[Lindsayanne]

foals are punks. girls or boys

I agree you can back off training for awhile, and use the baby's natural curiosity to get him choosing to interact with you. For now, at least, don't force things and don't punish unless he's doing something that, when he's bigger, would be dangerous, just make being near you fun.

[Anxious1]

You are dead on right and I know that I don't want to deal with what I have now at 700 pounds.

Mom is very lax and she rarely reprimands him so that might be part of the trouble. My other pregnant mare (see other post in "Horse Breeding" from last week *sigh*) reprimands him more as well as my gelding pony.

I may try and halter him with them seperated and then rejoin them. I have noticed that he is much more accepting of me in the past couple of days where as before he would just run. At least he comes up to me now out of curiosity which is a good sign.

I am finding this part of it so frustrating and I really appreciate the feedback.

[Anxious1]

[quote=Lindsayanne;2832441]foals are punks. girls or boys

Man, do I agree with that statement and it is a good thing they are so damned cute, but that cuteness quickly fades when dealing with 125 pounds of attitude and pure baby bliss and obstinence!

[Mutrok]

Oh babies...totally normal behavior for a foal.

I work with mine a few minutes at a time when I go out to feed, clean, etc. I don't push it too much. Some babies are easy and you can work on the haltering, leading and everything right away and some are just not ready for it until they are older.

I have one this year who could halter, lead, pick up her feet, load into the trailer, all by the time she was a month old.

I have another who at 3 weeks old is barely getting comfortable with me just handling and petting him.

They are all different and you have to adjust your "training" schedule to each individual.

[Anxious1]

Absolutely right Mutrok, they indeed are all different and I think that Santana is just going to require a bit more handling and such. I really don't want to push it too much but then again, I really don't want to be dealing with a 700 pound bully.

I am just going to take it slow and continue to work with him on touching and playing with his feet etc. I will have the halter with me for when I feel there is an opportunity. Time is key as always I guess......

[StarfireArizona]

The more time you spend with him, and the more he can trust you, you will be amazed at how much better he will respond to you. Don't get discouraged.....get assertive, but loving. I am all over my little guy with lotsa kisses, forehead rubs, hiney scratches, etc....and there is rarely a minute he will leave my side. Don't think there weren't times he didn't get himself into trouble....he sure did. His worse vice was kicking out when I would touch his rear legs....once he got my arm good. I didn't abuse him, but he sure learned at that moment it wasn't a smart thing to do. Now I rub all over & he is fine with it.

I knew absolutely nothing about foals & I was scared to death before he was born, but from research, asking questions on this helpful board & just learning from my colt, I am so very thankful he is the saint he is. I love all my horses....but there is something special when you get to raise them without any baggage & you can feel the trust growing every day.

Try to enjoy some quality time when he is little......every time I look at mine weighing over 700 pounds I still look for the little innocence we saw a year ago. Maybe it's my imagination but I still think I see some

[Anxious1]

Starfire~

If I may ask, what did you do to reprimand him? Santana has not kicked out and I have pretty much touched him everywhere. However, I have noticed that being a little bit older, you can see the thought cross his mind.

I have owned horses for years and boy is the foal thing different but indeed I am looking forward to training him and not have some of the "issues" that I have seen so many horses develop with being bounced owner to owner.

[BettaBlossoms]

Originally Posted by Berlunz

I agree 3 weeks is way to early.

Actually, one of my friend's friends has a 4 week old, he already is halter trained and lead trained, and she has been working on girthing him *leading with the lead rope held gently around the barrel* she just does it to transfer them around, but he is a sweet little guy, and if the sessions are short, I can't see a problem with it, all I can make of it is that you don't have to put up with a larger baby flailing and possibly hurting themselves, basic training isn't too bad for youngsters imho because its less scarry if your born into it, but it might be better if the foal is stressing to not remove him from mom, thats a little much in my opinion, but then again, thats all this is i guess..

[Anxious1]

I agree Betta and he does not stress at all when Mom is away (never more than the distance of about 100 yards). He actually calms down tremendously which really surprised me.

If he was stressing we would not have continued with it. As an example, he will let me halter him with little flinching or anything when Mom is out of sight but when she is within sight he is very skittish and paces and calls to her etc.

The exact opposite of what I expected...

[StarfireArizona]

Originally Posted by Anxious1

Starfire~

If I may ask, what did you do to reprimand him? Santana has not kicked out and I have pretty much touched him everywhere. However, I have noticed that being a little bit older, you can see the thought cross his mind.

I have owned horses for years and boy is the foal thing different but indeed I am looking forward to training him and not have some of the "issues" that I have seen so many horses develop with being bounced owner to owner.

When he kicked out I had to be careful....he was tied....and the last thing I needed was to create a different set of problems with fear of restraint. He has always been big for his age, and I think he was about 3 months at this point. I smacked his behind with the lead, and quickly untied him. He already knew at this moment that he was in trouble. I then smacked him on the rump a couple times with the lead & made him circle me....and then made him back up PDQ quite a few steps. It was all sloppy motions on his part, but it was so much more important to me to get my point across that kicking me was NOT an option.

A week or so later he did it again, and I got even more aggressive. I knew that if this went on for much longer I could get hurt very bad if I touched him even by accident. I whacked him several times on the rump with the lead & made him circle me......and again made him back up quite a few steps. He was pretty wide-eyed when I let him stop. A couple minutes later I tried touching his leg again, and the second I saw even a change in his expression, I gave the loud buzzer sound & I went right after him again with making him back up. When I let him stop I watched him think about it & then tried it again......but this time I pulled his head around so he could see what I was doing. When he didn't feel threatened he didn't react, and I then gave him a piece of veggie pasta. Tried it a couple more times & again nothing happened....a couple more pasta treats. Now he lets me touch him anywhere.

Because I don't trust him 100% though I often pull his head around for him to watch what I am going to do, or I start touching around his hiney & work my way down inside & outside his rear legs. Once he realizes I'm not doing anything hurtful he relaxes.... I do this as often as I think of it....

Whew.......a lot of work to just do nothin' to him