Teaching A Foal

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Cobland

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As many of you know i have 2 foals, Romi was born on the 17th May and Jacada on the 22nd June. I waited until Romi was a month old before teaching her things, however i was told i should start earlier. Im not a great believer in the imprint training.

Once she hit the big 1 month lol, i started getting her used to lifting her feet, tapping on them, being groomed with a soft brush, being handled and lead (there is still a tiny wee fight lol).

Anyone else know what else i should be teaching her at this stage? What age should they be taught the above?

Both are wearing foal slips and are very friendly, they will come to me when i go see them and allow me to fuss around them.

Ive never had a foal before, so im learning as i go along. My biggest fear with my horses is that i will go wrong.
 
i think your doin fine!!........i had a BOGOF and had to learn everythin on my own!! only other thing that you havent done yet but may be worth doin (i did!) is gettin foal used to havin rugs thrown over and progress to doin up dont do up first few times as foalies may not like the rugs and nothin worse than tryin to catch the little buggers when rug only partially done up!! and introducing to the scary monsters that are disgused as plastic bags!! i taught my foal all the stuff you have from 1 month on as didnt relish the prospect of tryin all that stuff on an older and stronger foal! and was bored at just lookin at her!!!
 
Yeah both of them get a wee rug on them when they are going out to the field, so they dont mind the rug. As for plastic bags, well romi is like her mum, she investigates them to see if its food!

Romi is so independant, she has to have her own wee dish of food and she is eating haylage. When in the field she munches happily on grass and drinks water from the buckets. When i was with them yesterday romi came to the gate to see me while her mum stood at the other end of the field eating!

Only time mum and daughter seem to be together is when romi wants a wee drink or to bully her mum!

Jacada is so different, she never leaves her mums side. Mia refuses to let another horse near her daughter, whereas romi is off seeing the other horses, she has done since she was about a week old!!!
 
coco was very hardfaced like romi!! she used to nip into field next to her to visit her auntie then pop back when she was thirsty!! she was eatin mums tea from 8 days old!! she was poppin next door from 1 months old! luckily bracken wasnt bothered!! my friends foal who was born a week before coco you couldnt get near her at all! didnt like other horses at all! they is strange creatures foals!!!!
 
That is the same as romi, was taking them to the field yesterday and my friend had left my other mare's hard feed outside the tack room door. Had walked mae down the lane and was about to open the gate when i looked behind and seen romi standing munching the feed!

Was it hard weaning coco? Im so nervous about this stage.

Was going to wait and wean Jacada and romi at the same time. What age did you wean her?
 
well she was eatin on her own early (from 8 days!!) had to give her small tea in bucket or bracken would not get to eat!! i then waited until she was 8 1/2 months before seperating them properly!she was only goin to bracken for a drink if she couldnt be bothered goin to water! she was put in with next youngest pony (he was 8!!) in sight of each other but they couldnt get to each other! coco screamed for all of 3 mins before decidin she had new friend to torment!! bracken was not even bothered!! kept them seperate for 3 or 4 weeks to let brackens milk dry up then they went back in with each other! think will be easier if you have two foals together as they tend to entertain each other rather than panic at bein on there own.coco had that much fun she and the pony decided to escape into farmers field and have smashin time runnin around all night gorgin themselves on the grass then conviently forgettin how they got out! was a bugger gettin them back into there field!!!
 
Thank you bracken, ex vet suggested weaning romi at 6 months old, but i wasnt happy with that so was thinking around 8 months old
 
Cobland, we are in same position ... have a 7 weeks foal by Caretino Glory, and rumour on the street was that his foals can be very sharp and mischievous if not handled early. As our chap is very big already (12hh at 7 weeks!) we also did not relish teaching basic lessons to a much bigger and stroppier youngster. So he's already learnt that he does NOT bite or chew humans, and we are not to be played with (he thought it was great fun to come up behind us and leap!!), and is learning to be led and to have his feet picked up. He's very friendly and curious, and so we are also teaching him that he needs to respect our body space - he comes to be fussed when we choose, and is learning that an upraised hand means that he stays back a little. All going well so far, and we are very thrilled that a foal who looked like he might develop into a bit of a thug at one point is now a lovely chap, learning fast. I wouldn't have realised before how important it is with warmbloods/sport horse foals that they do need to learn the basics of interacting with humans very early in life for our and their safety..... Hope that you are having as fascinating a time as we are!
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