Today we look at handling your foal and preparing him for training.
Once your foal gets a bit stronger and more independent the new world he finds opening up to him is going to be a little scary at first – so whatever you do, try to take it at his pace, and not yours. Remember that until he is comfortable with the current aspect of his training; don’t move him onto the next part.
You really need to start socializing him next. An unsocialized horse is no different from an unsocialized dog - they can become antisocial and difficult youngsters that then grow into unloved adults because they have such bad manners. Just as it’s not the dog’s fault, it isn’t the foals fault either, if the owner doesn’t take the time to help them understand how to behave properly.
Before you can do anything with the foal (including showing him with his Mum) you need to be able to control him. Get him used to all manner of vehicles (cars, tractors and motorbikes if possible) as well as humans and dogs. He needs to be used to being around people and dogs particularly – even some adult horses will be very afraid of a large (albeit) friendly dog, if they haven’t met many before.
If you want to show him with his Mum you will also want to get him used to being in a horse trailer (this is really useful even if you don’t want to show him yet as he will need to go into a trailer at some time). Practice as much as you can leading him into and out of a trailer and when he is happy with it, leave him tethered inside it for a while with a hay net to keep him occupied
His socialization training at this stage is very important. Don’t skimp on it. The effort you put in at this stage to make him comfortable with the outside world will pay off for later training. If he is comfortable with his surroundings he will be focussed on his training, instead of worrying about what’s going on around him.
My final word of advice this week is don’t spoil him whilst you are training him. If you use tit bits of food to train him he may grow to expect them and start biting when he is not offered something. The occasional little treat is fine but don’t’ use food as a training aid in the way that dog trainers do – this is a completely different approach that’s not suitable for horses.
Roger Bourdon has written a number of books dedicated to horseback riding, horses and the health of horses. His site anyhorsebackriding.com is dedicated to lovers of horses. It contains plenty of free information in newsletters, articles and contains loads of resources all about horses. Products such as books and DVD’s are also available for purchase
Tags: foal, horse, socializing, training
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