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Adventures with a new foal!

5K views 44 replies 11 participants last post by  davidsonknollfarm 
#1 ·
So, I am starting this thread so I can start getting prepared for my barn's new addition. I have a beautiful Shining Spark mare bred to Dun Roostin. Today is day 343 so she is due any minute.

I am an experience horse person, but I really don't have any experience with foals.

To imprint or not.

And what is true imprinting?

Gentle handling might be the best for me?

When do I halter?

When do I teach to lead?

handle her/his feet? mouth? etc....

Thanks so much
 
#2 ·
Imprinting can be good or bad, it really depends how you handle the foal afterwards. Some can develop serious respect issues which stem from lack of fear and people not setting boundaries. These foals grow QUICK and start testing right away. Do not allow any nipping or pushing. Teach him/her to respect your space and don't be afraid of hurting their feelings. So long as you only correct when necessary and release the pressure when they respond correctly, they will learn as any other horse would.
When I had foals, I had the halter on them at one week but did not start leading till 1 month. By that age they are smart enough to learn leading but not too big to drag you all over lol It's good to get them used to ropes, be it the sight or touch, early before you start putting them to use, therefor they are less likely to associate them with anything bad right away.
You can start picking feet up and handling the mouth at any time I'd say. If they find it to be a normal thing, then it wont come as a shock later. Keep in mind, they are babies and they will continue to test you. They might be fine picking up feet one day and be absolute tyrants the next. They are just learning. Keep up with it and teach them that they are safe and doing what you ask is in their best interests.
And have fun! They grow up quick and that is no lie!
.
 
#8 ·
OH THE BAGGAGE! She's still hanging on! I thought she foaled.

On to the questions:

1 & part of 3. To imprint or not

Not.

I handle right after mom and baby have had time to bond, I steer clear until I see if baby needs help getting up or nursing. Then when baby has nursed, I do a thorough inspection and that involves handling all parts of the baby, but I try to be fairly quick, get in and get out for the first couple of days.

2. What is true imprinting?

I feel true imprinting takes the place of the mare and encourages the foal to focus on you instead of the dam. I don't think it serves the foal well.

"(of a young animal) come to recognize (another animal, person, or thing) as a parent or other object of habitual trust."

3. I handle gently several times/day until the foal gets over any wariness and becomes curious and wants attention.

4. When to halter

I halter right away after the foal has nursed the first time. I put it on, leave it for a little while (under supervision) and the when I'm ready to go back inside or do something else, I take it off. Again, I do it several times/day until it's no big deal.

5. When to teach to lead

I have a very short lead that I use for new borns. Mostly I clip it on any time I'm going to move mom. If I have 2 people, I let someone lead the mare and I walk with the foal, just holding the lead rope. I have what I call a "foal come along" that I use in conjunction and I NEVER put any pressure on the lead line.



The short lead rope is just about 18 inches long, and just hangs if I need to steer the foal using the harness.

6. When to handle feet, legs, mouth

Right from day 1. I handle everything as part of my inspection of the foal. I look at hooves, check legs, body, neck, tail, tummy, ears, eyes, nose, mouth (I check for a cleft palate or any other deformity) even before the foal stands up.
 
#9 ·
Thank you DreamCatcher. That was super helpful. I bought one of those figure 8 halters for the baby and it has a small lead hanging off it. Maybe 12" That is what you are talking about right? Cool. I believe I am on the same page as you. I have a lot of natural horsemanship background and that seems right up the alley.

No baby. just waiting and figured I would learn about the foal before it happened. LOL
 
#10 ·


Here's the one I use, love them. I actually have an old lead rope that was getting really ratty and worn that I cut off short and I attach it to the ring on the foal halter. I've found that little leather grab strap to be pretty useless. The lead rope is probably 2 ft long, just long enough to kind of hit right above the knees on the foal. I only use it to get them used to having a lead rope hanging and dangling and when walking with mom (they'll follow anyhow) so I can just carry it in my hand.
 
#11 ·
I always did an extremely watered down version of imprinting. Foaling time here was usually early spring so still chilly at night and I would take a towel to dry them making sure I touched everywhere (ears, mouth, belly, privates), patted the bottom of their feet a couple of times and dipped their navals. About by then mom would be up and ready to do her own cleaning so I'd step back and let them have their own time until after the foal had nursed and then I'd give the foal an enema. Usually kept an eye out for a couple of hours and once the foal had accomplished everything it needed to do it was time for me to finally get some sleep. After my nap I'd go back to the barn and turn them out unless the weather was just too nasty.

The next day I would start putting a halter (no lead attached) on the foal and continued the touching it everywhere while they were in a stall and the mare was busy eating. No matter how cute they are you can't let them get by with anything you wouldn't let a full grown horse get by with however I used a lot lighter hand on my corrections. Mouthing? pinch their lip. Kicking? a tap on whichever leg they're aiming at you or a light smack on the butt if they are just popping up without actually throwing a leg out to kick. Stand close to their butt and they can't get enough power behind a kick to hurt so I think this is the best time for teaching them not to kick in the first place. They are pretty sensitive to feel at this stage so it doesn't take a lot to get your point across. I'll also start holding them still (human arms around at foal's chest and butt) just until they relax and then I let them go. Along with this I'll start getting them used to a soft brush and picking up their feet. All this stuff I did was just minutes (no longer than it took the mare to finish her grain) not long training sessions until they got it right. Except for putting the halter on and taking it off during the other stuff if they wanted to walk away I let them and would start brushing the mare instead. Invariably the foal would return for attention.

Leading lessons didn't start until at least 6 months old but I wasn't preparing them for a show ring either so I had the luxury of waiting. Just our short little lessons had them used to being handled enough that farrier or vet never had any problems with them. Our farrier would start picking up their feet every time he came out even if they didn't need any work. If they did need something it wasn't usually more than a quick rasp and I'd just do the "hug hold" (for lack of a better term).

Other than that I just let them be babies. The way our barn is set up they always had access to me while I was doing barn chores so I'd do things like using the pick (plastic only) to touch their legs, scratch their belly and back when they wandered in close, when it got hot out all my mares/horses (except the minis) love to get sprayed with the hose so the foals learned to love it too from watching mom which also went along with fly spray. Give the mare a rub down with an empty feed sack and after the foal's initial "OH NO! what is that noise?" reaction they'd be right there ready for their rubdown. Foals learn so much from their dams that they were ok with whatever mom was ok with so as long as the mare is well trained and desensitized a lot of your work is already done.
 
#15 ·
I don't believe that there is any set time to have any amount of handling or training done by. Every situation is a bit different and one major factor is how well the new mother reacts. Getting mom too nervous with trying to handle the foal too much is counter productive. I do what I can, how and when I can without overdoing it. Starting early makes it easier to restrain the foal should the situation arise such as needing veterinary work, but I have seen numerous foals that weren't handled much for the first few months and still turned out easy to handle at weaning time
 
#17 ·
True imprinting, as per Dr Miller, has had enough studies done to show it is harmful
The mare foal bonding is critical after birth, and there has been no long term benefit shown, flooding a foal with all that invasive stimuli after birth
My mares are all trusting of me, thus I never had to tie amare up, in order to do 'necessary handling after birth. Not talking of range cows here!

I dip the navel, make sure that the meconium is passed, make sure that baby nurses, and then leave that mare and baby alone
I don't halter break a foal , until he is at least three months old, or even until weaned.
Does not mean I don't handle them, as it is quite simple to restrain a foal, beside his dam, who is tied in a stall, to trim those feet at four weeks or so, de-worm,
ect
I only halter broke a foal early, if I wa showing him in a foal futurity, which meant he was also taught to lead well, square up, accept clipping, bathing, blankets, etc
Otherwise, the best thing you can do with a foal is not to mess with him too much! Let him live in a herd setting, have other foals to play with, learn herd interactions
 
#21 ·
So now that the foal is here...I can see how you work with the foal depending on your situation.

First, Jazzy is a great mom and very trusting with me and the baby. By the way we named her Melody. There is no Melody in Jazz. Ha Ha.

It's been chilly so I have had to put a blanket on her and it can be a bit of a wrestling match unfortunately. The blanket has velcro on it and the noise makes her very nervous. I do take my time and desensitize her, but she kind of forgets each time and if she is crazy to get outside it seems more difficult.

Melody is also very mouthy. When and how do I stop this? I am sure it could lead to biting. With no teeth it is cute and sweet.

Melody also started Pawing, not repetitive, but at us...like she is playing with us. I don't tolerate this, but I don't hit her either, but what do I do?

Currently, I have an easy time taking her out of her stall with her mom. She stays pretty close.

I love how tough these little ******s are. If any of you have read or watched the book/movie Room, a foals 1st few hours/days are like that little boys. The boy was born and a locked in a room until he was 5 hears old. He didn't know about wind, sun, cold, snow, rain, rocks, grass, mats, cement, straw etc. Can you imagine what the foal is going through after being in the mare's womb all warm and dark and safe and then bursting into the cold hard world. Crazy. Right? And being able to walk within a half hour. I understand the whole animal of pray thing, but it doesn't stop it from being so amazing.

Lifting feet can be a bit difficult too. Any suggestions with this too.
 
#22 ·
Oh yeah, I've got a little handful too. Don't know why, but fillies always seem to be a little more resistant at this age than colts. Pick one corner or area of the stall where you work with her. Make it consistent and do the working in there as much as possible. So, you send her to the corner (kind of drive her without a lot a pressure) and then when she's there, pet her all over. Scratch her butt with your nails, I've never met a foal who didn't love butt scratches. That's her reward for being good AND she'll teach herself to stand still for a scratch. Then after petting all over fora minute or 2, then slide your hand down her leg to her hoof. Don't try to pick it up at first. Once that's no big deal, just lift it off the floor a tiny bit, doesn't matter if it's how you would pick up a grown up horses hoof, just take the weight off a little, put it back down. Lots of "Good Girl" praises.

For the blanket, I just follow the foal around the stall opening and closing the velcro, until she gets tired of moving away from it and stands. Then I quit, say good girl, move her to the corner and put it on. For off, I just take the belly band and pull it down a little, close it, pull it down, etc etc, in the work area until she stands. Then I take it off and praise. Repetition, repetition, repetition. Take your time and keep your sessions short, no more than 5 mins. You can do several 5 min sessions in a day.

For me, at this point, mouthy is no big deal. They have no hands & fingers, their mouths are the only way they can learn about things. I let them mouth and lip and lick until they figure out what they're trying to learn. As they get bigger and the teeth come in, I just push the face away and say, "No" and keep on going. I have found that if I take my time and let them explore all over me now, they don't feel the need to keep on doing it when they have teeth. Of course, there's always that ONE, but it's usually a colt, LOL!

The pawing is a no-no but not a huge thing right now. I usually have a ball cap on (what brush hair before morning feeding?), so if they want to 'play strike' at me, I take off my hat and chase them for a few feet, waving my hat and telling them, "No". A couple of times being chased usually sorts that problem right out.

When she gets sassy and tries to hike her hiney at you, and she will, take off the ball cap and pop her on the bum (so it makes a loud snap sound) and tell her "No" and send her out of your space for a couple of minutes. Watch this mare teach her colt about disrespect.

 
#23 ·
Learning how to deal with my filly

Oh yeah, I've got a little handful too. Don't know why, but fillies always seem to be a little more resistant at this age than colts. Pick one corner or area of the stall where you work with her. Make it consistent and do the working in there as much as possible. So, you send her to the corner (kind of drive her without a lot a pressure) and then when she's there, pet her all over. Scratch her butt with your nails, I've never met a foal who didn't love butt scratches. That's her reward for being good AND she'll teach herself to stand still for a scratch. Then after petting all over fora minute or 2, then slide your hand down her leg to her hoof. Don't try to pick it up at first. Once that's no big deal, just lift it off the floor a tiny bit, doesn't matter if it's how you would pick up a grown up horses hoof, just take the weight off a little, put it back down. Lots of "Good Girl" praises.

For the blanket, I just follow the foal around the stall opening and closing the velcro, until she gets tired of moving away from it and stands. Then I quit, say good girl, move her to the corner and put it on. For off, I just take the belly band and pull it down a little, close it, pull it down, etc etc, in the work area until she stands. Then I take it off and praise. Repetition, repetition, repetition. Take your time and keep your sessions short, no more than 5 mins. You can do several 5 min sessions in a day.

For me, at this point, mouthy is no big deal. They have no hands & fingers, their mouths are the only way they can learn about things. I let them mouth and lip and lick until they figure out what they're trying to learn. As they get bigger and the teeth come in, I just push the face away and say, "No" and keep on going. I have found that if I take my time and let them explore all over me now, they don't feel the need to keep on doing it when they have teeth. Of course, there's always that ONE, but it's usually a colt, LOL!

The pawing is a no-no but not a huge thing right now. I usually have a ball cap on (what brush hair before morning feeding?), so if they want to 'play strike' at me, I take off my hat and chase them for a few feet, waving my hat and telling them, "No". A couple of times being chased usually sorts that problem right out.

When she gets sassy and tries to hike her hiney at you, and she will, take off the ball cap and pop her on the bum (so it makes a loud snap sound) and tell her "No" and send her out of your space for a couple of minutes. Watch this mare teach her colt about disrespect.

https://youtu.be/oJGvvry0yXk
Wow, such great info. I have to run out and ride, but I will watch video later. I'm basically doing what you said. I have a lot of naturally horsemanship training and beliefs so I think I am on the same page. I like the corner thing. So they get used to being still in one area. Thanks again and if you think of other things let me know.
 
#28 ·
I don't, but it's a well known fact that I'm over protective of my investments (foals).

The main thing to be concerned about is, is it just cold or wet & cold (with or without wind chill)? If it's just cold, I'd blanket and put them out. In fact, I did day/night before last. I stripped their stall and it needed to air, so I blanketed baby and left them out in the arena. It was in the 40's at night and windy 50's day. She was FINE. Had there been any rain, NO, I'd have put Sweet PDZ down and then re-bedded that stall and had them in.
 
#29 ·
A couple of questions for the experts

This whole experience is such a learning time. I am glad I have a lot of natural horsemanship background.

So first question....When can I put mama and baby out with another mare? or gelding? Jazzy has a friend mare and they are pastured right next to each other and tend to stay close to her.

Creeper feeder? Do you use them? Do they work? When do I start. Melody is already eating her mamas food as well as grass.

Please add any thing that would be helpful.

Oh, one more question. my friend who is also a maiden human had a baby almost 3 weeks before me. She said around the nose and eyes the baby was losing hair. I told her I thought that it was normal. Shedding out baby hair. Am I right?
 
#30 ·
I don't use a creep, I've never had problems with the mares sharing and the foals grow like little weeds. As long as they're getting ample time at the bowl with mom, they should be fine. Obviously, if you have a food hoarding mare, then you'll need to creep.

If I have 2 mares with foals at side, close in age, then I put them together when the "new" wears off the last one born. Right now, if I put Boo & Patti and their fillies out together, Boo will be a witch with a capital B and somebody might get hurt. In a week 10 days, we'll see if she's settled down a bit. If it's adding another mare and no foal, just be careful and watch them for a day or so before you leave them to their own devices.

Sounds like your friends baby is losing some foal coat. Normal this time of year.
 
#32 ·
WEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL! You know that part about keeping mares and their foals separate for awhile? DH went to put them in last night and I have no idea what he did, but somehow Boo and her foal ended up in the same pasture as Patti & her foal. The 2 foals were fine, Chip was looking at the new baby like, "OH BOY I HAVE A FRIEND that's all my size!" but the 2 mares! Whole nuther story. The were throwing nasty ears, nasty mare faces and "I kick in your general direction" double barrel kicks and such. As DH put it, "You go to a hot place!" "No YOU go to a hot place first!", "Drop dead!" "No YOU drop dead" and so on at each other. He said it was pretty comical. Boo's baby was just taking in the whole big bright world and Chip was trying to go meet her but the MOM's were being sows and wouldn't let her near. "She's NOKD, look at that BALD face!", "You leave that PINTO riff raff alone, honey, she's not your social level.". He said if he hadn't been so busy getting the mares separated he'd probably have rolled on the floor laughing at them.
 
#34 ·
Yeah, that whole thing wasn't supposed to happen. And DH didn't really know what he did either. He's not the most experienced, so doesn't really understand that whatever happened, it's likely something he did. To him, it's all a big mystery. I have a pretty good idea what happened and I'll be working with Boo today because she HAS been being a little silly and difficult to handle since the new one was born.
 
#35 ·
More foal questions. I know I have more, but I can't think of all of them.

Question #1
Do you leave your mare and foal outside at night? In the summer, at my farm, I switch horses to be turned out at night. We have coyotes, but I have never heard of one getting calves or foals. I am sure they get the random fawn.

Question #2
Why do you not put any pressure on the halter when leading. I have a foal rope halter. Is that too much?

Question #3
Why are they so itchy? She rubbed her self raw on her neck in the stall yesterday.

Question #4
When I go out to work with her in the pasture or just to give her a pat, when I leave sometimes she rears up at me. I a guessing because she doesn't want me to leave and wants me to play with her. But I can't let this happen. what do I do?

Help.
 
#36 ·
#1 Yes, mine all stayed out last night. This time of year we get hot and severe weather and I sometimes have to coop them up during the day, so I like to leave them out at night if I can. I can't imagine the coyote brave enough to attack one of these little ones with Patti & Boo standing guard!

#2 I don't put any pressure on their little necks because they are very delicate and easily damaged. I NEVER use a rope halter on a foal. That would terrify me. I use the leather figure 8 halters with 2 crown pieces that can be switched out as they grow. Once they out grow those halters I switch to a regular web halter, but still, try to put no pressure on the necks until they're weaned, around 6 mos.

#3 I don't know why they're itchy. I suspect it has to do with shedding the foal coat and new one coming in. I use a soft jelly curry on them and they seem to LOVE it.

#4 They want to play and of course, they only know how to play like horses. When one rears up at me, I take off my hat (I seem to always wear a baseball hat) or bandana and chase them around flapping it at them and drive them off when they do that rearing thing. That's just something I don't ever allow. Since they're babies I don't get after them real hard, but I do let them know that kind of behaviour is just not going to fly.
 
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