# 7 month old foal, need any help I can get!



## kitty3301 (Apr 20, 2012)

Hey Everyone!

I'm brand new to this forum. I stumbled upon it while searching for some info on how to train and care for my foal. 

Gypsy is a 7 month old palomino paint mare that my dad rescued in January from a place where she wasn't being properly cared for...the vet has checked her out and she's in excellent shape. She's beautiful and very quiet...loves to be brushed and petted. 

I've always been around horses (my dad also has two geldings, one since birth and an older handsome fella that we have had for years.) I was always kinda nervous around horses but my little sister was the trainer in the family. She recently moved just after we brought Gypsy home so I have taken over as her primary caregiver (besides my dad who works full time). 

She's doing extremely well for what she has been through but we still haven't been putting her in the garden with the boys because she's still small and frail (and the younger of the two is not her biggest fan...). Recently Ive noticed her trying to play with me like the other boys play together in the other garden. Although I don't believe she is trying to hurt me she makes me very nervous with the rearing and kicking. My dad says she's just playing and her lack of being around horses (she was taken from mom too early) is what makes her think that I'm a horse and this is proper behaviour towards me. 

I've become quite close to her and I really do trust her but I don't know enough about horses, let alone a foal. I want to give her the best chance in the world to grow into a well behaved mare that I know she can be. Any help or tips at all would be much appreciated! Especially with leading and with the playing... thanks all!!


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

First, you need to nip her 'playing' with you in the bud. NOW.

She's going to hurt you if you allow it to continue, plus you're not doing her any favors by not correcting her behavior. You're NOT a horse, and she needs to know she can't rear, kick, or strike at you.

She needs to be put out with the 2 geldings. They'll work out their pecking order soon enough, and then she can have appropriate playmates.


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## kitty3301 (Apr 20, 2012)

Speed Racer said:


> First, you need to nip her 'playing' with you in the bud. NOW.
> 
> She's going to hurt you if you allow it to continue, plus you're not doing her any favors by not correcting her behavior. You're NOT a horse, and she needs to know she can't rear, kick, or strike at you.
> 
> She needs to be put out with the 2 geldings. They'll work out their pecking order soon enough, and then she can have appropriate playmates.



Thanks...any advice on how to stop her from trying to play with me though? I know she has to be put in with them but the last time we put them together she ended up getting hurt.


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

Correction. Immediate and to the point. If you need to, use a crop or whip. I prefer a dressage whip, as it has a longer reach.

A sharp, 'NO!' along with the physical correction should take care of it. You may have to do it more than once, depending on her temperament. 

Your body language will also play a big part, as that's how horses primarily communicate. You have to be bold, confident, and make sure your voice is loud and commanding. A meek little, 'Now stop that! Noooo!' will do nothing.

She also needs the companionship of other horses because she apparently didn't have the proper socialization, moreso if she was taken from her mother too soon. 

How 'hurt' did she get when you put her in with the other two? Bleeding, torn skin, etc.? Or was it just bite and kick marks? If it was the latter, then she'll live and needs to be put back out with them. Horses, especially youngsters, play rough. A few hairless places and bite marks aren't going to kill her.


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## kitty3301 (Apr 20, 2012)

Speed Racer said:


> Correction. Immediate and to the point. If you need to, use a crop or whip. I prefer a dressage whip, as it has a longer reach.
> 
> A sharp, 'NO!' along with the physical correction should take care of it. You may have to do it more than once, depending on her temperament.
> 
> ...



The younger gelding (Breago) made after her as soon as she was in there on her own...she in turn ran and didn't stop until she slammed into the fence...she had a piece torn out from her back but other than that she wasn't too bad...a little shaken up.

I guess its time to try her out there again, I'm just a little nervous about it but it has to be done...the last thing I want is for her to be anti social. I will try the whip with her.


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

_Don't know if this will help_ but, I intend to buy a weanling or yearling in a few years and I'll turn him (gelding) out with my mare. She's raised 4 foals and can discipline him _*much better*_ than me. My two geldings are now 6yo and would just beat up a young horse. I'd probably turn them all out together after about a year, but they'd nose each other over the fence before them, and I've done that in the past to introduce a new herd member.


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## kitty3301 (Apr 20, 2012)

Corporal said:


> _Don't know if this will help_ but, I intend to buy a weanling or yearling in a few years and I'll turn him (gelding) out with my mare. She's raised 4 foals and can discipline him _*much better*_ than me. My two geldings are now 6yo and would just beat up a young horse. I'd probably turn them all out together after about a year, but they'd nose each other over the fence before them, and I've done that in the past to introduce a new herd member.


That's a great idea...I will hunt for a mare and a willing owner...maybe that will teach her a bit about being a horse


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## possumhollow (Apr 19, 2012)

Yep, she needs a good babysitter that will school her. My Appy was 3 months old when we got him and we couldn't put him in with our other geldings since he'd been injured when the breeder had turned him out with a bunch of yearlings that ran him through a fence. Joey's tendon sheath was sliced badly and he was convalesing for months. We bought an old, retired TB gelding to babysit him and it worked out well. The TB didn't care if we lived or died as long as he had food, but he took Joey under his wing and taught him to be polite.

Joey is 9 now and a gentleman. Good luck and like Speed Racer said, carry a dressage whip and DON'T let her treat you like a horse.


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## Ian McDonald (Aug 24, 2011)

The best thing for any young horse is going to be to have unlimited time and space to move and develop, within a herd. It's so essential for their physical, mental and social development. Otherwise you get (to use an extreme example) the yellow colt from the movie Buck. In less extreme examples you get a horse like one of my geldings, who though I don't know all his history I'm pretty sure he was raised in a stall. These horses are socially bankrupt and lack the necessary skills to get along with their peers. 

If I had a 7-month old I would put her out somewhere and aside from necessary handling and some petting, just leave her alone. They don't really need as much in the way of real work at this age as they do time to grow up.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

How does the older gelding behave toward her?

I went through a similar type situation where I wanted to turn my yearling out into the big pasture with the large herd but my 2 year old kept being really aggressive and running the yearling through the fence. What I did was took the aggressive horse out of the pasture for a few days and left the yearling in with the rest of the herd. Most of what is out there is retired geldings so there are a couple that would take in after him but they wouldn't chase hard or very far. After a week or so when Taz (yearling) learned where the fences were and was more comfortable with the rest of the herd, I put Rafe (the 2 year old) back out there. 

There was some initial chasing but no problems because, by that time, Taz knew where all the fences were and realized that he had 30 acres to run around on so he could avoid Rafe if he needed to.

Now, they live very companionably together.

As for the "playing", I agree with Speed Racer, you need to get that stopped now. It may be cute and funny when a baby does it...it's not so cute and funny when they are still doing it 3 years later and stand 15 hands and 1200 pounds.

When she starts to play toward you, take in after her like your younger gelding does. Make her move out of your space at a high rate of speed. Carry a lunge whip or a long lead rope with you. If she swings her butt to you at any point, give her a good solid whap with it.

*Edited to add:* Don't use the excuse of her past as a reason to baby her. She is not an "abused" horse or a "neglected" horse, she is just a horse and needs to be handled as such. Where so many people get into trouble is they rescue some neglected or abused animal and automatically believe that they can never ever punish bad behavior because it will "terrify" the poor animal. They want nothing more than to be "friends" with it...so they spoil it rotten to the point that the animal is unmanageable. They don't realize that they often put the poor horse in a worse situation by spoiling it than anyone ever did by abusing/neglecting it.

I've seen a lot of spoiled horses in my life....I've yet to _ever _see a spoiled horse that was also a _happy_ horse.


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## outnabout (Jul 23, 2010)

Kitty3301, you are right to question your youngster playing with you like that. I have a 14 month old who has good manners after gelding and being put out in a herd. He became very testy around 10-11 months to the point that it was a huge job just to get through routines like grooming with him. A couple of weeks ago we had a tornado touch down within a couple of miles from his pasture. A few hours later I pulled him out for feeding and then put him back out. He was a little fiesty but I suppose it was the storms. I walked way back to the back of the pasture to check the water trough and turned to find him running up on me. I shooed him off and then he returned and began rearing up on me. Unfortunately I didn't have my stick with me but had a rope so I hit it on the ground and yelled at him. He ran off, bucking. So, goes to show that one can't become complacent with young horses. He is half his mature weight and could very easily hurt someone.


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## Nanette Levin (Mar 19, 2012)

smrobs makes a great point about choosing one companion to start with. Two ganging up is hard and frightening, but if you choose the lower ranking horse, they'll likely build a friendship that carries through when you add the more aggressive horse and keeps the baby safe (with new friend bond). 

On the behavior toward you, it's common for orphans (if she was weaned very early, she could be exhibiting similar behavior) to lack social skills and push the limits with humans. The added lack of socialization (as others have pointed out, a herd will step in to provide this schooling, but if the horse is alone, obviously this doesn't happen) can create a monster. It's not fair for anyone to place the responsibility on you to correct this behavior given your lack of experience, but if it's something you're determined to take on, I'd suggest spending a few days visiting good breeding farms and watching how they handle foals acting out inappropriately. You'd be amazing at how much you can learn from simply seeing how seasoned horsemen handle challenge with young horses.


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## kitty3301 (Apr 20, 2012)

Thanks for all the advice! I will use it and update soon!


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## SunnyBlack (May 5, 2012)

Ah young horses, the "games" they play. First you need to establish ground rules. At 7 months she's ready to start groun training at the lead. When interacting with her u need to establish yourself as the dominant party. It would also help to wear a helmet while she's learning ground manners as rearing is a very natural thing to a young horse. I wear a helmet on the ground always, but hey that's my opinion. 

Second and before I get into the steps to help you, are you sure your qualified to work with a young horse? Young horses are not a walk in the park, and you can NEVER treat them as your "babies." because they don't understand the human/horse relationship u have to be FIRM with them. If you "play" around with a young horse you're going to get hurt. Not "if" but "when."

Your father should know this if he has experience with horses like you say, and forgive me for implying such a thing, but how can he put his ldaughter into a possibly dangerous situation if she's uncomfortable and doesn't have the ability to establish the confidence and assertiveness it takes to train a youngster? 

Honestly my beat advice would be to call in a trainer, someone who has experience rearing babies. Remember young horses mature faster than people, so she'll only continue to get bigger and more dangerous the older she gets, and if you can't establish ground manners than you'll end up dealing with a powerful and dangerous horse soon. 

To help yourself now, turn this horse out with your geldings. Let them do some of the work by establishing a pecking order. She may get bitten or kicked at but remember babies bounce back easy and it actually takes a lot of force to hurt them. I speak from experience 5x over, lol. 

Personally I don't mix mares and geldings but In your situation it will do more help than not. Second when leading her use a firm hand and confident posture to establish yourself as the dominate party, then when leading her practice yeilding from you body. Be prepared for her to rear in your face. They all do this because they don't understand and have short attention spans. When she does (because she will) u need to stay in it safe zone at her shoulder, reprimand swiftly and immediately during or 1-2 seconds after. You can do anything, from smacking her with the lead, to kicking her under her carriage (my personal fave) to slapping or punching her hard at the shoulder. Do not however snap the lead shank at this moment in time, as doing so is considered the "nice way" of asking a horse to refocus on you and should not be made into a crutch.

Since your horse is so young training sessions must be shorter. Young horses cannot focus long and training takes a lot out of them. If you see her yawn during a lesson then finish up your last yield and put her back with the other horses. I would suggest 10 minutes at most for each session, and believe me 10 minutes a day for 4-5 days a week, is more than enough time for a young horse. Remember, you don't want to overwhelm her either.

Training babies takes an experienced hand, if I may say, you don't sound like you have the confidence or ability. I would save myself some trips to the hospital and call in a professional. No one here on horse forum wants to see you get hurt. 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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