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Dear Friend and
Horseman,
Welcome to another
Horse Training Tips Newsletter.
If you've been a reader
of my Horse Training Tips Newsletter for a while, you're
aware some of my emails have really stirred up some controversy.
Especially concerning the handling and training of foals and young
horses.
In case you missed those emails, one of the controversies was that I
basically
discourage the "Imprint Training" of newborn foals.
The reason is because a lot of people turn the foal into a horse that
becomes
belligerent, disrespectful towards humans and difficult to train...
actually HURTING the colt's chances of becoming a good performance
horse.
I receive a ton of emails asking me what I suggest, as an alternative,
to get the
foal off to a good start.
I also get a lot of email from people who own yearlings they hope will
develop into good performance horses. They want to know what they can do
to
prepare their baby and give him a head start.
Training Foals and Weanlings
Here are a
few suggestions that have worked well for me...
First off, let the foal be a horse!
I know that sounds like a smart-aleck remark but in reality, many people
treat
their foal like another human or their pet dog. That is a recipe for
trouble. For any
horse to be mentally and emotionally BALANCED, he needs to know he's a
horse.
And, he needs to be handled like a horse using "horse" psychology
NOT
"human"
psychology.
When a mare is in the process of giving birth, don't mess with her or
the foal until
they have strongly bonded as mother and baby.
Here is where the "Imprint" fanatics go crazy. They want to get their
hands on the
foal "immediately", before it has had a chance to bond with its mother.
Let me warn you, intervening this way, can and sometimes does lead to
problems.
I would suggest waiting a day after the birth before doing much with the
baby.
After a day, then it's perfectly fine to introduce yourself or do
whatever you want
with the foal.
Always keep in mind though, that this cute little baby is still a horse
and should
be treated like a horse.
The baby needs to learn that you are his "leader" not his "playmate".
It's good to teach the foal that you are there to care for him and
protect him but
that you also expect him to "behave" in a certain way.
All horses need to know that when a human is handling them, there are
rules,
boundaries and limitations. Horses NEED and EXPECT this guidance.
Their mother sets the rules when they are interacting with her. They
expect you
to set the rules when they are interacting with you. If you fail to do
this, you'll
create a juvenile delinquent that is disrespectful and pushes you
around.
Ideally, by the time the baby is a yearling, you should have taught him
to lead well
and stand tied to be groomed. He should know how to be lunged on a
lunge-line.
He should be good about having his feet trimmed and so on.
When its time to start the colt under saddle as a 2-year-old, things
will go much
better if he is well mannered and respects people but is not afraid of
them.
Sending a colt that is afraid of people to a professional trainer, will
be more stressful
for the colt and will take the trainer more time to get the colt
started.
On the other side of that coin, sending a colt to the trainer that is
bad mannered
and disrespectful will also slow down the training process.
These are just a few of the things I recommend for your baby.
If you would like to see how to do this training, I strongly recommend
getting
my video, "Training
the Foal and Weanling".
Take care and good luck with your babies.
Well, this wraps it up for this newsletter. I hope
you liked it.
Until next
time, have fun training your horse.
Larry Trocha
www.HorseTrainingVideos.com
www.HorseTrainingTack.com
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