Foal Skool for Mylo

[Ambers Echo]

So as Mylo is for keeps, I'd like a complete record of his training/progress from baby to, well, whatever he ends up being. Hopefully eventer. Maybe show-jumper. Ideally fab partner and well rounded citizen.

First 8 months was pretty hands off. Turned out 24/7 with Amber, apart from a lot of farriery, so he is used to being handled, having his feet done and wearing a head collar. Gelding was straightforward but weaning was a near disaster when he jumped a horrific corner over a river to scale a wall onto a road. (Eventing genes....?) but all calm since then and we are just doing basic flexions and leading and back up - so he is learning to yield to a whisper of pressure in the head collar, and to follow a feel. 4 sessions in and he has stopped just trying to chew to rope and play and has understood that the movements through the rope actually mean something. He tyelds readily laterally and vertically and backs up softly a step or 2. So he is ready for his first Joe Midgley lesson next week.

He is clever, brave, willing, curious, playful, calm. What's not to love? Being strikingly beautiful helps too! So Sox on the Beach - the road to wherever begins here. Can't wait to walk it with you.

 

[Jeni the dragon]

He's such a handsome wee guy! Really looking forward to following your progress!

 

[southerncomfort]

He really is very beautiful

Exciting journey ahead!

 

[myheartinahoofbeat]

What a beautiful boy and white socks. Does he live with other youngsters? Just asking as I have a 9 month old foal who is currently in youngstock livery and wondering if he can come home and live with my much older geldings?

 

[Ambers Echo]

Hi at the moment he is with an old boy - who is super sweet with him and who Mylo seems to adore - but I am moving him soon so he can be with youngsters to play with. The move was meant to happen earlier but the ground where we are going was too wet, but we can use it from April. Most advice seems to be that youngsters need other youngsters but I am not very experienced with breeding and I am sure there are exceptions to that sometimes.

 

[BigRedDog]

Hi at the moment he is with an old boy - who is super sweet with him and who Mylo seems to adore - but I am moving him soon so he can be with youngsters to play with. The move was meant to happen earlier but the ground where we are going was too wet, but we can use it from April. Most advice seems to be that youngsters need other youngsters but I am not very experienced with breeding and I am sure there are exceptions to that sometimes.

I bought a six month old Connemara pony, for the first few months she lived with my older ponies - mid-teens to mid-twenties. Having read that “youngsters need other youngsters to play with” I bought a two year old Welsh C to play with. I even bought him in a matching colour! They had no interest in each other. Connie loved my 28 year old gelding and at 6 months jumped a five bar gate to get back to him. Nine years later the Connie and Welshie still despise each other and mostly refuse to acknowledge the other exists!

 

[Ambers Echo]

Mylo meets Joe Midgley....!

Joe was happy with the lateral and vertical flexions we have worked on. Joe said these really simply skills are so easy to teach to babies, so useful for the rest of their lives, but so often absent from the skillset of older horses. And it then takes them AGES to learn to just be soft and follow a feel. Happy that he was fine with with that. Clever boy.

So next up - leading. He teaches this in a sequence - a reaching sideways step then 2 steps forward all just on a feel, not with pressure. Finishing with just a little shift or step back to stop horses pushing on you and to get them into the habit of shifting weight off the forehand after stopping as opposed to stopping and leaning forward.

If foal gets stuck then direct body language pressure towards hind end, and if no response, then swirl rope to get movement from behind, then ask the reach and forward steps again. So in the end it's reach, step, step, stop, shift weight back. Sometimes via reach, stuck, hind yield, reach, step, step, shuft weight back.

When he does the reach, step, step perfectly every time we can add in 3 steps, 4 steps etc.

No more than 1-2 sessions a week for 5-20 minutes, quitting as soon as he gives me what I ask for. If it takes longer than 20 minutes I asked for too much so take it back a step.

I am so looking forward to seeing him progress.

Reaching steps



Forward steps



Stepping hinds over if fronts get stuck



Shifting Back

 

[Hackback]

Poor Joe, he was here yesterday rejoicing in the fact that it was the first day he'd had to wear only a shirt. I've never even seen him in an Equidry!

Mylo is such a handsome chap and he looks a real sweetie too. Looking forward to watching his progress.

 

[Ambers Echo]

The rain here has just been utterly relentless! Urgh. Mylo looks so bedraggled.

 

[Nicnac]

Ah Joe has the same Burgundy Condom coat as me.

Will be really interesting to follow this AE.

 

[SEL]

The rain here has just been utterly relentless! Urgh. Mylo looks so bedraggled.

At least you can see his white socks - Babycob's have been shades of mud all winter.

How tall is Mylo now?

 

[Red-1]

Poor Joe, he was here yesterday rejoicing in the fact that it was the first day he'd had to wear only a shirt. I've never even seen him in an Equidry!

Mylo is such a handsome chap and he looks a real sweetie too. Looking forward to watching his progress.

He gets about a bit... He was here on Thursday, teaching New Boyfriend basic horse handling, from putting on a halter onwards. I too have never seen him wearing a tent!

What a fabulous start for Mylo.

 

[Ambers Echo]

At least you can see his white socks - Babycob's have been shades of mud all winter.

How tall is Mylo now?

I've not had a stick on him actually. So not sure. I'd be curious to know!

 

[Ambers Echo]

So Foal Skool still going well. He’s willing and learns fast. Still just installing the basics, now doing hind end yields wanting him to step through. He moved off intent - no need to touch him.

Yesterday he moved to his new home with his 1/2 brother Cass. (Same sire). And on Sunday his other half brother, Felix (same mare) is joining them.

Cass and Mylo are fab together. Mylo is Cass’ little shadow and Cass is playful, but gentle.

 

[DressageCob]

This is really interesting reading. This is my first time having baby horses and I've just led around the field (and in and out when needed), groomed and lifted up feet. I hadn't thought about asking for more sideways and backwards movements. I'm not sure I'd know where to start but maybe I will have to have a go!

 

[Ambers Echo]

2nd session with Joe. He did not really need a session, but Joe was working with Felix and Cass so said hi for 10 minutes and ran through all the yields and following a feel. Which are all fine. No need to drill him. That will do him till he's about 2! I'll just do a few minutes once a month or so and let him be a baby the rest of the time. PLus the usual trimming, worming, vaccs stuff. But he's pretty relaxed about all that anyway. He's so sweet. I just melt when I see him.

 

[Ambers Echo]

Joe is a genius! Poor Mylo stuck his nose in some nettles and had quite bad reaction to them. He then itched his nose on his legs till his muzzle, and chin were scabby. Called vet and we needed to put steroid cream on the area. But it was SOOOOO sore that he just found it really hard to tolerate. He also needs suncream on his nose. For a few days it was a case of 'needs must' and we just did it - sometimes even using a bit of sedation on vet advice. His nose cleared up very quickly but we still need to put suncream on. By this time he was hard to catch and quick to pull away. Nose was no longer sore but he had learned to fear hands near his muzzle and chin.

After a week, no matter how gentle, slow and patient I was, he was having none of it!

Enter Joe. To be honest I was not really sure what he could achieve. And in 10 minutes Mylo was alllowing him to stroke all over nose/muzzle/chin. His timing, his quietness, his feel, his clarity of communication are just extraordinary. Knowing EXACTLY where the boundary between 'this is ok' and 'I'm going to leave' was so that Mylo never tried to get away from him, and slowly expanded what he would tolerate.

In some ways showing how easy it was to reassure Mylo, and help him relax around being touched in an area he had learned to be fearful of, is as skillful as anything else he has done with my horses. To me it just showed what an extraordinary horseman he is. And then he showed me how to it too . Hurrah, I have my trusting happy foal back.

 

[splashgirl45]

This is so interesting AE , I bought a 15 month old filly and did everything myself , I had never owned a youngster and I did lots of sideways moving front legs and then hind legs , and she turned out to be very easy to handle all her life. In retrospect it’s nice to see that I did the right things even though I had no idea at the time