A naughty foal

I would not go near him without a whip in my hand. If he does anything aggressive, I would whack the devil out of him. Being nice now could cost him his life later. It is really a kindness to correct this behavior. He won't hate you. He will forgive you. This is natural behavior; you just have to make him stop it.

"It" won't let me hit the "like" button, so ditto taking over the disciplinary duties that mom is being so lax in.

I bought my now 18 yr old when he was 2-1/2. I don't know anything about him before I bought him but the general concensus among breeders is that his mom was a push over and never corrected him for anything.

He is oat/corn/soy intolerant and also has enivronmental allergies so adjusting his diet for these things helped a lot. However, he will be a snotfaced brat until he takes his last breath.

He is a pushy bullying type of horse when he's being bad; he is the sweetest most loving fella when he's being good.

He is very intelligent and sometimes makes the mistake of showing me just how intelligent he is because that's just about when I tear into him for some piece of foolishness he's trying to get away with.

I'm sure his gene pool also played a huge part in attitude as I know more about his blood line than I do about his birthing and how his dam raised him.

I could write a book on his life-long antics (which are precisely why I've kept him, elst he'd probably be dead by now

My horse was 2-1/2 when I got him, nearly 16H and fully broke to ride I know effort went into his manners but, I don't think whomever trained him looked too deep into what makes this horse tick - lol lol lol

It could be, by the time my horse hit 2-1/2 years, it was too late to modify his "agenda" which would always be to try and pull one over on anybody or anything not paying attention. On the plus side, he is great about chasing dogs out of the pasture, no matter how big/barky/growling they are


My point to all that is, get onto that foal right now, right now, right now and teach it who the alpha is

Never, never, ever LET any foal touch you with it's mouth or turn it's butt to you. You are inviting tragedy. No matter how cute you think it is. When they are young it can get really serious really fast. When they are babies is the best time to curb these behaviors as when they get older especially if they have been encouraged they are harder to break and more dangerous. I say carry a riding crop and deal with the kicking with a swift lash across the butt or heels depending on how quick the little bugger is. If you are firm and unyielding when they are babies then you don't need the whip later. For biting when they are babies we keep a push pin between the index and middle finger. Point facing up towards the back of the hand between the two and a quick back hand pop along with a firm "no bite" results in a bee sting effect that changes their mind without scaring them. It only takes once or twice if they think they were mistaken and you didn't mean it. Typically that first time a quick pop in the mouth is enough for many but once they have tried is when we bring the push pin in to play and have it in case they want to go for a second round. You aren't alpha as far as that foal is concerned he is.

Put a whole unpeeled potato in boiling water for about a minute. By the time you put it in place where he likes to bite and get down to him, it should have cooled off enough to not cause serious harm. Let him go for you, hopefully sinking his gums into that hot potato....trick I learned from the book Black Gold, if memory serves me right!

As for the kicking, read Horse Follow Closely, or watch the body movements and positioning of other horses as they temporarily shun a fellow equine who misbehaves....use that same technique to reprimand the foal the next time he kicks.