rearing foal

[madarab]

the yard I ride for/help out at has a 9 month welsh section A foal that they bought from the sales 3 months ago (because it looked so lost and scared - poor thing!)

Im certain this foal had never had any human contact before the sales as he was so scared of people and you couldnt go near him! luckily hes building up his trust of people and now growing into a very friendly inquisitive little man :) we can now catch, groom, lead him and he comes up to you as soon as you go near him for attention and fuss (he likes his neck rubbed :p)

however yesterday I was mucking out around him and in a bit of a rush so apart from saying hello i wasnt giving him undivided attention - and he started rearing. im certain this was attention seeking as he stopped as soon as i turned around and spoke to him, but whats the best way to stop him doing this! :eek: should I just ignore him? (even standing upright he still teeny!), I smacked him on the shoulder yesterday and told him "no" - I want to discourage this asap! any ideas please? :)

[nakedescapee]

I smacked him on the shoulder yesterday and told him "no"

That is what I would do, but I have been wrong before. ;) I would watch for the sign that he is about to go up and warn him before he rears. Perhaps, nip it in the bud before it becomes a dangerous habit.

[Jessey]

I guess he's still entire? I know alot of people who cut horses around the 12 month mark. You may find hes starting to feel the testosterone flowing and this is one of the characteristic behaviours. My friends colt is now 10 months and he has reacenly started rearing up etc.
It may not be that at all just that he wants to play, does he have any other babies to fool around with?

J

[Wally]

This is very hard to say as he may be doing it for 1001 reasons, You'd have to be there and observe EXACTLY what he is doing to say why he's doing it and to be able to advise a course of action to put a stop to it.

[Tootsie4U]

Hard to say. With some, a slap and a no is enough but with others (like mine) its just negative reinforcement. Even though the attention you gave him was negative, it was still attention, which I bet is what he was after (It sounds like he wanted to play).

Definately let your yard know about this behavior so they can keep an eye out and fix it when they see it.

[Harry Hobbes]

...im certain this was attention seeking...
Actually it is normal foal play behavior to test and establish the dominance hierarchy. He's playing with you to see if he can be the alpha animal.

It is essential that he do this with other horses, because this is one of the ways that Mother Nature has programmed the horse to establish their social order.

But because of the (full-grown) horse's power and speed, it is dangerous behavior when done in proximity to humans. If it is not nipped in the bud now, the foal will assume that it's okay to rear on humans (i.e., learn that playing rough with humans is okay) and sooner or later someone will be hurt (or worse).

You took the right action in smacking him on the shoulder if you did that immediately (within about three seconds), because hitting him in reaction to an unwanted behavior is a form of punishment, and punishment will discourage this dangerous behavior. (Don't worry, it is just about impossible to damage a foal by smacking him on the shoulder with your hand, or with most light tools.)

Reference this thread for the definition of "positive punishment" and when it should (and shouldn't) be used:

http://www.newrider.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=29228

If the foal rears in your immediate presence again, you should immediately apply some form of positive punishment (there's a sample list in the above link), but make sure that you select some form that will not damage the horse (if you physically hit the foal, stay away from his head and legs). Then as soon as his feet are squarely back on the ground immediately apply positive reinforcement (defined in the link above) to reward him for putting his feet on the ground.
...but whats the best way to stop him doing this!
But also understand this: One needs to apply punishment to dissuade dangerous behaviors only because the horse was not previously trained to not engage in dangerous behaviors; and one is then in "react mode". So if you wish to avoid the need to apply punishment (or a human getting hurt) then go into "proactive mode" and train the foal to behave appropriately in the presence of humans. One hour old is not too young to begin such training.

So "the best way" is to prevent the problem early, via proactive training. There are a variety of training publications available from the "natural horsemen" to show you how to do this.

Best regards,
Harry