity soon after the foaling is good for the mare, but if it goes on too long and she is getting sweaty and tired, I will bring them in, otherwise I will usually bring them in with the other horses. They come in the same way they went out with one person taking the mare and another guiding the foal.

Everytime I go into the stall to give the mare hay, grain, or water, or to clean her up, I talk to the foal and see if it will come over to me. Most of my foals are friendly and whinney to me when I talk and come right up to me. If they are a little shy at first, I don't push it, I just let them see that mom is comfortable with me around and usually their curiosity overcomes the shyness. I will stroke them on their neck and if they let me I will begin touching them all over their head and body. I don't spend a lot of time doing this - just a few minutes every time I am in the stall.

When they are two to three days old I start putting a halter on them. Once they are comfortable with my touching them I bring in the halter (leather, please!) and let them see it and smell it. I rub it on their neck and on their face and then with one arm around their neck so I can keep them from backing up, I calmly but quickly put it over their nose and buckle it on. Then I leave them in the stall for a few minutes with it on while I do other chores. If it is time to go out, we go out with the halter on, but I don't really use it, we are still just following mom. I don't like having horses out with their halters on, so I don't usually leave it on outside. If the foal is difficult about putting the halter on, I may leave it on for a few days outside until the foal is easier to halter, but I never leave it on in the stall for more than a few minutes. Being calm and patient is really the key - I don't make a big deal about it and if they are nervous I will break it down into smaller steps. I want them to first be comfortable with me and my hands on them, my arm around their neck, and my hands on their face. Then they need to be comfortable with the halter - the buckles make noises and can be scarey! I am not willing to lose if it becomes a battle, because this is a very important lesson. They have to accept that there is really no choice here. As long as I position myself at their shoulder with an arm around their neck, I can usually make them stand and accept the halter, and I am not in harms way of a stricking or kicking little leg. I have been dragged around the stall and with one of the larger foals it felt like my feet came off the ground, but when they see that you aren't going anywhere, they will usually stand still for long enough to get the halter on if you are quick. Pretty soon they learn that the halter means going out to play or coming in to a nice clean stall and they are ready to learn to actually be lead in and out.

For most foals, wrapping the lead line around their butt and giving a little tug on the end to ask them to move it works pretty well. It is sometimes slow with only one step per tug and sometimes they back up, kick out at the rope, or worst case - rear. Pulling on the halter can injure a young foal, but if they are inclined to rear some presure from the halter is necessary, but never hold - they just keep pulling and will flip over for sure. Rearing must be stopped as soon as possible! It is the most likely senario for the handler to get hurt and foals don't have good balance and will frequently flip over and seriously injure themselves. The first leading lessons should be done in the stall where there is not a lot of room for the foal to get out of control and the ground is softer if it does go down. Using a butt rope for a while usually gets the message accross and you can start applying a little bit of pressure with the halter to teach them that this means go forward. It is not too soon to use voice commands and saying "walk", "halt", will carry over to future handling.

The farrier needs to look at the foals feet three to four weeks after the foal is born if not sooner if there are any problems. How the feet grow will affect the growth of the legs and so this is the most important time to address any irregularities. Breeders need good farriers. Foals feet change quickly and a farrier that is knowledgable in growing foals is worth a higher price. This means that the foal has to learn to stand for the farrier. Teaching this requires two people and should also be done in the stall. First, they need to allow their legs to be touched without kicking out, if that goes well, pick them up for a second and put them down. The amount of time the leg is held up is gradually increased, but don't expect them to stand as long as a grown horse, their balance isn't that great and their attention span is small.

By the time the foal is three to four months old we are getting ready to take it to an inspection to be judged and get the registration papers. It is usually late July or early August, so we are ready to do some bathing. I have found that if we let the foal loose in the asileway (barn doors are closed) with the mare in the washrack, that we can slowly get the foal used to the water by letting them watch what we are doing to it's mom and giving it an occassional spray or swipe with a wet sponge. When we are ready to actually bath the foal we stand it up against the mare's side and wash that side and then switch them to the other side. They really enjoy the scrubbing and get used to being sprayed. We usually turn the pressure down a little so it isn't so scarey and many of them really start to enjoy their bath. We use the clippers on the mare's face and legs and pull her mane and while we are doing this the foal usually wants to check out what we are doing. We show it the clippers and lay them on their body or head whenever they come close. We have been able to clip most of the foals heads and the outside of their ears, and we have even body clipped the remaining foal fuzz on the neck, sides, and back of several. It is like a good scratching.

As long as the weather is good, the mares and foals live outside 24/7 after the first week or two. We bring them in for the farrier, vet, and worming, and they will get their first trailer ride when we bred the mare back on her 30 day heat. We do A.I. at the vet clinic, so they go there for 2 -3 days and then come back home. Putting a foal on a trailer while it is still young enough that it wants to be close to it's mom is the easiest time to start. Once they are older and only want to be able to see her, they can be pretty subborn about actually getting on, but if they have done it once when they were younger, it is not such a big deal. By the time they are weaned our foals have been on a trailer a minimum of two times (to the vet for re-breeding the mare and then to the inspection), and sometimes more if we take them to some breed shows.

When it is time for the foals to be weaned (we usually do it aroung 4 -5 months) they are easy to halter, lead, bath, clip, trailer, and stand for the vet and farrier. They may go back a few steps when they are separated from their mom, so I usually reinforce everything at this time by bringing them in a stall at night and putting them back outside during the day for a few weeks during the weaning. This allows us to handle them more and do any necessary training reinforcement in the stall where it is safer. They are more nervous about everything at first without the reasuring presence of their dam and I think the stall is a safer place for them to be at night. By this time most of them have not been staying real close to their mom and are eating more hay and grain than nursing, so it is usually not a very trumatic event.

These methods have worked out well for us and we continue the handling and training of the yearlings and 2 year olds. By the time we are ready to get them ready for a saddle and bridle as 3 year olds they are calm, trusting, and accepting of new things and start their under saddle work quickly and easily. I am always open to new ideas and suggestions but if they are a lot different from what I have found to be effective, I would be more cautious about using them. If it works - don't fix it!