teaching weanling to lead and eat!

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Good morning all!

well long awaited arrival of my weanling happened on Friday (yay!)

hes an appy welsh cross and six months old and a real sweety. Been well looked after but not particularly well handled. In a short time (well three days) he is now catchable, can be groomed and picks his feet up so progress is good. But.........

I had planned to clicker train him but he doesn't eat hard feed at all, the breeder tried but no luck either he eats hay fine though. I want him to be eating baileys stud balancer and then use grass nuts or similar for clicker. Ive tried a little sugar beet in it, grated carrot any suggestions?

Also he doesn't lead, at all! I would normally teach this with the clicker and use food to tempt forward but obviously this doesn't work in this case. He slams brakes on and isn't moving for anyone, ideally id have someone behind him to encourage forward but im doing this single handed unfortunately. Any suggestions?


Never had one that wouldn't eat or wouldn't lead previous foals/youngsters have been greedy monsters! and forward to lead with brakes and steering being the issue!

a cup of strong costa coffee for any help/advice : )
 
He'll probably start to eat hard feed in time. I wouldn't have thought there was any great rush.
Is it the bucket he doesn't like? You could try food on the floor?

And as for leading I'd start him following/going alongside another horse.
 
thank you, no big rush on feed hes in great condition and eating everything else I think I just like to worry! will try food on the floor thanks

the following another horse thing is good but again difficult single handedly! I think im going to have to get some help!
 
JanetGeorge has a pic of someone leading a foal with a rope around its bum. Could you not try that? I had a pony who was awful to load and I was always on my own, I arranged a lunge line so I could haul her bum with one hand and her head with the other.
 
Take a schooling/piaffe whip so you can just flick his bum when you tell him 'walk on.' Then tell him he's good when he goes but don't stop to do it. Keep him going forward and give him another flick with the 'walk on' command if he slows.
He won't associate you with the flick and it won't hurt him.

Go in straight lines rather than round the school, so down the drive or something. Keep sessions short, like 5 mins at first, and always end on a good note.
And have him on a long line.


ETA foals are often led with a rope (or someone's jumper!) behind their bum but a 6 month old should really be learning to lead properly :)
 
We get our foals to eat hard feed by having them inside (so we control the food!) and feeding chopped hay out of a bowl, then just start sprinkling a little hard feed onto the hay. That, of course, assumes they will eat hay which most do. We do grated carrot the same way as sliced carrot it a cheap and easy reward so it is handy if they are hooked on that from an early age.

You can teach a foal to lead using pressure-and-release with a standard head collar. Just remember that this is not a tug o'war but a matter of applying SLIGHT discomfort and explaining to the foal how to remove that discomfort.

So, assuming your foals are like ours and are not fluent in English, how do you do that? Apply gentle pressure on the head collar and maintain consistent pressure regardless of which way the foal moves it's head. One finger on the collar is all you need. Too much pressure and the foal will panic so less really is more here. BUT if it moves the slightest bit in the desired direction, immediately release the pressure and give a scratch as a reward. Even shifting body weight in the correct direction earns a release and a scratch. Done correctly, with split second timing, a foal that has not already learnt bad habits through mishandling should be leading in five minutes flat.

Mine are Highlands so maybe easier than others so your mileage may vary!
 
For leading, I start with my arms around the foal from the side, and at the same time as applying slight pressure to the headcollar, give a push on its backside so it moves forward, always saying 'walk on' as you ask. This way they get a release of pressure from front and behind, and learn to associate the words with the action of walking. As they get better, you use the hand on the backside less until you are only on the headcollar. Next step is to use a crop in your left hand while leading with the right. If the foal stops or goes backwards, LITERALLY touch/tickle its backlegs with the crop - like an arm extension. That is normally enough to distract it from stopping/going backwards and get it going forwards again.

Regarding feed, just leave some in the stable overnight, eventually it is likely to get curious and try some. Alternately, does he turn out with a companion? Could you feed them together when turned out so he can watch and copy, learning that it's not scary.
 
When we got my sister's tb, although well socialised he hadn't had a head collar on or anything. We taught him to lead by letting him join up/bond with our cob then when he was following the cob walked leading him and gradually started guiding him more (similar to how you'd teach a foal beside it's mother). We taught him about feed by feeding Chippy (the cob) in front of him so he got the idea
 
IMO teaching leading is teaching the foal to follow a feel. I start with a piece of string about a metre long and rub him all over with it so he is confident with it. Put it around his neck and apply light pressure on one side. When he turns his neck away from the pressure relax everything and rub, reward. If he doesn't move his neck tempt him with a treat so that he does. A few times of this and he will understand. Move neck both ways, then put a light pressure on the point of shoulder so he moves a hoof backwards. Then pressure on one side of hindquarter to move that hind leg. Finally you can put a halter on and give light forward pressure so he moves forward one step - rub reward etc, then again! It sounds long and complicated but it isn't really and can be done in short bursts with grooming etc in between.
 
widget said:
Good morning all!

well long awaited arrival of my weanling happened on Friday (yay!)

hes an appy welsh cross and six months old and a real sweety. Been well looked after but not particularly well handled. In a short time (well three days) he is now catchable, can be groomed and picks his feet up so progress is good. But.........

I had planned to clicker train him but he doesn't eat hard feed at all, the breeder tried but no luck either he eats hay fine though. I want him to be eating baileys stud balancer and then use grass nuts or similar for clicker. Ive tried a little sugar beet in it, grated carrot any suggestions?

Also he doesn't lead, at all! I would normally teach this with the clicker and use food to tempt forward but obviously this doesn't work in this case. He slams brakes on and isn't moving for anyone, ideally id have someone behind him to encourage forward but im doing this single handed unfortunately. Any suggestions?


Never had one that wouldn't eat or wouldn't lead previous foals/youngsters have been greedy monsters! and forward to lead with brakes and steering being the issue!

a cup of strong costa coffee for any help/advice : )
Click to expand...

Congratulations on your new baby :D

It would be unusual to use food as a clicker reward with a baby - it's far more usual to use scratches, since youngsters still have to learn about the reward value of different kinds of foods.
Have you had a look at Mosie Trewhitt's videos with Elle? She is using clicker training to start working with her foal, it is a good example of how to approach it. You could also have a look at Hannah Dawson's video of teaching an older horse to lead.
Here's a link to Mosie's video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye0mVSZ_u2U&feature=youtu.be
 
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