Imprinting foals - opinions

I bought the book and read it in part years ago. It's interesting and it seems to make sense. I never got to put it in practice as neither of our mares took :(

I have some reservations namely about making the foal too tolerating and maybe 'fearless and bolshy' in the process. Only a thought - I could be completely wrong. I have friends with 'hand reared' foals and they are absolute nightmares and quite disrespectful and both have been very hard to train, diue to their inherent lack of respect of a human, so I don't know if imprint training could cause this too.
 
We did a bit about imprinting at uni, the uni had previously imprinted foals and found when they grew up that they were, as YasandCrystal suggested, bolshy and lacking in respect for people, but very easy to clip!!

I thought about imprinitng my first foal, but decided against. I was there when she was born and did touch her all over but didn't do any of the other imprinting type thingies. I also made an effort to touch her all over and brush/itch her everyday. Foal is now a yearling and even though has been relively unhandled since weaning will still let you touch her all over etc & has forgotten none of her early lessons.

I know the handling I did with Hazel was just good sense and what most people do, but personally I would not do any more eg imprinitng proper, as for me the less invasive handling I did has been enough for me.

Also she is not at all bolshy & is very respectful, friendly little horse.

Now if foal two would just make an apperance.....:rolleyes:
 
I agree with Elleskywalker, I do that much and no more. Did do the handling of the feet with first foal and she was always a dream until farrier and she had a fall out with her first trim and took years to get anywhere like the level of foot handle ability again.
Horses know we are not horses and there are better ways to train when they will absorb it better later on I think. Not heard of anyone imprinting for ages now, it was all the rage for a bit.
 
I handle most of my youngsters quite a bit in the first half hour or so - assuming mother isn't a stressy type which most of mine aren't! The first hour IS the vital time for building confidence in a foal - before the fear/flight instinct kicks in. But I think that the imprinting methods advocated by Dr Miller are extreme and totally unnecessary! And could actually be dangerous!
 
I have had experience of 'imprinted' Thoroughbreds in racing and they were a total pain in the bum. Having read a bit about the subject I was horrified to read that they advocate sticking you fingers inside their anus etc. We have no problems with our TB's as we tend to be there for the birth and all are well handled from the moment they come out.
 
Eothain said:
Handling foals? Of course, it makes perfect sense. Rub them down and encourage to not run like stink away from you.

Imprinting? Bull**** idea
Click to expand...

:D

Thankyou everyone, as I said, I was merely curious to hear opinions.

It appears to be the 'fashion' here, the owners of last weeks foal (first and only time breeders) have the book and were determined to do all the stuff.

I can't tell you how thankful I was that the mare dropped the foal with no warning (so I didn't have to call owners in the middle of the night as I had promised) and I didn't find them until the morning when it was up, dry and drinking.

Actually, now they are doing just fine with their baby, no fingers in places that don't need fingers.
 
As others have said ^^^^^^^ All we do is rub dry with a towel, spray navel, make sure foal doesn't bump or fall into walls, assist if needed at the milk bar and on the rare occasion give an enema.

There have been several studies on the subject and it has been proven that foal imprinting does make for a bolshy individual with a lack of respect for humans, so I wouldn't ever dream of doing it. As for sticking your fingers in places they shouldn't be, what the heck is that all about!!!!!!!!
 
Only person allowed to put fingers where the sun don't shine on my horses is the vet !

Only bred one foal, there when it was born, had to break the membrane. Vet did a check of mare and foal. Foal on milk bar within the hour and had an awful lot of visitors who stayed outside the field shelter.

Mare turned out the next day and took baby off for 3 days, putting herself between me and the foal. I was worried about not being able to touch the foal, but after excellent guidance from the stallion owner, Mrs Jennings (Avanti Stud) who told me not panic and assured me the mare would bring her baby back to me and I must allow the mare time to bond properly.

Sure enough on day four I was able to gently touch the foal and get a foal slip on with the help of a very experienced stud groom who showed me how to handle the foal properly. It was a big learning curve for me, had horses for decades but never a newborn.

A year on I have a nicely mannered filly who did not get stressed at weaning, can be groomed all over, leads very well and is brilliant with the farrier even picking her feet up as he bends down on each corner.

Looking back over the past year I have not actually done much 'training' with the foal, she wintered out and was checked twice a day. I just ensured when I handled her there were no grey areas, I told her what she would do and I expected her to behave, no titbits, no fluffy bunny moments, no bad manners accepted. I really can't see the point of cramming in these basic requirements into a new born foal, and I am relieved my foal is not pushy or bolshy as she is built the a brick xxxouthouse.
 
I am very interested in training and animal behaviour and actually had a brief correspondence with Dr Miller. I'm sure that imprinting DONE PROPERLY is a wonderful thing BUT, personally, I don't have the time or money to experiment and learn from my mistakes.

I had one experience with a very weak foal that had to be lifted up to the udder to try to get her to drink for the first day, then topped up from the bottle every few hours. That was quite an experience as I live and work alone. Fortunately, the mother (Highland pony) was superb and after the first day I was milking her out without even tieing her up! The foal was another matter and I had to guide her head to the udder with my hands while propping her backside up with my knee until she got the message! I am sure that if I hadn't done that, she'd have died as I have lambed a lot of ewes.

After that, you'd expect the foal to be super socialised. In fact, she wasn't. She turned out head shy and I had to do a lot of work on that and getting her to lead. She was eventually OK but then, at 12 months, had an accident and had to be PTS. Such is life.

I also have some experience of imprinting other species and it is by no means straight forward. I've several bought in mares and, thankfully, they are all foal proud and won't let me near their foals, they just move off. I prefer not to cause them to do this as I'm convinced the foal learns from it. "Don't go near that nasty man, he'll eat you!". Better mum didn't have the opportunity to say such things and I remain an unknown quantity until they know better.

Maybe it is a thing with Highlands but I wouldn't bother with imprinting now and just start training after weaning. I think it is much more important not to subject youngsters to any stress and let things proceed quietly and at a pace they can accept.
 
higlands are a law unto themselves (they usually a bit slow on the uptake to begin with lol)

i looked into imprinting- thats where it ended :D

i decided that whatever will be will be. i had to help foaly as mummy wouldnt let nim near the milk bar until sedated (maiden-fabby now). so wee guy was handled quite will im the first 2 hours, touched all over etc. jammies on (doggy blanket held on with a bandage) so pretty much handled in my opinion, 20-30 visitors!!! all had cuddle etc, now he gets out for wee while each day and i cant get near him lol x

each to his own :D
 
alfiesmum said:
higlands are a law unto themselves (they usually a bit slow on the uptake to begin with lol)

i looked into imprinting- thats where it ended :D

i decided that whatever will be will be. i had to help foaly as mummy wouldnt let nim near the milk bar until sedated (maiden-fabby now). so wee guy was handled quite will im the first 2 hours, touched all over etc. jammies on (doggy blanket held on with a bandage) so pretty much handled in my opinion, 20-30 visitors!!! all had cuddle etc, now he gets out for wee while each day and i cant get near him lol x

each to his own :D
Click to expand...

A Highland? Try FOOD!:D

As soon as they start to take hard feed after weaning, the battle is almost won so no need for imprinting and I wouldn't bother much before that unless they come up out of curiosity. Anything they fear (head collar, your hand, etc) they have to share the feed bucket with!;) There's no such thing as a free lunch in my yard.

The only problem I've had is getting the head collar on after weaning. I've tried softly-softly but finally gave that up and, with the foal inside, now wait for a calm moment and slip a noose (non-slip knot) over the foal's head with a long stick. This gently prevents the foal from moving off. If it does, I just let the rope go and the noose slips off. With gentle restraint I can usually get up and put the collar on -- if I can't, it's too early. How am I doing?
 
Last edited:
lmao at Dryrot :)
i pictured the scene in my head lol

should point out that my little man is only 50% highland :D

you can see pics of him on my thread "foal pics as promised" xx
 
My first pony (got her when she was 18 months) had a foal when she seven years old, and because we had her from such a young age and i was with her and the foal (patch) all the time and he imprinted on me with out me trying. He was easy to train, followed me everywhere, did everything i told him to do, BUT when any one else tried to ride him with out me leading him or do anything with him with out me being there, he was bulshy, obnoxious, walked all over them, bit them and didn't listen when they told him off, which i taught he would never do because he was a angel for me :S so, i think it works, but is only good if you are going to be the only one doing things with that horse, or it makes them so un-manageable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top