Dear friends
My mare foaled for the first time (for her and me...).
The filly is 4 days old now. She keeps running away from me and I really want her to stop fearing me...
I hate doing mistakes...
Any tips from experienced ones?
Will be happy for any tip regarding anything...
Thanks
Zahi
I would hang out and give mama a lot of loving and grooming, give the foal time to get used to you and see that the mom likes spending time with you. I'd also put them in a stall or smaller area so the foal can't get too far away from you. Do the horse whisperer thing and don't look directly at the foal, approach it kind of sideways, put out a hand and let it sniff, if you can, get in a scratch and when the foal is starting to love it, just walk away, leaving it wanting more. Goodluck! Pictures?????
It will jsut take a lot of patience. When you finally can start handling it, make sure you get it used to having its eyes, ears, mouth, and feet worked with. It will pay off in the long run.
I agree with Dana- hangout out there with them and she will become curious as to what you are and why you are there ... also for next time make sure that you handle them from day 1 ... but once you do get to touch her make it an every day/multiple times a day thing so that she realizes that you are the good guy Good luck oh and lets see some pics!
Hi
Thank yoy for the advices.
I am talking of the filly. The mom lets me come and handle her with no problem.
I tried approaching her from day 1... she run...
Will try your advices and keep you posted
Photos will come in no time :wink:
Zahi
Horses are prey animals, and when they enter the world for the first time, they have all those prey instincts built in to them, so they are pretty fearful of anything that isn't their mother =) If they didn't have this instinct.. we might not have horses in the world today! =) So don't worry, ya didnt make a mistake or do anything wrong!
Momma will also help let her baby know you're a good thing. Whenever my horse Jasmine had her babies, her subtle way of showing the foal I was good, was to put me in between her and the foal. It shows a lot of trust in you as a Horse Person if the mare will put you between herself and her youngun =)
I also agree with kchfuller, its always best to try to handle them from day one =) Imprinting is very important to me whenever I raise a baby =)
Your baby is beautiful, by the way. I saw her in another post =) Congratulations on her!! Good luck!
I had this problem with some foals I have worked with. They were just a few days old and would not let me get near enough to handle them. Definately it helps when the mother is calm and trusting as the baby will start getting the idea that humans are not scary. But what has worked amazing with those I have worked with, has been getting them in a small area if possible, with the mother, then crouching down to their level and opening and closing my mouth. I know it sounds really wierd to do, but when foals are real young they do this all the time to adult horses (its called snapping) but it really mean submission. They are basically saying I'm a baby, I'm not a threat, please don't hurt me!" When you get down on their level, and do that "snapping", they start to realize you aren't so scary and you aren't a threat and in my experience within 10 - 15 minutes you can start petting them all over their body. Go slow though and let your filly approach you. Keep your eyes averted too so you aren't staring her straight in the eyes. When she does approach, resist the urge to reach out and touch her but just let her sniff you. After a few minutes you can reach out and pet her. I have found when you use the horse's own language to get them to respond the way you are wanting, they train so much faster and it is a lot less scary for them. Hope this helps!
Try looking up inprint training I've got a mare who was inprint trained shes soooo....friendly ,hope it helps.Heres the link www.robertmmiller.com
Ireland
Thank you all for your help.
I tried what had been said here and things look better now. I could get contact with her and start touching her head and body without making her running like a roadrunner (yes, the one with the meep meep...).
She slowly approaches me to sniff and I am happy
Thanks again
Zahi
Congratulations doc! It will get better the more she gets used to you. The main thing is to be calm and quiet no quick movements and touch her with love in your heart :wink:
Oh, that is wonderful! Congratulations! It looks like she is really trusting you now! Once you gain that trust with a foal you can do basically anything with them. It is so important for a foal to learn to trust people early, as it is so much easier to train them while little than when large horses. I really like the name Ruby too. That is a really sweet name for her.
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