Behavior in foal...

[JaiteraMiniatures]

We were gone for several days on vacation leaving several members of my family (they live on the same property as us) caring for the horses. They THINK they know everything there is to know about the horses, and they're just starting to understand these are NOT dogs or kittens...they're muchhhh more powerful and they must be disciplined at times, even the Miniatures.

Anyways, we have a 2 month old filly who they were caring for for those 4 days and when we got back she is still plenty sociable and all, but they like to scratch her butt and make her buck. Yeah, it's cute...for now. When she gets older it's going to become seriously dangerous though! We're trying to talk to them about how she's going to have horrible manners if they do not quit with the "cute" things they like her to do. Right now we're trying to halter break her, and it's going alright, but she's already starting to turn her butt if we come in with the halter (without it she comes right up). I'm pretty sure it's because she associates halter with being put in the barn. So, I'm thinking if we start brushing her each time she has the halter on (she really enjoys being groomed) that she may start letting us catch her easier?

This is our first foal, and I know many of you have had many, many foals to work with...y'all make it look MUCH simpler lol. So, any advice for us? Any tips? I just don't want her to end up with bad manners because of what we've been training her...accident or not.

 

[AnnaC]

I do things completely different to most folk (I think!) Here foals are never headcollared until after they are weaned and as we usually dont wean until just after Christmas/foals are all 6 months or over, but it works ok for us.

Once all mares and foals are able to go live out in our fields, we visit twice a day and spend our time checking everyone and 'scratching' the foals. They get fussed and scratched under chins, on heads, necks, between front legs, under tummies, between back legs and yes on top of butts and backs - never ever had a problem develop due to our 'scratchings'! And, yes, a lot of them buck playfully when tickled! Foal feet are trimmed by one doing the trimming while the other person 'scratches' the foal surrounded by all the other foals and a momma mare or two - chaos most of the time, but stress free for the animals concerned if not the humans! This year we do have two foals that are not happy having their feet trimmed standing in amongst a crowd of their friends, so we bring them and theirs dams back into their stables and do them there with the same scratching routine.

If we want to bring a foal back into the stable/barn, we simply catch and bring the mare and the foal follows along - can you not do this with your foal?

Also please remember that foals are cutting their teeth though their foal months, first year etc etc, and I often think that folks can have sudden unexplained 'problems' with allowing headcollars to be put on due to the fact that they may have been 'hurt' by the headcollar 'catching' against/putting pressure on a sore gum.

LOL!! Got a bit 'long winded' here - a fault of mine LOL! But what I am trying to say is that I dont think that scratching a foals butt will make it kick in the future (but at the same time foals need to be foals and do not need to be 'annoyed' by strangers 'fiddling' with them all the time). Also, is it really important that you need to headcollar your foal to get it to the stable/barn, will it not follow its dam? Dont forget it always helps to have a feed down for both dam and foal when you bring them in - a reward for coming and a reason to LOVE ccoming in!!

Anna

 

[Loess Hills]

Your filly is still growing and developing. They will go through many different stages in their behavior as they develop trust and a bond with humans.

 

Just be fair and consistent in your training, they will learn. We've got a 3-month old colt who still wants to "nibble" on our clothes, but we're consistent about not allowing him to. He got a cut on his side which had to be stitched by the vet(a man)......the next day he didn't want anything to do with my husband, but still came up to me and wanted his scratching and petting. In a few days he was back to normal and accepted both of us as friends.

 

[JaiteraMiniatures]

I do things completely different to most folk (I think!) Here foals are never headcollared until after they are weaned and as we usually dont wean until just after Christmas/foals are all 6 months or over, but it works ok for us.

Once all mares and foals are able to go live out in our fields, we visit twice a day and spend our time checking everyone and 'scratching' the foals. They get fussed and scratched under chins, on heads, necks, between front legs, under tummies, between back legs and yes on top of butts and backs - never ever had a problem develop due to our 'scratchings'! And, yes, a lot of them buck playfully when tickled! Foal feet are trimmed by one doing the trimming while the other person 'scratches' the foal surrounded by all the other foals and a momma mare or two - chaos most of the time, but stress free for the animals concerned if not the humans! This year we do have two foals that are not happy having their feet trimmed standing in amongst a crowd of their friends, so we bring them and theirs dams back into their stables and do them there with the same scratching routine.

If we want to bring a foal back into the stable/barn, we simply catch and bring the mare and the foal follows along - can you not do this with your foal?

Also please remember that foals are cutting their teeth though their foal months, first year etc etc, and I often think that folks can have sudden unexplained 'problems' with allowing headcollars to be put on due to the fact that they may have been 'hurt' by the headcollar 'catching' against/putting pressure on a sore gum.

LOL!! Got a bit 'long winded' here - a fault of mine LOL! But what I am trying to say is that I dont think that scratching a foals butt will make it kick in the future (but at the same time foals need to be foals and do not need to be 'annoyed' by strangers 'fiddling' with them all the time). Also, is it really important that you need to headcollar your foal to get it to the stable/barn, will it not follow its dam? Dont forget it always helps to have a feed down for both dam and foal when you bring them in - a reward for coming and a reason to LOVE ccoming in!!

Anna

Thanks for the advice

The only reason we've have to put a halter on her is because she'll follow her dam out of the large pasture, but once she's out it's about 30feet before their night paddock (it's basically a hallway and the barn) so she knows she can run around there and not follow her dam to the next paddock. She just wants to be a foal and run around the barn and hallway, but it'd just be safer for her if she didn't run around in the hallway...and at this point mama is perfectly fine haveing a break from her, so she doesn't call her when she goes running down the hallway lol. I do think we'll start brushing her when she goes from the one paddock to the other when we lead her...if she's still acting like she is we'll just have to find a alternative to leading her and waiting until she's a bit older for that. (like after weaning as you do)

Oh, and the only reason she bucks when her butt is scratched is because she thinks it is a game. :/ So, yeah we'll be working on that. Anyways thanks for the advice