Taming a feral one

[Ahrena]

So I did, in hindsight, a silly thing. I bought a weanling to be friends with my homebred. He was unhandled but I naively assumed this would be like the foals my colt was out with this summer - wary but very curious and would come sniff you and if you spent long enough you could give scratchies.

Yeah this foal isn’t like that. I can inch to about a foot away when he’s eating. I once touched his shoulder and he spooked and span away. We have gotten to the point where he will take some bites of hay from me and I can extend a finger at the same time and touch his nose. He isn’t reacting as violently to that anymore but he will take his bite of hay then back up.

We were at the stage of me holding a feed bowl and him eating from it (taking a bite then backing up then coming back) and he would eat some feed off my hands. Unfortunately this has regressed a little as I had to worm him with 5 day panacur so he’s a bit suspicious of feed right now but he’s a cob so I’m hopeful he’ll get over it in a few days. My homebred is the complete opposite, very in your face and loves people so hopefully a good influence.

The crux of it is I just have a field. No facilities whatsoever. A field and electric fencing (thankfully the babies are very good with it to the point where I weaned my homebred over the fence and am now taking the mare away to ride).

I am in the process of moving house to a place with my own land and stables which will hopefully complete around March time.

I am debating between 2 courses of action.

1. Continue as I am with very very gradual desensitisation although I don’t really feel I’m making any progress whatsoever. Then hire herras fencing to herd him into the lorry and put him in a stable where we can get hands on. However I’m mindful that in 4 months he will be bigger, stronger and he could really do with his feet trimming.

1. I get herras fencing to make a coral and back him into a corner and get a headcollar with a drag rope on him. However I’m concerned if he backs into the herras fencing, it won’t be strong enough and it could end up as a complete disaster. I don’t feel happy with the idea of leaving him in a small pen of herras fencing for any length of time for the same reason plus it will become a muddy mess.

3….:any other ideas?


I am not willing to invest a lot of money into this i.e a field shelter due to the move. Also not willing to move them - I ended up renting this field precisely because I was having a complete nightmare finding a suitable place for them.

I’m not entirely stupid, I do have experience with foals but this is my first time with one so feral and no facilities.

 

[Barton Bounty]

I would just continue as you are, its a trust thing. He will come round , just need to stick at it ?

 

[JackFrost]

How old is he? Will there be any pressing need to geld him?

In my experience doing them in just a big field, you need to back off and take whatever time it needs. Stop trying to touch him, ignore him, make him want to come to you, out of curiosity or because you have the food! He will get over the panacur episode.
Try some apples/carrots, something that isn't his usual feed, but he must come to you. Try throwing apples/ carrots on the ground so he follows after you.
I suspect you are still acting in a way that to him is slightly predatory. With a nervous feral less is more. you really need to act as if you don't care. Kelly Marks did a good book Handling the Untouched Horse. I have an old copy and can post to you if you like.

 

[Goldenstar]

I would just continue as you are until you move .
The Kelly Marks books above is well worth a read .

 

[maya2008]

We did what you're doing for 9 months with an older (but small, 11.2hh) feral. Got to the point where you could stand with her as she was eating and ever so gently slide a completely undone head collar down her neck and onto her head. Then ever so gently do it up. Eventually, could do that with lead rope attached and therefore catch her. Needed a big bowl of food though. At that point I sent her away to wean her foal, to a yard that had stables and were willing to do the handling for me. Like you, none of my fences are solid, and I have no stables that are sturdy enough to do handling in (or that even have full height partitions..!). She does still hate unfamiliar humans though, so possibly had more to overcome than yours.

 

[paddy555]

I've tamed several feral ponies straight off the common. I think as you are finding out doing nothing and hoping he will learn to come to you does not work. Although a cob I presume he has come from living feral so I can't see much difference.
It is relatively quick to tame them but you do need facilities. Temporary fencing etc isn't enough. You really need a stable.

I would just continue as you are until you move and then as soon as you have a stable you can really get down to work.
One part of easily training them involves them eating out of a bucket, not a bowl but a deep bucket.

If you can get your lad to really want to do this over the winter it will be a good start. Just put the bucket down and walk away. We just want him to come to a bucket happily.

In the meantime try and get hold of Sarah Westons book.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/No-Fear-Force-Handling-Semi-feral/dp/1870192893

it says it is out of stock on Amazon but I think SW has a facebook page so you should be able to get hold of one, even S/H.

 

[Ahrena]

Thank you all.
Completely agree we need facilities, I didn’t realise how feral he was! But it is what it is for now.

He’s just under 6 months so no pressing need to geld. We’ll be moved before he gets capable of being too interested in my mare (my homebred is a colt too) and then I have post and rail fencing and a stable to put him in.

I’ve started grating carrot in his feed as I figured that’d be a decent bribing tool but he won’t eat it at the moment ?

most of the time I just ignore him whilst I do the jobs/play with the homebred. It’s just when he’s eating i hassle him a little more as I figured at least getting a bit more in his space would be a start. All crouching down/not head on/no eye contact etc.

I will defo get those books. Thank you!

the only thing I have any sense of urgency about is his feet, they’ve never been touched and I’m worried about them being left another 6 months or so.

 

[Dexter]

Sarah Westons book is better than the Kelly Marks one. Get that and follow it.

 

[Michen]

All I'm saying to this is LOL xx

 

[paddy555]

the feet are a difficult one. I agree they should be d/w however if you do this roughly it will stay with him for a very long time. ATM it will be physically overun him by force. That will stay with him forever. Cobs are sensitive souls.

SW's method is quick. I was not getting anywhere with a 3 yo feral colt who had been very badly knocked around. We pussyfooted about for about 9 months usually at opposite ends of the stable then I got help in to teach me. She had his first headcollar on and I was leading him around the stable in 2 hours. I started foot trimming the following week for t he first time thinking we could just start touching them. I had 4 feet trimmed in just over an hour that day. His theory appeared to be that nothing had ever upset him over his feet so why wouldn't he co-operate. So if you can hang on till March with his feet you may get there very quickly once you get the training started.

 

[Gloi]

I always get them unloaded straight into a stable and do all the work in there. They stay there until I can get a headcollars on and off, lead them round the stable and touch them without them being scared. It rarely takes long with a baby.

 

[soloequestrian]

Is there anything wrong with his feet? My baby wasn't feral but I didn't need to do anything to her feet when she was very young - I just let them be. I did agonise over it - she had one that was upright to the point of worry, but I did nothing other than give her a good diet with carefully calculated mineral levels and the foot became much more normal over a period of six months or so. She was just on in a grass field, no hard surfaces. I think the feet grow to match wear.

 

[Ahrena]

Nothing wrong with his feet and I def don’t want to scare the living daylights out of him to get them done as then we just have a bigger problem 6 weeks down the line. They’re a little long but nothing particularly concerning - I’ve just religiously had horses done every 6 weeks and it pains me that I can’t do them ?

thank you. I will get that book, do some reading and try not to stress over it for now.

 

[Ahrena]

I bet he becomes the best horse I’ve ever had ??

this was meant to quote at you @Michen hahaah

 

[Patterdale]

Ignore him until March, keep feeding him and being kind but don’t try to ‘tame’ him in an open field as you’re set up to fail.
In March, get him in a stable with another kind one and keep him in until he’s well handled. You’ll probably have to trap him to get the headcollar on but it will be much nicer for him in the long run.

 

[Snow Falcon]

Having just helped wean and halter train 16 foals, I can tell you that without the use of facilities you're more than likely not going to succeed.

He can easily move away from the pressure which he doesn't feel comfortable with at present. He needs to gain your trust that it's ok. Leave him until you have the necessary stable etc.

Foot growth slows in the dark months so I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[AdorableAlice]

Having been there and got the T shirt with the infamous Ted The Twit. Based on what I learnt on my journey, I would leave him until you have facilities unless his feet are awful and putting strain on the structures above. The only worry I would have in leaving him is if he is ill or injured during the winter. You are between a rock and a hard place really with no facilities.

You need a stable, a chair and lot of patience to allow the feral baby to get curious and come to you. I made a few mistakes which did come back to bite me at times. The one thing I learnt and would pass on is - Don't set yourself up to fail.

 

[Ahrena]

Thank you all, much appreciated to set my mind at ease.

March it is and in the meantime I’ll just keep feeding and ‘being there’. At least it starts building up a positive association. If anything dire happens and he needs medical attention, we will find a way - I can access a stable somewhere in an emergency.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but we are where we are now!

 

[ihatework]

I’d continue as you are and deal with it in March.

If you can get him to eat acp tablets in a feed it might be worth setting aside some time to try and get a head collar on him.

Before you do that I’d get them used to being fed in an electric coralled area.

 

[Flyermc]

A post about a foal without a photo?

 

[Caol Ila]

Yeah, I ballsed that up. My mare was unhandled but used to people cuddling her, so she wasn't totally feral. But her feet had never been handled. They were also in a state because she was 2.5 when I bought her and had never had a trim in her life. Great. I rushed her into it because she was starting to get that curled slipper foot.

In hindsight, I should have used a lot more Domosedan. She is four now and horizontally laid back about most things. Except for getting her feet trimmed. That remains a bit of a faff. She sees a guy coming at her with a rasp and says, "Oh, sh1t!!"

With a weanling, I'd leave it for now. Once you get him halter broken, see how it goes with handling his feet. If he's super anxious about it but the feet are desperate, I recommend drugs and then taking time with getting him more confident with it.

 

[Ali27]

I got my (more or less unhandled - living out in big herd) youngster in July. She was 2 years and 2 months old, her hooves were awful and obviously had never been done. It took me a couple of months to get her to lift hooves up but with help of a mini horslyx she was fine for farrier. I kept her field safe headcollar on for about a month. Luckily I have stables so that was a massive help.
Definitely don’t stress about the hooves as they will wait! Mine is very food orientated although didn’t have a clue with apples/ carrots etc at first. The horselyx is definitely my biggest bribe with her ? March will soon come round and hopefully he will start to respond to food?

 

[Michen]

I bet he becomes the best horse I’ve ever had ??

this was meant to quote at you @Michen hahaah

If I see you going around this coloured cob at badders (5* not the poxy grassroot stuff you did a while ago) I'll bow down at ya feet

PS do you remember when we bought a welsh cob from the field that couldn't be caught? That also turned out realllllly well..

Hehe. I'm sure he will be grand soon though especially with Pesto's influence.

 

[Ahrena]

It won’t let me post photos, it keeps saying they’re too big.
also frankly he looks a bit like goat.

He did show some curiosity yesterday and picked up and ran off with the empty haynet I carried hay into the field with yesterday.


Hahahahahaah re Badminton. He does have a surprisingly fancy trot though so maybe he’ll win at HOYS ??

 

[Ahrena]

Nope photo doesn’t want to play!

 

[Rumtytum]

Nope photo doesn’t want to play!

Take a screen shot, crop the outside and it should let you upload ?