01.19.09
Foal early handling: Restraint and leading
[Third in a series, based on our own personal experiences-- we believe early foal handling was very positive for both our boys; different people raising foals will have different opinions on what is "best."]
-I have seen foals that were not handled at birth quickly become very skittish and defensive when people come near, either running away or turning butt to kick out at the person. Personally I think it is better to handle them a LOT!
Baby Glendale galloping with momma mare at 3 days old
-Foal training is always done with the mare present, usually inside the stall or in a small paddock.
-All training is done under supervision. Very short sessions (5-10 minutes at first) repeated frequently are much more successful than longer sessions. The baby’s attention span is quite short. Make it feel like play and not stress!
Our babies always got all excited when mom started rolling! (This is Gilford)
-We put a foal halter on our babies when they were 2 days old, left it on for short periods, then took it off again. One should never leave the foal wearing a halter unattended.
-We started lead rope training around 3 days old, starting by showing the baby how to yield to pressure of the rope and also yield to hand pressure against his body.
Glen one week old, sleeping again!
-I touched and rubbed the rope over his whole body, around his legs, under his belly, everywhere to de-sensitize him to ropes.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…
-I taught him to relax each leg and to give towards the pressure of a rope pulling on his foot or knee.
All legs…
-I taught him to lift up his feet by first using the rope looped around the foot.
Gilford at 2 weeks displays complete trust in people (daughter Em)
-One neat way of yielding to the lead rope is done by wrapping the rope along his side and around his butt; then stand on his opposite side at his shoulder. With the end of the lead, apply gentle pressure to get him to turn his head and neck away from you and move in a circle until he is facing you in the original direction again. The rope behind his butt puts pressure against his hindquarters to move him in the desired direction. You might start out asking for just half-circles at first. This exercise can be done with grown horses too, plus it helps de-sensitize him to ropes around his butt and hind legs.
Foal exercising his sense of smell.
-After de-sensitizing to the rope, I let the baby drag the lead rope around so he can step on it and feel it brush his legs (always supervised). I used a strong thick rope which wasn’t kinky and didn’t have a tendency to get wrapped around his leg. It teaches him not to panic when his head gets suddenly restrained; he will learn to freeze instead of fight, and how to get himself out of the pressure.
Baby Gilford wasn’t keen on the water hose when momma got a bath! Actually when he was a yearling we tried to train him to accept bathing, and he didn’t really learn to accept it until he was 2 years old.
-I did one session of restraint training on Glendale at four days old, because he had started to act flighty and show avoidance behavior towards being restrained. I held him pinned against the stall wall, one arm in front of his chest preventing him from moving forward, and the other hand holding his little tail so he couldn’t back away. I was gentle but firm. I did this until he totally relaxed and quit struggling to escape the restraint– whenever he relaxed, I relaxed the confinement a little and rubbed him gently. It took over an hour; if I had stopped before he had completely given up and relaxed, the lesson he would have learned would have been that if he struggled long enough, he would get away. After that one lesson was learned, his attitude towards restraint remained accepting. In fact, he bonded with me closely that day– I could feel it happening as he relaxed– and he has remained that way ever since!
Gil 2 weeks of age
-Once the foal understood yielding to pressure, he was taught the concept of standing tied by the halter. This is done simply by holding the loose end of the lead rope securely wrapped around a stall bar, for example, not by actually tying. When he jerks back, you can give just a little rope at first by letting it slide, then pull him up short again. You should never tie him fast and leave him unattended. His lesson is to learn that it doesn’t do any good to fight against being tied, but of course you never want him to get hurt.
-Once the foal yields to rope pressure on the halter, he can be taught to lead.
-Start teaching leading by turning the foal’s head to one side with the lead rope, so that his feet have to follow his head. Then turn the other way. Also, the lead rope (or a second rope) can be run behind his rump to encourage him to move forward. One step at a time turns into successive steps and then leading in a straight line.
Em ponies Gilford beside momma Willy at 1 month old
-At two weeks old, as soon as each baby could be led by rope and halter, we started ponying each one (leading) beside the mother mare while riding her. The foal naturally wants to follow his mom, so this is not difficult to teach.
-Ponying opens up a huge range of experiences to the foal– he can go wherever his mom goes and discover the world!
Gil at 2 months went in Gilford Old Home Day parade with mom and Abby pulling the cart. I led the baby and he was great, Em rode Willy and Hubby drove Abby.
See lots more about Ponying on this blog…
Horse Gal said,
January 19, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Your pictures are absolultely breathtaking, Connie. And I am learning so much by reading this series. I am printing it all out as you post it so that I can have it at my fingertips whenever I want it. Thank you for teaching all of us so much about foals in general and yours in particular! It’s facinating to hear about their relationship with their wonderful mom and as they learn to live with humans. And your pictures….they bring it all to life. You make it so easy to understand and I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned about foals, just from your series. I can’t wait for the next installment!
Sharon Soileau said,
January 19, 2009 at 7:30 pm
I thoroughly enjoyed your blog. You have great information, well put together and the pictures are awesome.
June Cornish said,
May 14, 2009 at 9:15 pm
I have a question. I have just taken in an orphan filly. She is a little over a month old. She is used to being touched and handled, but not led. Now, because I am just starting my little home farm, I am in the midst of building fence for a small pasture (just a little under .5 acre) that will include a couple of weaning calves, as well as the filly. Her stall is currently a disabled stock trailer, which has ample room for a hay bin, feed and water bucket, and she drinks mare replacer from a basin at least three times a day. For the most part she is calm and can be touched all over without flinching or panicing. However, until the fence is finished (which should be in a few days), she has no place to run and expend pent up energy. I have introduced her to a halter and she has accepted that with no problem. However, here is the problem. Every day, my daughter cleans out her stall/trailer - while I remover her from the trailer on the halter. The first day, I gave her her head to let her wander within the limited expanse of the lead rope. However, she wanted to run and cavort and did not take well to the restraint and even turned her butt to me and tried to kick (not hurting me), after which I brought her up short and restrained her. However, she continued to fight, until I finally had to put her back into the stall because she wouldn’t stop and I was worn out. The second day, I placed a small homemade harness around her rump and chest and around her girth so I wouldn’t have to restrain her by her head, while at the same time still attaching a lead rope. The same thing happened as the previous day, and she spent most of the time trying to kick, pull away and escape, until I finally had to return her to the stall (as soon as my daughter had replaced the soiled hay with clean). I was drenched in sweat from the ordeal, but never once lost my temper or struck her - instead keeping a calm, but firm hold on her to prevent her from harming herself or me.
Is there an easier way to do this? Help!
Thanks!
connie said,
May 15, 2009 at 8:45 pm
June
Sorry to hear about this situation but glad you asked. This filly, as any young foal, has a very real physical and mental need to be able to run around. The more she is confined, the stronger her need becomes. She doesn’t understand leading so she is fighting against the restraint. I’m very sorry you have to confine her in such a small space and hope you can get some fencing finished really quickly.
Meanwhile, it sounds like she must be taught to lead in order to exercise her. Unless there’s some way you can transport her to a pen (temporarily) with some room, you may want to try to teach her inside her trailer. This may not be safe for you, there may not even be enough room. But if she will tolerate being crowded in there, and you feel OK to try, this is how. Also bear in mind, you can’t work with her more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time, her attention span will be too short. You’ll want to do several sessions with half-hour or hour breaks in between. Before you start with a rope on her halter, spend some time rubbing and gently swinging the rope against her body and her legs and around her head so she’ll be used to feeling a rope all over her body. Be very cautious with this; I’m assuming she’ll be OK with it since she’s been handled.
The other prep thing to do is teach her to yield to pressure against her body. Gently press again her shoulder or neck until she gives way to the pressure, then immediately take your hand off. Don’t hurt her or try to force her. She will probably push back at first, don’t worry about that. Just try again. THen do her side, then the side of her rear end, simply getting her to move away from a gentle pressure against her body. The release of the pressure is her reward, and is how she will learn to yield.
Then use a lead rope fastened to her halter to teach her to yield her head sideways to the rope. Don’t tug forward on her head; standing at her side, give a firm resistance to the SIDE, and release the pressure the instant she turns her head sideways towards you. Again, it’s the RELEASE that is critical and your timing of the release needs to be very good.
At first she is likely to pull against the rope pressure. Don’t get into a fight with her by pulling back harder, just go with her until she stops resisting then try again. Short little successes are good at first; you want her to understand that as soon as she YIELDS to the “pressure” of the rope, the pressure will be released. Get her to yield her head to either side.
Once she will give her head to the side, you can begin to “lead” her in a small circle, maybe only a step at a time. If she fights or pulls back she is just confused. Once you can circle her both directions, if there is room in the trailer you can lead her a few steps in a straight line. Actually at first it will be a zig-zag line. If she is confused by this, use a second rope or the loose end of the lead line if it is long enough to wrap around behind her rump and encourage her forward while you pressure the lead line. This is where having accustomed her to the feel of the rope is useful.
I hope you can manage this and that she is well-handled enough– and doesn’t have too much pent-up energy– to accept it inside that trailer stall; once she understands to yield to the rope, she is capable of being led. Stay calm when you try taking her out, she will definitely try to hop and play but hold her close enough to her head so she can’t swing her little butt towards you. Walk steadily around in large circles for a while, both directions, adding in gradually-increasing straight line distances. When she acts up turn her in a small circle away from you, pushing against her neck if you need to. She will soon learn that acting up results in going around in a circle and she will prefer to go forward. This little girl needs long steady walks and even trots if you can manage it without her getting over-excited. Several times a day.
Best of luck with her. If this confined trailer training is too much to attempt, just get her into a fenced area as soon as possible. You will begin doing the same training in the pen, and the sooner the better. I only detail it here because I feel it’s very very hard on a young foal to not have exercise room; she’s still practicing how to run, and needs to exercise badly to keep good health!
June Cornish said,
June 2, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Update on our little orphan filly who is almost 2 mo. old now. She is well and thriving. We finished the fencing, finally - and yes, it’s barbed wire, but, thankfully, we had someone who knows fencing really well who did a wonderful job, plus the posts are very close together (about four to five feet apart), and it’s strung with 5 strands), and we’ve tied bright plastic ties between every single post. She has not once tried to rush the fence, though when I take her her milk, she does come running and nickering. She is large enough now, that I can’t hold the bowl/bucket, and just set it down on an upturned bucket, holding the edge just long enough that she doesn’t tip it over in her first sucking. She paws at the ground and tends to nudge the bucket agressively at first. She has socialized with the two calves just fine - though at first she was frightened of them. She loads and unloads fairly well from her trailer stall - but tonight, I placed her in a small pen inside the pasture instead of putting her in the trailer. The pen has more room, yet still confines her in a safer fencing area should she become frightened by anything in the dark. She wasn’t happy about it, because it’s a new and different confinement, but we’re sure we’ll be ok. She had a bucket of her feed (a mixture of foal starter and creep feed), and a bucket of water. Just wanted to let you know, she’s doing great. She stands for a lead being snapped on her halter and leads fairly well, most of the time, and lets me touch her all over and lift her hooves, though only for a second or so and isn’t totally comfortable with that, yet.
Rosemary Crowley said,
January 24, 2010 at 7:24 pm
Hello:
I stumbled upon this website and was very impressed with your method and answers. how about this, and maybe you have answered this at another time, so send me there if so, but… I have a 18 month old PRE andalusian I brought home as a 14 month old. I found out that he was pretty isolated after weaning and never left his “double round pen” He had many toys, shelter, but limited handling.
When I brought him home, he was seemed that he did not even know how to eat grass and wa overwhelmed to say the least. I have had lots of just standing with him and he is now out with my 22 year old gelding who is very gentle with him. He loves to play with toys and him and the older gelding play with a ball for hours! He loves to go for walks with me and is in a rope halter and I have asked him not to run ahead. However, when leading him other places that are a little more boring, or exciting than our “woods walk”, he pushes on me and crowds me. He also stops and stretches his neck out and turns his head sideways and “chews”and does not want to walk on. I have to swing the rope and again ask him to move forward. He will put much pressure on me and run me over if I am in front of him or along side. I am not sure what to do about this without getting really aggressive and he is very sensitive, but that does not stop him from taking advantage of me. I feel he is testing his boundaries but I do not want to scare him. I am using Carolyn Resnick’s method with my older horses and would love to have a great relationship with this one years from now when I can ride him. I can’t see, to get a response as how to handle him daily as I lead him in and out of his field and try to put water on him and trim his feet. He is very reactive and I don’t know how much to restrain him or not. I handle horses, but older horses, all day long. I am a muscle therapist for horses and have no trouble getting older “broke” horses to respect my space, but this young one, hmmmm.. Any advice?
petArtist Cmoses said,
February 3, 2010 at 11:26 pm
Rosemary
Being young is no excuse for him not respecting your space. He should be handled the same as your other horses, and made to understand that you are the boss leader of him. For a sensitive horse, just keep your cues subtle, but they must be firm enough to achieve a response. Definitely handle him a lot.
You cannot stop a horse from moving his feet, but you need to direct his feet by managing where he goes. If he will not stand quietly on lead, put him to work: do a haunches-away move, or back him up, or circle him, each time he moves around on his own. THen bring him back to the spot where you started and ask him again to stand. You can use a verbal command. Ultimately he learns that standing still is the easiest choice, and will prefer to stand quietly rather than do all that work.
Whenever he surges ahead while leading, back him up. Then continue to lead again with his head at your shoulder, backing him every time he tries to surge ahead. Ultimately he learns that walking forward is easier than backing up.
If he balks and will not lead, turn his head away from you, as in starting a circle, pushing on his neck if necessary to get his feet to move. He will have to follow the direction of his head. Then, once his feet are moving, return to leading forward. This is to teach him that pressure on the lead line means that his job is to move his feet. Ultimately he learns that moving forward is easier than moving sideways.
Repetition and consistency are always key to training a horse. With younger ones, you just do somewhat shorter training sessions because their attention span is shorter. As you work with him, when you see him licking and chewing, or showing signs of relaxation, that signals he is thinking about the lesson and starting to understand.
Once he is leading forward well, if you can, teach him to pony beside while you ride the gelding, and start showing him the world!
Search here (top right) on Peaches’ blog for Clinton Anderson, John Lyons, and Tommy Garland to see video examples of this sort of training– also see Green horse training videos at http://portraitswithhorses.com/blog/?p=838
and search the blog on ponying for much on that subject.
Best of luck and please use common sense safety!