# Taming foals



## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Am I correct in assuming that you have very limited experience in handling youngstock?

Please don't hand feed or put anything on your fingers to encourage the foals to nibble or suck on your hands. Would you put your fingers between a full grown horse's teeth? The lessons they learn in their first few months will stick with them for life, so make sure that they are the right lessons. 
Do NOT encouraging mouthyness by allowing them to chew on your hands, this is teaching them that chewing and biting is ok, and once they get teeth, they will become dangerous. 


Just spend time out in the paddock with them, patting them, getting them used to you being around. Also, PLEASE enlist the help of someone experienced with handling foals, to help you halter break them asap. The longer you leave this vital lesson, the more difficult they will be to handle later in life as they tend to put up more of a fight to pressure when they are older and bigger. 

Because of your (assumed) low level experience with youngsters, I cannot stress strongly enough that you should get the hands on help of someone with experience. So many things can go wrong with young horses even if you have 50 years of experience behind you.


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## Sheepdog (Sep 25, 2011)

Kaytey
Thanks< I guess I wasn't thinking straight when I thought of encouraging mouthiness. Right now I just try and spend some time trying to touch them, scratching them, basically trying to teach them not to fear me. At what age would you suggest I start with halter training? The filly is now a week old and the colt three days. I thought of waiting a few more days before starting real halter training. I've had and raised with relative success (they are tame, can be caught, some are being backed) foals before, but it's been about three odd years and somedays it feels I've forgotten everything I knew about raising foals. 
Her mom. Rain Storm is one of those foals, Today I can walk up to her in the veld and scratch her, catch her and she's quite chilled with me trying to make friends with her baby. the colt's mom unfortunately have only been mine for about a year and due to abuse in her past, she's still struggling to fully trust me, or anybody for that matter, so I've got a double whammy there, needing to "tame" both mom and baby. 
Perhaps someone can recommend me a good book on 'training' foals?


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## LadyDreamer (Jan 25, 2008)

Don't hold your breath for a gray colt. Most non grays have pewter legs. My advice is to find a friend who has some exoerience to mentor you. That is the BEST way to learn. I can't offer much help in training the little ones since I don't halter train until the colt is weaned. My situation allows this. 

As I say in every training bbies thread. You have all the time in the world. Go easy. Keep things kind, fun and short. Their attention spans are only as big as they are. Babies soak up every lesson good or bad and every time you are with the baby it is a lesson.


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Ideally halter training should start at a few days old, when you can put your arms around the foal to hold it quiet and still. Once they get bigger, they get stronger and more resistant, so life will be harder for you! The sooner they accept a halter, the better. If you need to get the mare into a float for a vet trip if something goes wrong, it helps immensely to be able to lead the foal. 

As for grey - well the foal may be bay or brown. My brown yearling had such white legs as a foal that people thought he had 4 stockings. His legs are now jet black and he is very much a brown/dark bay - definitely not grey!


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## HUSAngel (Apr 18, 2010)

Um, WOW. Please don't let them suck on your fingers!!! Really not a good idea. As far as halter breaking...I haltered mine within hours of birth. They learned within a few days how to accept the halter without a fuss, then learned to lead. Instead of letting them run around while we led the mare to turn out, we lead baby along side of mom. They learn pretty quickly. Plus it's much easier than fighting with a larger older foal, teaching it to lead. If you don't know what you are doing, have somebody that does come and help you.

I agree with Kayty, on the gray issue. Two of my foals have turned out to be browns, both born with almost silver colored legs and up under the belly. Now their legs are BLACK. Babies change color, that's for sure. Even our weanling we have now, born a sorrel, is now a liver chestnut.


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