Foal distressed by fillet strap/string

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SharonBirt

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Hi I have a foal which is 8 months, that Ive just put a rug on, over the past few weeks ,as I would like to try and keep her condition on and keep her not too hairy as plan to show her in the Spring.
However, the Amigo rug that I have been using with the fillet strap is making her panic. She is fine with the rug, and quite happy till she has a run around then the strap knocks against her bottom and she gallops in fear, and ends up running through my electric tape! I have tried a fillet string, and this has had the same effect, and I am going to try a narrow piece of baler twine and see if this makes any difference. I am loathe to take it off as I think this may cause more problems if the rug blows up, but wonder if this is going to be something she will grow out of or get a hang up about! Any suggestions please. Would be good to hear if any one has had similar issues.
 
take it off and use leg straps for now. Do lots of work with her touching her all over and brushing all around her bum where the string would sit.. she might be ticklish?

Do you use a lunge line to make her lead/load? if so you may have frightened her and now she associates pressure there with pain or fear.

eta - when my boy was tiny I was always throwing rugs over him making sure all the straps rattled and things - hes quite bombproof to things like that now :)
 
If you really have to rug her, if she was mine I would keep her in until she was completely used to the rug and fillet strap touching her.
I know you said you wanted to keep her coat nice for the spring but as long as she has shelter I wouldn't rug her, foals can easily get in a pickle in rugs, much safer not to rug.
 
You are right to not remove it as it could cause problems if it blows up. Leg straps could be worse, I would spend more time getting her used to it while in a stable, maybe a piece of tail bandage or something similar that would stretch a little. Put the rug on while you are holding her and move it so that she can feel the strap, keep hold of it until she relaxes and hopefully she will get used to the feel of it over a few days.
 
I have done loads with her, since day one, and shes not ticklish at all, you can rub, tickle, brush her till the cows come home. Shes very very easy, but I did notice that when I saw her galloping with the rug on in complete panic that the strap was slapping her rump,making a noise in doing so, and she had tucked her bottom in, whilst galloping, so I knew that this was the problem and thought a fillet string may be better, but this is doubled up, so it may be still causing the same effect. I'm not sure by taking the rug off that its just going to delay a future issue, and the Amigo rug that Ive just bought her only has fillet string attachments.
 
Shes fine with it when shes in the stable, and even out in the field when shes not running around,it doesnt seem to bother her at all, its only when she starts to canter that the slap on the rump comes into play!
Have thought about taking it off, but dont you think that this is an issue we are going to have later?
 
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