Marlanoc Foal Thread

[Wings]

I was WAY too nervous to tell anyone

She was a monster to show prep, hated the clippers on her legs and was getting really sulky about her short training sessions. I was sure we were going to do SO badly!

But something about show day just seemed to sink in, she only bounced around a bit during her first class but settled really well and really began to enjoy it. The judges were suprised at how happy she was to have her big ribbons tied around her neck as most foals hate it

:rofl I think Lyric put it all together and realised everyone else was finally recognising how awesome she is

She finished they day flopped on the ground with a nice tasty treat bar that she nibbled at with a sleepy look on her face.

:wub

 

[a mini dream come true]

Congratulations! And how awesome for her first show!

:yeah

 

[cassie]

As I said on Facebook Bree massive congratulations!!! Hehe what a good good girl!

How do you train your foals to lead? Sorry to change the subject lol having fun trying to get Finn to lead...

Again can't WAIT for the pics!! You must have been absoloutly thrilled. Congrats Bree you deserved it!

 

[Wings]

Thanks everyone

:BigGrin

How do you train your foals to lead? Sorry to change the subject lol having fun trying to get Finn to lead...

I like the comfortable in the halter to start with. I'll halter them and let them loose again with their mums.

From there I want to enforce the importance of yielding to pressure. My favourite trick is to not ask them to come forward but to ask them to turn around.

I stand at their side or slightly behind them and gently apply pressure on the lead. When they turn their head with it release the pressure and reward. From there you want them to start turning to face you again.

The good thing about starting like this is it is awkward to resist this pressure, and far easier to turn.

Then I move onto coming up to me. No matter how well they went with the earlier step I use a butt rope as back up, this means I can put minimal pressure on their head and neck and use the butt rope if they pull back . Remember to release with each step!

I'll do all of that in the paddock amongst mum and bubs but after that I'll work outside the paddock. I've found so far that this earlier emphasis on pressure and the correct response from what the halter is asking makes the remaining work much easier. From here on it's like refining the concepts

 

[cassie]

cool thanks heaps Bree

will try that tonight! Finn wears his halter all day now, and I take it off at night

so hopeing the next steps won't be to hard as well LOL fingers crossed!

can't wait for show piccies of your amazing crew!!

 

[a mini dream come true]

Thank you so very much for detailing how you do that

. I'm printing it out so I can refer to it when I have my little ones to train.

 

[cassie]

Thank you so very much for detailing how you do that

. I'm printing it out so I can refer to it when I have my little ones to train.

same here Hazel!!!

I don't want a naughty not trained foal!!

LOL no thankyou!

 

[Wings]

Absolutely so well written!! I totally agree!!!

So much nicer than those that insist on pulling their babies around by their heads and yanking them to follow!

WELL DONE!

Thanks DIane

and I'm glad it was helpful to the other newbies as well! It's Derby and Lyric approved training

I'm a HUGE believer in training the basics, if you get the basics installed properly everything just builds from there

 

[MeganH]

Do you have a method for training your babies to stand for showing them in a halter class? I want to go ahead and start Ricky since we want to show him this year.

Also- what feeds are good for show horses including yearlings?

I am thinking we will dry lot Ricky cause his belly gets so large when grazing. My problem is the 'dry' lot for us gets quite muddy

Would I have to stall him every single night months before showing... or just dry lot him and stall him closer to a show?

I am SO nervous to show since I am so new at this.

I will need practice clipping too.. since the 1st time may not be show worthy lol

Any pictures of lovely Lyric and the rest of your show crew yet? I can't wait to see the show pictures!!

 

[AnnaC]

Well done Bree for the sensible and gentle ways you use to train your babies. Must admit that my methods are a little different - mostly because I dont bother until they are weaned - but like you I use gentle pressure and release, plus the idea of turning rather than immediately forward, and NEVER any pulling, grappling or allowing things to get stressed!

Cassie, why do you have a headcollar on Finn? Any headcollar left on ANY animal while it is outside, or away from your immediate attention, is an accident waiting to happen. If you really want him to wear a headcollar for more than half an hour or so, then you are better putting it on at night in the stable, where, hopefully, there is nothing for him to hook himself up on. Just wondering why you would want him to wear it all day?

Megan I would be very careful about using a dry lot for Ricky. I'm a great believer in the fact that horses, particularly youngsters should have their natural food available at all times if possible. Hay will not help him loose his tummy - grass, correct food and exercise will. The difficulty you have will be with the exercise. Where you have two or more colts of his age together, they will race around, play and fight and keep themselves fit. When you just have one, they never doing the amount of 'playing' that they will do with others of their own age. So you have got to somehow 'replace' those companions!!

Once he's a year you could do a little gentle round penning, but for now, if you have safe walks in your area, you are better to lead him out yourself for long walks together with spells of running with him so he is trotting - not on hard road surfaces. Also would your dog play on the other side of the fence with him a couple of times a day (as happened before)? Ricky is just one of the many youngsters who tends to have a bit of a tummy and in my opinion, keeping him on a dry lot wont help. You will still have to feed him good amounts of hay (and exercise him) - youngsters particularly need plenty of roughage as, if they are restricted, they will most probably get stomach ulcers through their stomach acid having long 'gaps' with nothing to work on. Any restrictions in diet can cause problems in later years.

Ricky is a lovely looking little colt, plus he moves really well, so just give him plenty of sensible exercise, get him washed, groomed and trimmed and go and have fun at some shows. Maybe, once he gets to 10 months old, you could look into replacing his food with a good quality balancer like Gro and Win, plus his grass and hay - you might just find this will sort out his slight overweight appearance!

Sorry Bree, I seem to have taken over your thread - an waffled on a bit too much too! LOL!!

 

[cassie]

Do you have a method for training your babies to stand for showing them in a halter class? I want to go ahead and start Ricky since we want to show him this year.

Also- what feeds are good for show horses including yearlings?

I am thinking we will dry lot Ricky cause his belly gets so large when grazing. My problem is the 'dry' lot for us gets quite muddy

Would I have to stall him every single night months before showing... or just dry lot him and stall him closer to a show?

I am SO nervous to show since I am so new at this.

I will need practice clipping too.. since the 1st time may not be show worthy lol

Any pictures of lovely Lyric and the rest of your show crew yet? I can't wait to see the show pictures!!

I am in the same boat as you Megan LOL

first year of showing this year... or next depending on a miss Penny LOL

clipping is actually quite fun, I had my friend come over when I did Finn for the first time he kicked up a little fuss but I think handled it pretty good for a baby

he does LOVE the scratches which helps distract him LOL

yes Bree, where are the show pics of Lyric, I saw one on FB of your gelding! he looked magnificant!! congrats!

Well done Bree for the sensible and gentle ways you use to train your babies. Must admit that my methods are a little different - mostly because I dont bother until they are weaned - but like you I use gentle pressure and release, plus the idea of turning rather than immediately forward, and NEVER any pulling, grappling or allowing things to get stressed!

Cassie, why do you have a headcollar on Finn? Any headcollar left on ANY animal while it is outside, or away from your immediate attention, is an accident waiting to happen. If you really want him to wear a headcollar for more than half an hour or so, then you are better putting it on at night in the stable, where, hopefully, there is nothing for him to hook himself up on. Just wondering why you would want him to wear it all day?

Megan I would be very careful about using a dry lot for Ricky. I'm a great believer in the fact that horses, particularly youngsters should have their natural food available at all times if possible. Hay will not help him loose his tummy - grass, correct food and exercise will. The difficulty you have will be with the exercise. Where you have two or more colts of his age together, they will race around, play and fight and keep themselves fit. When you just have one, they never doing the amount of 'playing' that they will do with others of their own age. So you have got to somehow 'replace' those companions!!

Once he's a year you could do a little gentle round penning, but for now, if you have safe walks in your area, you are better to lead him out yourself for long walks together with spells of running with him so he is trotting - not on hard road surfaces. Also would your dog play on the other side of the fence with him a couple of times a day (as happened before)? Ricky is just one of the many youngsters who tends to have a bit of a tummy and in my opinion, keeping him on a dry lot wont help. You will still have to feed him good amounts of hay (and exercise him) - youngsters particularly need plenty of roughage as, if they are restricted, they will most probably get stomach ulcers through their stomach acid having long 'gaps' with nothing to work on. Any restrictions in diet can cause problems in later years.

Ricky is a lovely looking little colt, plus he moves really well, so just give him plenty of sensible exercise, get him washed, groomed and trimmed and go and have fun at some shows. Maybe, once he gets to 10 months old, you could look into replacing his food with a good quality balancer like Gro and Win, plus his grass and hay - you might just find this will sort out his slight overweight appearance!

Sorry Bree, I seem to have taken over your thread - an waffled on a bit too much too! LOL!!

Sorry Anna I should have clarified! Finn has his halter on all day when I am home all day, I am at work today so he has NO halter on... that day I posted this I was home so he had his halter on, I wanted him to get used to wearing it, he is really good with getting it on and off now (as long as I don't take to long putting it on hehe) we are working on the leading part... still having some trouble with that but we are slowly getting there, he always wants to bite the lead or the clip... what can I do to stop this?? he is obsessed with Penny at the moment, and stays with her rather then coming up to me for scratches and loving

lol he always eventually comes up lol naughty little man!

 

[Wings]

Do you have a method for training your babies to stand for showing them in a halter class? I want to go ahead and start Ricky since we want to show him this year.

I play with legs from the moment the foal is happy is happy with my touch. This progresses from just running my hands to gently pick them up and finally to placing them back on the ground where I want them.

I don't worry to much about the back legs, you can back the horse up and apply pressure to the rump to manipulate them but most judges are very forgiving of what the babies are doing with their hind end.

Also- what feeds are good for show horses including yearlings?

Plenty of roughage! I also combine a good show horse premix with a broodmare/foal pellet. I use a vitamin supplement formulated for growing babies and I add in some oil for energy and the way it delivers a shiney, healthy coat.

Sorry Bree, I seem to have taken over your thread - an waffled on a bit too much too! LOL!!

Whenever you want to hijack it's fine with me, LOL. We're all here to learn

yes Bree, where are the show pics of Lyric, I saw one on FB of your gelding! he looked magnificant!! congrats!

Thanks Cassie! I've put in an order for my show pics so I should have them within the week or early next week

There's a superb shot of Lyric in all her ribbons and a fantastic one of Derby jumping!

 

[All Decked Out Mini Farm]

Your girls are stunning!!

I just love all of them!

 

[cassie]

YAY how exciting Bree,

can I ask in the show ring do you train your horses to stand the way the should? or do you move their feet? I have heard of both being done... and wondering about the way you do your babies... if that eventually encourages them to stand up properly (show wise) sorry if I'm not making any sense...

 

[MeganH]

Lots of good info

Thanks Anna and Bree!

Bree- What kind of oil do you add and how much? Do you hay your show babies? and what type? Or do they graze on grass?

Sorry for all the ?s... I am totally new at this so I want to learn a lot.

Anna- When you say replace his food with a balancer (like gro and win) do you mean quit the feed he's on and switch to the other? Right now he is on Omolene 300.. it is Purina. I am not sure what type of feed you and Bree would have in your area. I know my local feed store carries vitamins and such. I just don't know which one to choose.

Can't wait for the photos!!

 

[cassie]

I have a mineral lick in with my horses all the time, they love it, but only lick it when they need it, its so cute to see Suzie coming out of the stables with red all over her lips ( the brick of the lick is red hehe) their coats have improved HEAPS by having them too... even Finn has a little lick every now and then, and he has stopped eating the dirt since which is awesome!!

would love to know what oil you use Bree,

megan I wished we lived closer so we could help each other lol

 

[Wings]

Your girls are stunning!!

I just love all of them!

Thank-you

I'm so proud of my little mare herd!

 

[AnnaC]

I agree with the others Bree - all your minis are gorgeous, plus they look great and are also a very happy tribe, and this is all due to your care, attention and love.

Megan, (I'll keep it brief LOL!!) I suggested the Gro and Win as I know it is available in the US and I have found it so very useful where I have had a 'tubby' youngster that I wanted to show as a yearling. Alongside the full amount of normal 'roughage' you can be sure the youngster is getting all its minerals and vitamins without the 'filler stuff' in a lot of normal youngstock feeds. But always remember that there are so many different ways of feeding youngsters for showing and everyone will have their preferred way of doing things. You just have to take all the suggestions and find one that suits you and your animals. Also remember to do any changes slowly over several days/a week.

 

[MeganH]

Thanks again, Anna

I will have to look up more of the feeds they have locally. There are a lot of horses in our area so we have a lot of places to choose from. Ricky's belly is deflating a little. The grass is not as nice now and we give him a little more hay to replace the grass he isn't getting and he is looking pretty good. He is 8 months old now.

I know, Cassie! I wish we could be able to go through this close by!

I have 2 different kinds of salt/mineral licks. Both at called Trace Mineral blocks I think. One type is small and I have two of them in Laney's shelter and the other is a very big one in Ricky's shelter. I see both of them using them often. I do wonder if there are any that are better and designed for growing minis or pregnant ones. I couldn't find any when I looked a few months back. They did have flavored ones though.

 

[Wings]

I agree with the others Bree - all your minis are gorgeous, plus they look great and are also a very happy tribe, and this is all due to your care, attention and love.

Aww thanks Anna, that means a lot!

I'll grab new photos of the boys today, still waiting on Lyric's show photos but the hairy turd munchers are probably due for an update

:rofl

They're out in the big paddock with the other mares now, Storm's in love with my appie mare Beauty. Whenever I go out there he calls to me and hoons up to me for attention... but remembers his manners and stops a polite distance and reaches out for a rub, no nipping!

Sterling's friends with everyone and meanders about in his general good natured way, always happy to come and say hi but at a slower pace then Storm!