Horse Training Tips – Foals and Weanlings

Larry,
I enjoy your news letters. I get such a kick out of them. I am so glad I am not the only one that feels like stupid only comes my way. I recently had a Lady ask me to by her horse. I teach a free clinic in the summer and watched his horse run her over while doing ground work. I had just told her not to stand in front of this very disrespectful horse.
Turns out , She was her Baby… Her baby tried to break her neck. The horse had been damaged by this woman isolating it from the heard and not keeping the horse in a herd environmental where the mares could kick her little butt when she got out of hand. I knew this horse was a bunch of trouble for his mother..(.LMAO Mother)
So I told her. You need to take your baby to a trainer who will get the mind right on this horse, This horse is going to hurt you and you do not have the skills to even attempt to train her.
Well she came up to me about a week later and wanted me to buy the horse for about $1500.00 bucks. ( She was grade of course,) I thought about it for .09 of a seacond and said there is no way this mare will bring that. She is going on five, She is grade and she needs alot of help. Well, she persisted for about a week and finnally I said I will buy her for $400.00 bucks. She said $500.00 I shook her hand and wrote a check there. I did not need the horse, But her conformation was out standing. Short coupled. Short hock nice neck, Big hip. ect. My intent, register her and see what she makes as a brood mare. O get t ride bad horses for money not for myself. I wont have one. This mare was a headcase I did not want to take aspirin for. But I knew she would give me a nice colt.
So I take the horse home and she is pushy and tried to run me over, That led to a round pen session for a couple of days. I put her up in the pen and she charges at my other mares coming up to say Howdy,I thought I can wait to turn you out with the herd. So. a day latter,,,, I get to giggling about it and I turn her out. She goes right up to the dominate mare and tries her. She got kicked bit and the shit knocked out of her. To my surprise the next day this dammed mare was the boss. I was pretty pissed about it but thats the herd for ya.My old mare just couldn't keep the fight going. So here I am with a pushy turd as the herd leader.( So things just crap in you fruit loops) I noticed a little bite mark on the new mares neck. Nothing deep. Nothing bad. I hit it with some swatt and went on.
I put the mare on the stud and let him do his thing and called the AQHA and sent the money off to get her Papers.( High way robbery)
About a week later one of the geldings put the mare in her place and all was well.I showed up to feed bright and early in the morning and I am missing a horse, It was the new mare. I called the Sheriff and filed a report. Feed saddled up and rode out on the Ranch for about two hours. No mare here. Police show up and I give them what they need and I call the brand inspector.
I get a hunch about the Lady who sold me the mare and call her. Turns out she had came out to the Ranch. Trespassed observed the bite mark on the mare and picked her up with calling me and telling me whats going on.
Needless to say, I was pretty pissed off about the deal. She explained she was not happy that the horse was in a herd setting and she had been injured. I lost it. I really did. I told her to keep the mare and send me my money back in the mail. She told me how sorry she was but said this horse was her Baby. To which I replied your Baby is going to hurt you.
Well she got a free standing on the mare. She got her Baby back . And last week she got a trip to the ER. How about that Baby now.
People who do not understand horses should not try to manage foals or have a horse for that matter at least a disrespectful green one. Nimrods like this do this crap to horses all the time. I have quit taking idiots who imprint they're colts. The are flighty, pushy little monsters. I takes twice the ground work and time. And I no longer have time for Bad horses,I am too Dam Old.
I have some very high end nice colts. They stay on the Pasture with the other horses getting lessons in the herd. Some of my colts are worth 20 k or more if I where to sell them. I have never had a colt that was out with the herd come back to me for training with a bad attitude, I never in print.They get to know me when I wean them in the fall they get to know me with the other colts there. Then it s out on the Pastures and I will see you when I am riding by working a green one. To the people who stall hand feed the colts and
call them Babies, Let your freaking horse learn to be a horse and go get some help with your emotional problems. The herd is vital to teach a colt manners.
Thanks,
Tom

Thanks,

Hi Larry.

Another good newsletter and I could not agree with you more. People who rush in and disturb a mare and a new foal within hours of birth are asking for trouble, it serves no purpose and it's really stressful for mom and baby. I like to start within a few days of birth, but only in very short segments. I personally hate breeders who send horses in for training that have never been handled. C'mon people, your foals should be good soldiers by the time they get sent to the trainer! That means standing quietly tied, lifting all four feet willingly, bathing, clipping and loading in a trailer. That's right, how are you going to get it to a trainer if you can't load it? Duh. However, the only thing worse than a wild foal is one that is, as you call it, a juvenlie delinquent.

You can, with some common sense and consistent work, teach a foal to be respectful yet trusting and cooperative with people, and all by the time it's a couple of months old. You have to learn the basics yourself however, and I find that a lot of well meaning but off the mark advice is circulating around, especially on the web. John O'Leary, an Aussie horseman, has great videos on halter breaking and desensitizing foals. You can find it on his web site Horseproblems.com. I am sure Larry's videos are awesome as well. There are always slightly different approaches, but the basics are going to be the same.