Picking up a new foal

laura jeanne

laura jeanne

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Jan 7, 2004
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I read in a book by Mark Rashid a section where a new horse was born and he started training it right away by holding it in his arms (on the ground) and teaching it not to struggle against pressure.

Then he picked it up in his arms to teach it the same thing as well as giving the foal the idea that he is stronger than the foal. Supposedly when the foal grew up, he would think the person still might be stronger than he was.

I'm thinking he was exaggerating, but has anyone ever tried this?
 
The process is known as imprinting - I have heard mixed verdicts on whether it is successful or humane to do this. Personally I have no experience one way or the other, but my feeling would always be to leave the mare and foal to bond in these early days without unecessary human intervention. The foal needs to learn how to be a horse before it learns how to interact with humans :)
 
He was letting the foal nurse every few minutes as a reward for not struggling against the pressure. But I see what you mean. I was kind of surprised that he didn't leave it to his mother also.

I have seen some TV shows where puppies were born and immediately taken and cleaned with cloths and weighed and things like that instead of letting the mother lick them dry. I don't think this is good either.

But I have no experience in these things.
 
There are some real fans of imprinting who say that imprinted foals grow up to be easy to work with, even tempered, sociable horses.

There are also those who work with the results of imprinting gone wrong - maladjusted horses who show problems with aggression, lack of confidence, an inability to form relationships when turned out with other horses and a dangerous unpredictability.

Fans say the horses that grow up with problems haven't been imprinted properly.

Critics say that's not the case - that any horse whose first few hours are interfered with in this way stands a chance of developing behavioural problems as a result.

Without a doubt newborn foals are born programmed to do certain things - to stand, to feed, and to stay close to their dam. To stop this natural and instinctive proccess can never be without risk.

My own feeling is one of overwhelming disappointment that someone who claims to have such a great understanding of horses feels the need to do this. There is no need - it's perfectly possible to train a horse easily, without violence or force, and using the horse's own communication tools even if they're left to get on with things in the first few days.

One of the problems that people have had with imprinted horses happens when the horse (almost inevitably) discovers (even by accident) at a later stage of development that he is in fact far bigger and stronger than his handler. There is absolutely no point teaching a foal that resistance is useless - there will always be a point when the horse has grown up and resistance is far from useless, and if he discovers that - then you're in big trouble.
 
as per ususal, what chev said.

it's not necessary to imprint to get an even temerped, easy to work with, sociable horse.
when our sprogs are born we're there, normally with the video, and we watch and help if necessary. but as soon as baby is out and alive and bag is broken, we back right off and watch on the cctv from a distance so they can bond. then when sprog is up and sucking, we go back in and spray the stump, check the afterbirth, check mum for cleansing properly etc.

then the next day someone will go and sit in a corner and cuddle mum until baby comes to investigate, and then he can see us, sniff us, find out that people aren't mean. we'll scratch him all over, and then often lead out to the paddock - but all at baby's pace with the foal dictating the speed and how close we get. all our babies are fine to handle and not one has been anything other than a pleasure to back when the time came.
 
And they are stronger than you think...

We had our first foal in the barn in 2002, Mara the filly. She was born at 10:00PM and I checked on mom at 10:30 and there she was, all dried off and just standing up on her little legs. She came right up to me with pricked ears and we have been best friends ever since. I thought the imprinting ideas sounded way too invasive, why disturb such a beautiful event by putting your fingers in the babies rump, feeling the udder, opening the mouth, plastic bags, etc. but I thought I would try the arms around the baby - and voila baby pops up and knocks me right over onto my rump in the straw!! Meanwhile, she is merrily bouncing around the stall and getting a nursie. Now, as a two-year old, she leads, respects humans and has a clue, despite her initial experience of totally getting away from me.

We had her full brother born this May, he was a totally different story although I took the exact same approach. I was there within an hour of the birth, but he was already very sceptical of humans, with pinned ears and hiding behind Mama. Lots of kicking and biting during the first month, I was afraid we had the juvenile delinquent of the horse world. But now at almost five months he is really well behaved with people, loves grooming and scratches, and has learned that nipping is not allowed. The kicking just went away on its own.

So I guess my point is that my 'middle of the road' level of imprinting didn't hurt or help! It depends a lot on the individual horse's nature.
 
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