How to teach Henna to be led?

B

Beatrice5

Well-Known Member
Joined
20 November 2009
Messages
1,276
Location
Somerset
Visit site
Well my little lady is 9 weeks old and an absolute gem. She even let me spray skin so soft on her tail and mane tonight in an attempt to ward off midges ( Willow and Trixie told me to bogoff when they heard the spay LOL )

She wears her foal slip easy as pie and happily will walk around with it on but I don't leave it on we just practise the putting it on and off lark. She follows me beautifully around the field when not wearing anything ( Her not me...! )

BUT when I put her foal slip with a lead rein on she just sticks to the spot. When she felt me gently try to encourage her to step forwards she had a hissy fit and went up and bounced around but for all of a few seconds and I went with her to avoid scaring her and talked to her and calmed her down. So then we are back to stuck on one spot - HELP

I want to bring them back accross the road to our house next week and really don't want her loose down the road as we have to go around a bend and it scares the pants off me a car hitting her. So I need to crack this.

Also I am on my own and don't have somone to lead my mare for Henna to follow so a bit stuck really suggestions please.

Many thanks
 
I had 2 mares foal last year and most of the time i had to handle them alone and get them in and out of the stable and through 2 gates in to their paddock. This is how i managed, started around three days old, as they would run off places they were not supposed to be. I had the lead rope off the mare in front of the foal so it also acted as an extra brake if foalie ran forward. Foal in a foal slip and lead rope as normal walk on if foal stopped i used my arm around the bum to push on. As mares knew where they were going they would keep moving and this helped foals move forward also. Also if you find they plant i had a long lead rope looped round from chest round bum and back to hand and i would give this a tug too.They had a few fits and threw themselves on the floor when they felt pressure from the slip but they soon got the message and i had no trouble at all.
 
This suprise grandma lark is keeping you on your toes. I can't help on the teaching to lead but is there not a keen friend near by to help through some of these early weeks just an extra pair of hands especailly when you want to cross the road. keep the questions coming as I hope i get some tips for when mine comes.
 
I attach the lead rope and use one hand to put pressure on them to move forward and the other hand under their tail above the hocks to 'push' them into the pressure of the foal slip.

Much easier on a younger foal but still can be done on your own with an older one (I had an un handdled 5 month old and it worked on him)

Also don't try walking in a straight line as they can and will plant firmly and you will not budge them! Try moving in 'side steps' and as you bring their head round they have to move their feet, then lots and lots of praise when they do what you need!!

Good Luck and with lots of short lessons you will get there. x
 
Beatrice5,

I would suggest that at 9 weeks, your foal will be too strong to man handle. It seems to me, that at the moment, everything which you do to her, is under her terms. She "allows" you to handle her, by the sound of it. This is the stage where you need to be very careful. If she plants herself, and she's in a field, with her mother, then if you try to turn her head, then she will probably react, and you will probably loose her. There will be no harm done, except that she will learn how to get away from you. Once they learn this, then you really will have your work cut out.

Foals have to learn discipline, and the middle of a field isn't the place to teach it!

Better, I would suggest to allow the foal to follow its mother home, and then when you have them them both in a stable, you will have a degree of control. Let us know how you get on.

Alec.
 
Alec,

I should have added to my post that initially this is all done in the stable! and I also use a long lead rope and gloves. It's much easier with a younger foal but by no means impossible with a bigger one. Once you can get her to move to pressure on the headcollar you have a lot more control but NEVER get into a fight even with a small foal - you will not win - better to use the side/head movements until you have control that stand and lose at a straight 'tug'.

Lots of short lessons and stop on a good note each time.
 
Holly831 said:
Once you can get her to move to pressure on the headcollar you have a lot more control
Click to expand...

NO! Never use pressure on the headcollar to get a foal to move!

Instead - start as you want to continue and get foal moving forward from BEHIND - using JG's very expensive, patented invention, the BUM ROPE! :D

When you want foalie to walk on, TELL it to walk and pull on the bum rope - with NO pressure on the foal slip! If it goes too fast, then check it with your voice and the foal slip!

I have used the bum rope on dozens of foals - including quite large ones who arrive here with their Mums having had NO handling - it works! And makes leading far safer and FAR less like hard work!

With many of these unhandled foals - any pressure on the foal slip would have them up and over!

bum-rope-1.jpg
 
JanetGeorge said:
NO! Never use pressure on the headcollar to get a foal to move!

Instead - start as you want to continue and get foal moving forward from BEHIND - using JG's very expensive, patented invention, the BUM ROPE! :D

When you want foalie to walk on, TELL it to walk and pull on the bum rope - with NO pressure on the foal slip! If it goes too fast, then check it with your voice and the foal slip!

I have used the bum rope on dozens of foals - including quite large ones who arrive here with their Mums having had NO handling - it works! And makes leading far safer and FAR less like hard work!

With many of these unhandled foals - any pressure on the foal slip would have them up and over!

bum-rope-1.jpg
Click to expand...


I used this on my dottie baby to teach her to lead when she was 5 months old and it was a godsend, got it cracked in a matter of days and could lead my other horse at the same time as having the bum rope on!!
 
Agree with Janet completely but the one thing nobody else has said is please, never fix a rope to a headcollar/foal slip of a foal, always have a good length of rope or web which has no buckles, hooks, loops, nothing so that if disaster strikes and you lose the foal, the rope will eventually drop through and no harm done but if you use a rope that is fixed to the headcollar, then you run the risk of it getting either caught up in something or worse still, a broken leg/neck by tripping or wrapping it around a leg. Better a loose foal than that IMO. Once they are leading very well with no tantrums at all is the time you can change back to a fixed rope.
 
I use the same method as JG and it works perfectly as teaches the foals that pressue...in whichever direction....means they must walk into it! Therefore the rope round the bum puts pressure forward teaching them to walk on.
 
Have never seen this before but what a simple but great idea! I use my arm under the tails to move them forward normaly and this would make it so much easier...will try today!!

When I apply side pressure to the foal slip its not a 'tug' or a 'pull' just gentle sideways pressure to make the foal move their head round. It has always worked for me and has never alarmed any of mine.

I like to have the foals 'leading' around their box confidently before I would use just a headcollar and lead rope in the outside world.

Thanks for the fantastic tip - I can't believe I have never seen it done before :D
 
Thanks for the bum rope tip, can't wait to try it on our little one (if he or she ever puts in an appearance!:)) we had terrible trouble with last years foal getting her to lead, although we got there in the end.
 
I've got an slight improvement to the bum rope & it works an absolute treat... It's the handbag!!!

I don't have a pic, unfortunately, but basically I make a figure of 8 with a lunge line - round the bum, over the back, in front of the shoulders, back up over the back. Then I hold it all together over the back, just behind the whithers with my right hand - like a handbag.

I can then gently move the foal backwards, forwards and sideways by putting pressure in turn on the chest, backside and also shoulders/hips. With the left hand, I hold a rope threaded through (but not attached to, just in case) the headcollar and start with a small tug on the headcollar at the very same time as I pull the foal gently forward with the handbag - the improvement on JG's bum rope is that if the foal rushes forward, you can then restrain the movement back a bit (whilst pulling back slightly on the headcollar, as an association of ideas) and as you go along, just adjust how much movement forward you get with minimum fuss and absolutely no fights or yanking on headcollars!

Using the handbag still, you can then move on to turning away from you, by pushing shoulder out and hip in, in turn. I also use it to teach foals to load. It gives you plenty of control, even with a bigger foal and sets them up lovely for lateral work later on! :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top