foal behaviour

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leonaowen

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my 4 week old foal (colt)is well handled but seems to be very full of himself already! Typical behaviour from him is lifting his front feet up to try and strike out, kicking, biting etc, I realise I need to elimainate this behaviour but am unsure as to how, help! He even reared up striking my friend, who was helping train to lead, on the back of the neck.
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There's a brill book by Richard Maxwell called 'Training the Young Horse'. I bought it when I attended a BHS seminar given by him on exactly that and he was so impressive I had to buy his book. I've used it like a bible and my 7 week old foal is doing well. We're taking it very slowly and only just up to leading now.
 
Some colt foals do start off being little t*ts! I had one last year (not by my stallion) who would come at you with his teeth from a week old! He met my elbow (to the side of his face, just above the mouth) more times than I remember! He also wore the contents of a water bucket fairly frequently. He's now an 18 month old colt and pretty well-mannered, but I don't give him an inch!! He IS a potential stallion - being rather smart and rare bloodlines - so I can't afford to let him get above himself.

If it were not for his breeding potential, he'd have been gelded while still on the mare - but fortunately he's not 'nasty' - just mischievous.

I disagree with Springs - 4 weeks is NOT too soon for basic training (as in, don't bl**dy kick, bite, rear, barge or do anything else that annoys me!) With a colt that persistently rears, I tend to carry a 3 foot legth of polypipe and if he starts to go up, he gets a sharp smack across the top of the legs (above the knee) and a stern NO! They don't do it often after that! If that sounds harsh, tough, I'm afraid! My colts end up 16.2 - 17hh - and I don't fancy a hoof in the face!
 
We don't tolerate bad behaviour and if they persist in biting they get growled at and chased away.
One this year has been handy with his feet (back and front) so he has had a couple of smacks, he now realises such behaviour isn't on.
Watch how your mare will discipline her foal, she won't tolerate too much cheekiness and the foals are like kids, they need to understand boundaries.
It doesn't take much to teach them manners, just make sure you don't turn your back and always be aware what may happen, common sense really....
 
Training to lead on a lead rope at 4 weeks is a bit too soon for me.

Thanks for your replys, re above: we haven't been useing a lead rope, just a bit of getting head collar on and getting used to it, a 10 inch piece of soft cloth through the ring and a bit of following mum around the field, really simple stuff. The rearing thing is a bit disconserting though as he is already standing at 12 hands and those hoofs are no longer soft!! He should make 16 but I hope he stops at 15'2" his legs seem to be endless!! I will try and post some picks when I figure out how

Watch how your mare will discipline her foal,

Thanks henryhorn. This is her first foal and she doesn't seem to have any disciplinairian skills in her. She will allow him to rear and box her he double barrels her and she does nothing, does this mean its down to me? YIKES!!!!
 
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This is her first foal and she doesn't seem to have any disciplinairian skills in her. She will allow him to rear and box her he double barrels her and she does nothing, does this mean its down to me? YIKES!!!!

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Yep - unless you have other mares and foals you can turn them out with. I have one fantastic old mare who has always let her foals push her around. The first year I had a foal from her, it was the only mare with foal I had. That filly is now 6 and is the biggest b*tch on the place with other horses - although she is fine with people due to a LOT of discipline.

Every foal that mare has had since (6 of them) has been fine - as the other mares administer a bit of discipline of their own.
 
Really agree with JG - we have a very, very cheeky colt foal who seems not to have a nerve in his body, and whose mum is VERY indulgent with him, in spite of the fact that he's her second one ..... He's especially nifty with his teeth, and has had a good few sharp smacks and been chased around the yard, and does seem (most of the time) to be getting the idea at last. The assistant farm manager has renamed him Gnasher!!
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In his case, he completely refused to go through the usual introduction to leading (figure of eight soft cloth around hindquarters) and led happily from the headcollar immediately. But he has to be in front of his mum, otherwise he throws tantrums!!! He would definitely be getting the snip if we were keeping him, as he seems to have more testosterone at 8 weeks old than all our older colts put together!!!
 
Interesting thread.

My foal is 2 weeks old tomorrow and although she isn't doing anything untoward yet I do wonder what I should do if she starts to kick & nip. If they kick do you smack them behind or will that scare them, if they nip - same thing or is a raised/stern voice better action?

This is my first foal & have never been around foals before but it is interesting to sit & observe them in the field to watch what mum does in certain situations.

My foal is very, very friendly and will come up to you and say hello but then immediately turns her bum on you, straight away you think she's gonna kick but all she wants is a bum scratch which she seems to really enjoy. Should this be discouraged?

She will let me wash her bum as it's sometimes quite yukky and I think it can't be comfortable and she'll let me run my hands down her legs already, it's just this turning the bum on you as soon she comes over.

Sorry to hijack your thread Beaunarrow.
 
We get ours used to being handled as soon as they will let us, we run our hands down their legs and basically everywhere, we leave picking feet up until they are a few weeks old as their balance isn't great. Biting/rearing etc is not on and we let them know for certain if they do it it is a bad thing! If they bite - even when exploring your hands/clothing etc - if they use too much pressure we either pinch their lip and say no or pull whiskers - they soon learn that one and we have never had one bite again - we handle their mouths regularly so worming isn't a problem.
Rearing - either give them a good smack - same as mum should do and shout NO to give them a good scare - even if it means they won't come up to you for a day or 2 - they learn respect pretty quickly that way - even just shouting and moving quickly towards them to make them back up works fine too - anything to stop them straight away in their tracks will do. Scaring them may sound mean but you only need to do it once or twice and they never do it again!
As for bum scratching - do it on your terms not theirs - reversing up to you and sticking their bum in your face isn't great when you have a 16.2Hh horse - if they reverse up to you give them a smack on the butt and say NO should make them move pretty quickly away from you, give them a few minutes to think about it then purposely walk up to them and give them a scratch - they will soon learn.
We don't halter ours until weaning - down to personal preference more than anything but we do just get them used to having a headcollar around their face while they are diddy - we let them play with it and see it is not scary at all. If you are showing or on a yard then you will need to halter earlier - just don't leave a headcollar on a foal of any age and keep training down to about a minute or 2 - they can't concentrate after that!!!
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