Help/Advice needed for an owner with her first foal!

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Char0901

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So here's the story so far...

My mare foaled on 28/05/13 and had a lovely colt. This is both mine and my mares first foal however she has turned out to be the fantastic mother we thought she would be.

They are both currently turned out, unfortunately circumstances mean that he has no other foal pals to play with for the next two weeks.

The 'problem' is that I am having trouble getting a head collar on him. We put one on him when he was about a week old with very little trouble when they were taken to be turned out (away from the farm) and for the next few days we put one on him with no issues what so ever. (During this time he was led with his mum around the field, he was a little excitable like a normal foal but soon settled and walked a long fine)
Unfortunately due to work commitments I couldn't keep up with doing this daily and now I feel we have gone back to square one.
He's quite a laid back chap and isn't scared. When we go to feed them he's in the buckets and noseying around the head collar on the floor, along with other things, bags etc.
He's a bit unsure when you go to touch his head and will back off or turn away. Touch wood, he has never kicked but he has turned his bum on us and you can see him tense slightly but if you tell him off he does relax and will either just stand there or walk away.

He does like having his bum scratched so I have started doing this and working my way up over his back, rubbing both sides of him. I have done this with his head collar and lead rope in my hand so it has touched him and I have also put it on his back and moved it slowly around his whithers and up his neck. I managed to do all this when he was stood next to his mum (thankfully she's very good and just stands there while we do our thing!) but after a while he seemed to get a bit bored and wondered off, but as soon as you're near his head he moves away and it takes a couple of minutes to do the whole process again (scratch bum, move up etc)
He has started to eat out of the bucket while I am holding it so his head is getting closer to me and I have started to touch his face a bit but he still takes a step back. A few seconds later he will put his head back in the bucket so he's not scared and it's not putting him off.
Also, I talk to him all the time and he really listens to me and seems to make a lot of difference compared to if I go to touch him without saying anything. He watches me all the time and is interest in me.

I understand that there is no rush, he's barely 2 months old I just want to make sure that I'm doing the right things. He's going to be my horse for his entire life, so really want to get the basics right for both of our sakes!

So. All in all, am I going about this the right way and/or does anyone have any tips/advice/experience they could give me?
 
Wait till he's asleep and put it on then. Or put him and his dam in the stable and have him kind of propped against mother with someone holding the dam and slightly to the front of the foal. You stand to the side and slip it on. You may have to hang on a bit until the foal stops moving and then quickly do the buckle up. I don't worry if it's on too loose to begin with as I just chatter away to them for a little while and then go back to the buckle and tighten it as required.

My foals are all haltered when they are born so they live in their halters all the time. When mine go to their foal inspections they will have been through at least another size halter so the little one needs to be changed. They are shown without their halters at their inspection and although they aren't used to the halters being taken off and put on, I've not had any of them not just stand there while I put their halters back on. Tbh we've never had a problem changing the halters on them as they are so used to me touching their halters and rubbing their bodies all over. Mine won't move when they are lying down and I'm fussing over them and I can easily change halters or loosen them or whatever.
 
Can I ask how you are putting the headcollar on him? They are usually easier if you put your arm (for argument's sake we'll say this is the right arm) over the top of their neck (almost at the withers if need be), and use the left hand to hold the headcollar under their neck then take hold of the long strap with your right hand on the right hand side of the foal, then slide the headcollar forwards with both hands and slip it over their nose. This way you can gently keep hold of them if they try to pull away too. If you are already using this method then I do apologise :)
 
Hi, I will definitely be using that technique, sounds like this would suit him and how he is. Not quite at this stage yet, however I can stand next to him with my arm over him scratching his shoulder etc so maybe we're not too far off! I think I might spend too long doing this because just as I feel ready to try doing that, he's got bored and wondered off! I'm stuck between rushing him and taking too long and boring the chap!
 
Hi, Spring Feather. Unfortunately we don't have access to a stable as they are away from the yard. We are taking him to futurity in ten days and will be back at the yard a few days prior to taking them so can try this technique then. When we go into their field my mare comes over straight away for a fuss so even if baby is lying down he'll get up and follow.
I think having him in a stable would be much easier and when they're there I don't think we'll have much of a problem at all, circumstances mean they can't go back to the yard yet though.
Just looking for a few tips to maybe use in the mean time, just to try and carry on and improve on what I've done so far :)
 
Ah see we have lazy foals here :D They don't bother getting up lol. The way DabDab has mentioned is the method to get halters on foals, sorry it didn't occur to me to mention that. It is far easier in a stable if the foal isn't quiet and well handled. I don't fart around with putting halters on, I rub them for a few seconds and then just put it on. Sometimes they pull back a little, or move forward a little but you can hold the buckle and the head strap and usually very quickly buckle it up, even if it's too loose initially. Then just have a quick scratch again and go in for the second fitting to get it right. If you can't do it in the field then maybe just wait till you're back at the yard and in the stable.
 
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