Foal Care

[Lindsay]

Our TB mare is due in April and I would like a little bit of advice on teaching the foal to lead, both when to start this exercise and how. I have read that the first leading experience should be done with a "butt rope", however I am unsure of how this is to be done??

[Farm_Girl5]

Ah leading. I have just done teaching this to a calf of mine... same principals though. I mean I used horse methods to teach her! <G>
First you have to get her used to the halter. The "Off and On" game works VERY well! I could walk into the paddock and put the halter on Milo (the calf after the first week!) Then attach the lead... they will either bolt, or do a Milo and stand still and not for the life of her move! Milo is a cow though so she was EXTREMELY stubborn!
I'm not really sure from here! <G> Don't want to give you the wrong information so someone can take it from here! :-)
It will help you ALOT if you or someone else can lead her behind the mother as she will be WANTING to follow the mother. I didn't have this choice as Milo was a poddy calf...
Cheers!
Kristy

[Medalia]

I've had three foals I've had to train, and let me say this: None are the same as the others. I worked with 2 colts and one filly, and to be truthful, the conception of a filly being easier is WRONG. They were way more stubborn that either of the colts.

Anyway, there is a thing called a "suitcase" way of teaching a foal to lead. It doesn't hurt them at all, so don't worry.

With the suitcase, you have them in the halter with a lead. There should be an extra long rope to put around their butt. In your right hand, you control the lead, and the 2 tail ends of the rope. You then lead as you would normally. The foal will feel the pushing of the rope on the butt and will want to get away from it, so they walk with you.

Does that help??

here's a little "diagram" for you (forgive the crudeness of it)

<\__~~
_/__\_

The foal will be standing like that^ and you can put the rope from the front leg to the butt and back around the other front leg.

[Allie]

Like Medalia said, the buttrope is an excellent way to teach them to lead. Take a circle of rope, and cross it into a figure 8. Put it on the horse so that the X of the figure 8 is over the withers, with one loop right above their hocks, and the other loop over their chest (like a breastcollar). Walk beside the foal like you normally would, only hold the lead in your left hand and the X of the rope in your right hand. As you ask the foal to move forward, put gentle pressure on his butt with the rope.

I'm not sure, but you may be able to find info about this at www.johnlyons.com (http://www.johnlyons.com) I know he endorses this method, so you might check.

Allie

[Myrmex]

I agree with what the others have said about the 'butt rope'. Also, right at the start, a towel wrapped round the neck and your arm round their quarters can work pretty well (unless the foal's huge of course), followed by the figure-of-eight rope and then moving on to head collar and lead-rope following mum etc. But they're all different! I halter broke a barely-handled weanling this winter by putting a headcollar and leadrope on him, then tickling his tail to make him go forwards, so he walked round me in a circle. Two 20 minute sessions and he was fine to lead (if not to catch!).

[summer]

Hi all
The 'butt rope' works well, but it is nice to get a few of those sheepskin halter pads to put on the rope. Foals' bottoms can be pretty sensitive, and a rough rope could get them kicking out. The important thing is to spend lots of time with your foal, in the stable and the field, encouraging him to follow you (most will, if out of curiosity), and then to stand and respect your space. See if you can find any books about imprinting, it often helps to encourage foals to enjoy your company, although some say it can make them pushy. If this is very new to you, you would be well advised to find an experienced person (many instructors will give you 'lessons' with your foal) to help you through the training process. Extra halp now will pay off in the future!