[mistysangel0]

What is a good way to teach ayoung foal to tie. She is 3months old she already knows how to lead at awalk and trot. She knows personal space,she pivots on her hinds, she will move her whole body at once to move over. She stands patiently in hand and is totally handleable. I can brush her or touch her any where she picks up all of her feet and I can pick them out. She is defenitly a very well behaved little girl I just want to know the safest way to teach her tie. When she was younger though she did have stubborn streak she isn't as bad any more but sometimes she is stubborn. She is fairly large her Dam is only 14.1 and she is already 11.2 hands tall. She was a large accident. We got the mare last year and didn't know she was pregnant so we have no idea what the breeding of the foal is, but we plan to keep her and turn her into a trail horse and start that training when she is about 4yrs. DOn't want to screw up those legs I know someone that has a 11month old geld that they are riding he is a tiny little slender thing too. I feel bad for him I keep telling her if you keep doing this he will not be able to walk by the time he is 7yrs. but she won't listen.

[SuZQuzie]

Please don't teach a foal to tie. There really is no "safest way" since even a small pull at this age could cripple her since their necks are still very fragile.

[sirius-dressage]

My trainer is having us teach our baby tying first by teaching him to give to pressure. If he realises that when pressure is applied to the lead rope that the only way to alleviate it is to go foreward into the pressure...that is the basic concept of tying. You think about it, if you tie a horse up and they haul back, they hit the poll strap of the halter and will freak out and keep pulling if they don't know that the way to get rid of it is to move foreward...not back.

With our baby, it's all outside leading situations...we are leadin ghim over cavalleti, small jumps, brush boxes, logs, anything that may elicit him to stop and go backwards...but when he does we tighten up the pressure on the line and don't release until he takes even the tiniest step foreward. They learn really quickly that as soon as they hit the end of the line to walk in towards you to solve the problem.

That's the first thing the baby needs to understand...they stop fussing and going straight back after a while when they realise it doesn't get them far because you don't release the pressure until they stop pulling back.

[Dawn11]

With my little guy I have taught him to tie to a fence post. I put the lead line up high enough that he can't get tangled in it but not to high that he can't move his head. I am alway within sight of him when he is tied so if he runs into any problems I am right there to help him.
He can now stand tied quietly for 45 min - 1 hour.
I usually tie him when I am working with other horses so he doesn't get in the way.

[kizmet]

Really at 3 months he should be enjoying being a silly little horse! Over handiling of a foal could leave you with big respect issues in future!

Also the risk of him falling over and seriosly damaging himself is great. You should not be leading him at a trot!

If you want to teach him to tie i would first teach him to give to pressure using your finger tips on his poll apply ligh pressure till he drops his head dont get firmer or softer just wait when he drops INSTANTLY release. this is about all i would recommend doing with a foal this young.

[mistysangel0]

Her lessons are a max of 10 mins. long. How come I shouldn't be leading her at trot? What does it do? Do you believe it is okay I taught her to lead and pick up her feet? She does know how to walk on a lead rope to not just trot is that the worry she will not learn to walk on the lead but just trot? How come handling her on a regular bases will make her disrespectful? She knows not to kick or bite people and doesn't even threaten or attempt to. She does give to pressure very well, slight pressure is all I need to get her to move over and back up.Oh she is a cute little thing to watch out in the pasture she runs and jumps around and plays with the other horses. She does it at least every night and I love to watch her. I did some imprint training with her when she was born at 12:45 in the morning. The mare was in the first stage of labor forever. But it was her first foal so she had an excuse but it ook 3hours for the foal to nurse the mare wasn't helping much and niether was the foal. I just want to make so she can be the best horse she can be when she is older.

[touchofdandy]

Over handiling of a foal could leave you with big respect issues in future!

How?

I dont see how it would cause problems as long as the foal is corrected when need be.

[Mutrok]

Being able to safely teach a foal to tie will depend largely on the foal. I have had babies that I was able to teach at a very young age how to tie and ones that just wern't ready to learn until much older. Being successful in teaching to tie happes first with learning to give to pressure as has already been stated. Once the foal is giving to pressure then you can proceed from there.

There are some reall good threads on teaching foals to tie.

[ashmorgan]

it sound like you and your foal are doing great
the first time our baby was tied our farrier did it he tied her to a tree and close enogh she couldnt hurt her self and she had to stand there while her moms feet were being done

our baby was not well behaved as yous she had a hissy fit

but 2 weeks ago we sold her she was 7 moths old we sold her to a girl her horse had died and she wanted to raise a baby she she could brerak it and yes she was very experinced

[sirius-dressage]

Originally Posted by touchofdandy

How?

I dont see how it would cause problems as long as the foal is corrected when need be.

I agree...the ones that are dangerous and disrespectful are the ones who are not taught all the basics when young. All of my trainer's babies are leading by a week old. Our guy is 2 months old and he picks up his feet, can be clipped, bathed, has had a child's saddle on his back (not cinched up), has gone to his first show...so he knows how to trailer, has been braided, is learning the finer points of personal space and leading. The only thing that will produce is a better horse, because he will have been taught all of this stuff from the get go.

Mistyangel - you are right to be working with your baby at such a young age. They tell you when they've had enough, their attention spans aren't long for one task but you can work quite a while on many different things to keep them interested...10 minutes on leading, 10 minutes on bathing, 10 minutes on desensitizing, etc. I'd say just keep doing what you're doing and work on getting your baby okay with all types of pressure and not flipping out about it.

Also, John Lyons has a good book called "Bringing Up Baby" that has a section in their about teaching a youngster to tie.