Top tips and advice for new foal please!!

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bubble0127

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I have bought my first foal ( welsh sec d .. Newly gelded) I have never done this before but the one I have bought is very laid back and confident in himself. I collect him in under 4 weeks.

Any advice or top tips be gratefully received.

Thanks

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very laid back

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wait till he settles in
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Yes my first foal was a Welsh D but he was and is lovely. I have sold him now and he is 2 and still sweet but needs to know who is boss. They are real characters once they bond with you.
 
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Start as you mean to go on.

In the nicest possible way of course, make it clear that YOU are #1 in his world and he is to respect that, be consistent. D's can be very opinionated, they are slow to mature physically but there's nothing slow about their brains.

Lots of knowledgable folk on here to advise you and share experiences of what works AND what hasn't for them.

My advice would be to read, read, read and then ask anyone and everyone if you are not sure about anything.

I like all the D's I have ever met, they can turn their hooves to anything (friend of mine just got a Silver medal dressaging at Broomes this weekend with her boy)

I hope you enjoy yours.
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I've dealt with tb and warmblood foals in the past, I bred my own warmblood cross this year and he is such a baby, not a nastly bone in his body (just like his mummy!), not coltish, well I bought a sec d x foal for company for him, and by gods what a difference!! New boy is about 2 to 3 hands smaller but he's boss!! He's a little bugger, pushes the boundaries etc! Now whether the difference is the handling, my boy has very much had hands on from day 1, whereas new boy was left out in field to mature and not handled until weaned so associates people with hardship at the moment, I'm trying to bring him around, once he's caught he's very amiable but not easy to catch yet! Thankfully my homebred is all over you as soon as you go in the field and welsh boy is never far from him so always been able to catch him, just not straight away!! I'm sure he'll come around with lots of handling over the winter and building up some trust. Like others say, start as you mean to go on, don't tit bit as this encourages biting/nibbling. Keep picking up feet to ensure they are good for farrier. Lots of patting hands all over. I've found for feeding use hook over the door buckets as everything else they've knocked over tipping feed everywhere!! These buckets they seem to eat out of easier as not such a stretch of the little neck down!!
 
I got my first 2 youngsters when they were 6 months old and they were untouched (so very hard) Is all I would say is start as you mean to go on, also another good thing is decide what words you want to use for things like walk on and stand etc, you may want to use a certain noise or word and then he will understand what you mean and make sure everyone around you uses the same too, this makes life much easier for you in hand and also when you come to breaking. Every week try and show him something new, like different brushes and items, also different people. In the summer its easier because you can start on the hose pipe etc, just rememebr he hasn't seen half the things an older horse would and everything will be new and exciting. Good Luck
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