Wild horses...

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Brandon's Sister

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Hi!

My new lovely yearling cob called Brandon is arriving today - he's almost completely wild, and I'm looking forward to the challenge of taming him to be halter broken and trusting of humans. Now while I haven't gone into this being a newbie to horses, but I would appreciate any hints and tips to try out! I'm so excited right now, it'll be an eventful year I think! I'm especially keen on natural horsemanship techniques, as the poor little guy hasn't has the best start to life so may not respond well to traditional approaches.

Thank you!
 
first thing to do IMO is to buy a copy of 'no fear, no force' by Sarah Weston which tells you how to handle the unhandled horse. costs £16 and you can get it from Sarah's website. Invaluable!
 
Brandon's Sister said:
Hi!

My new lovely yearling cob called Brandon is arriving today - he's almost completely wild, and I'm looking forward to the challenge of taming him to be halter broken and trusting of humans. Now while I haven't gone into this being a newbie to horses, but I would appreciate any hints and tips to try out! I'm so excited right now, it'll be an eventful year I think! I'm especially keen on natural horsemanship techniques, as the poor little guy hasn't has the best start to life so may not respond well to traditional approaches.

Thank you!
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I'm interested as to why you think he may not respond to traditional approaches?
 
It's partly because he's nervous, so I'd like to start off with natural horsemanship to build his confidence. But I would probably just mix the best methods of both, as I'm not averse to traditional by any means! Another reason is I'm intrigued about natural horsemanship and would like to give it a go :)
 
I've not been impressed by so-called "natural" horsemanship and far from increasing confidence in a horse it seems to often just result in annoyed, confused horses. Any good horseman, natural, traditional, whatever, will approach a nervous horse with tact and patience (and food; I find this breaks the ice :-).
 
Just responding to clarify that Sarah Weston refers to it as 'logical horsemanship' and I really don't think it would come into the category that Cortez is commenting negatively on.

& BTW I misread the end of your post Cortez as 'lice' (!) - and its worth noting that sometimes these youngsters do come with some unwanted guests so keep an eye out for that OP!
 
Good point! Poor baby has been left in the field (with ragwort in to my horror!) for 6 months with no human contact and a barbed wire fence that a couple of other colts regularly jumped. He'll have a proper check over by the vet while he's snipped and chipped, hopefully he doesn't bring any unwanted friends!
 
My advice, after having a 6 month old mostly wild foal is to follow sarah Westons book. Also if possble keep him in, with a friend close by for a few days at least as its much easier in a small area. Good luck
 
We're keeping him and his friend (who my mum's friend is buying) in the stable, partly to settle them in and partly to keep them away from a mare in the far paddock - we don't want any unplanned pregnancies and the other colt is 2 years old! It's great to have advice, my mum is worrying about everything as it's such a big responsibility, but I know she has the experience to do it well
 
I met a girl at the WHW Dallas roundup (90 ponies on 2,000 acres) and remarked anyone getting one of those would have their hands full.

She corrected me, saying she'd taken on a youngster and had it leading, feet lifted, being groomed, etc. within a week. Then she spoilt it all by adding, "...but I did move into the stable!"

Have you got a camp bed??
 
My new (unhandled) yearling arrived about 2 weeks ago, the first thing I did was stable her. Not everyone does but this method works for me. Anyway very big stable inside a barn. She was fed and watered by me. I basically just got on with things around her, there's a lot going on in the barn, and you could see her taking it all in. In a few days I could put headcollar on and off, scratch her, pick up her feet etc. During this time she met goats for the first time and soon was putting up with the chickens scratching in her bed! Because she was following me round the stable, I pretty much attached the leadrope and carried on. Taught her to back up and swing her quarters away from me. This was accomplished in very short lessons. After a week I led her to her paddock (she can see my other horse, but other horse is antisocial :( ) I let her stop at all the interesting things on the way (hosepipe, ducks, bench etc) so she could investigate them and feel reassured they wouldn't eat her! Two weeks later she's learned a few things - cows aren't the work of the devil and neither are tractors. If she pulls her begging face her minions might, just might bring her a juicy apple off the tree. She feels very comfortable in her stable and loves to come in for her tea and haylage at night (paddock is a bit bare). She's only 14 months so I'll not be doing anything with her yet apart from this basic handling. I've always found that routine works very well. Yesterday a local farmer delivered a large bale of haylage and the tractor came into the barn next to her stable. I stood by her to make sure she was OK, but she could see I was unconcerned and so she wasn't particularly bothered by it. Just make sure to keep safe, it's common sense to wear a hat and gloves. Good luck and have fun. Pics required!

This is Lucy (Dorian's Girl)
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Dry Rot (love the name) - Very promising, but I think both me and mum love our beds a bit too much... :P Great to hear she did so well though, that gives us a lot of confidence!

And doriangrey, that's brilliant! Very pretty girl there, and very good advice. Thank you so much, we've got some chickens and guinea fowl to get him used to the country sounds, plus we're sticking an old jeep in the middle of their field when we turn them out as they are terrified of jeeps. The dealer used the jeep to round them up, so that's the most important thing to deal with I think! I think I'll have to post a picture of him, I'm already proud of him and he's done nothing!
 
I have had an unhandled 6 month old filly for 1week and 3 days. She didnt even know what a bucket was let alone food. I do not have a stable but keep herwith a mini shetland mare who is very friendly. She will now eat mix from the bucket (started by putting it on the ground) and will eat from your hand. I am pleased with how far she has come but am interested in other people's hints on this thread. I may get that book previously mentioned :-)
 
Brandon's Sister said:
Dry Rot (love the name) - Very promising, but I think both me and mum love our beds a bit too much... :P Great to hear she did so well though, that gives us a lot of confidence!

And doriangrey, that's brilliant! Very pretty girl there, and very good advice. Thank you so much, we've got some chickens and guinea fowl to get him used to the country sounds, plus we're sticking an old jeep in the middle of their field when we turn them out as they are terrified of jeeps. The dealer used the jeep to round them up, so that's the most important thing to deal with I think! I think I'll have to post a picture of him, I'm already proud of him and he's done nothing!
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Thanks :) she wasn't what I went to view but sometimes you just know. I bought her for a pittance, I've spent more on haylage already but I just knew I wanted her (despite not being able to get near her in the field). I wouldn't call getting us to know each other 'natural horsemanship' though, I treated my other homebreds exactly the same, except they were brought in from my fields. I just didn't want to breed anymore so decided to buy a youngster. Please keep us updated, I love to see these threads (I'm being selfish), I'm keeping an eye on the Missy thread too :)
 
Cortez said:
I've not been impressed by so-called "natural" horsemanship and far from increasing confidence in a horse it seems to often just result in annoyed, confused horses. Any good horseman, natural, traditional, whatever, will approach a nervous horse with tact and patience (and food; I find this breaks the ice :-).
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What a shame you have had this experience of NH, you mustn't have had the right instructor or demonstrator because I found most horses that are stressed and bargy tend to relax and become more trusting after I do some NH ground work with them...certainly not annoyed or confused...
 
Cortez said:
I've not been impressed by so-called "natural" horsemanship and far from increasing confidence in a horse it seems to often just result in annoyed, confused horses. Any good horseman, natural, traditional, whatever, will approach a nervous horse with tact and patience (and food; I find this breaks the ice :-).
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I used Sarah's book and methods on two of my ponies, both of whom were semi ferals, and I've found that two years on I have two very calm, level headed ponies who take things I their stride. They have never shown any signs of being confused by what I have asked of them and their confidence has come on in leaps and bounds from when they arrived. The problem with using food as a means of approach with with a 'wild' pony rather than a 'nervous' one, is that they don't know what hard feed is, they won't put their heads in a bucket as it obstructs their vision and makes them vulnerable, they don't know what 'treat' foods are.....one of mine will still only take fruit/ vegetables as a treat not mints/ horse treats etc....And most struggle to even use a hay net. As a result rather than using food to help build a relationship you have to start to build the relationship before they will accept the food.
OP, your boy looks lovely, good luck with him. There is nothing so rewarding as watching their trust I. You grow.
 
My youngster had been left in a field for 2 years!!..

And within a week or 2 was used to me, lots of scratching in horsey places and just watching me do 'stuff'..

I believed he was nervous but after 6 weeks of walking him out in hand, nothing fazes him, very laid back pony, I'm amazed..

Sometimes no handling is better than 'bad' handling..
I have tried NH techniques but at the mo he is too laid back to pick up on the subtleness of it all.. GOOD LUCK!!
 
"Food" includes handfuls of grass; I don't actually feed anything on the farm grain. And you can start by laying an armful of grass/hay/whatever on the floor and standing back. It doesn't take long, just patience.
 
The easiest way is to have him/her in a stable or barn with another more confident pony. Expect some theatrics when you halter train him/her as he simply won't know whats going on.
Also, regardless of traditional v's Natural/Parelli/Monty methods - he won't learn anything while he's frightened of you, get him haltered and handle him all over, once he knows you won't hurt him the rest is fairly easy.
Have plenty of patience when teaching him to pick his feet up - it's a very big deal for him. 1, because he has no idea why you would pick his foot up, 2, has far as he's concerned your trying to take his ability to run to safety, without those feet he's helpless.
Good luck and have fun, the wild ponies make such a rewarding project.
 
''No Fear, No Force'' is a fantastic book and has helped tonnes with Missy (don't know if you've read about her on my threads or not) but she was bought a week ago completely unhandled and very nervous and in just a week of following Sarah's book she has become a calm, trusting individual. Still got a while to go but she's getting there!!

It's great to watch (& join in) with the horse as he learns to trust and improves! I wish you all the best!

Gorgeous photos! xx
 
Cortez said:
"Food" includes handfuls of grass; I don't actually feed anything on the farm grain. And you can start by laying an armful of grass/hay/whatever on the floor and standing back. It doesn't take long, just patience.
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I agree with Cortez, it's about patience, consistency is also very valuable. I've never read 'No Fear, No Force'. In my opinion, I wouldn't keep with a companion in the early stages with unhandled babies because often they take a cue from the companion and I think to set them up for life with us, then they should be taking our cues. Others may disagree - fair enough. Don't want to stir up a hornet's nest but I do think that some horses are so companion dependent it makes them dangerous, often to themselves.
 
doriangrey said:
I agree with Cortez, it's about patience, consistency is also very valuable. I've never read 'No Fear, No Force'. In my opinion, I wouldn't keep with a companion in the early stages with unhandled babies because often they take a cue from the companion and I think to set them up for life with us, then they should be taking our cues. Others may disagree - fair enough. Don't want to stir up a hornet's nest but I do think that some horses are so companion dependent it makes them dangerous, often to themselves.
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I've found keeping an unhandled pony/horse on it's own helps because it learns to trust you and doesn't have another horse to 'side' with!
 
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My experience is that allowing a youngster to have company is beneficial. Ideally I'd keep the youngsters together with an adult horse(s) to do the most important training for you. Baby horse follows the lead of the mature horse and is less stressed when introducing the beginnings of handling and haltering.
 
dogatemysalad said:
My experience is that allowing a youngster to have company is beneficial. Ideally I'd keep the youngsters together with an adult horse(s) to do the most important training for you. Baby horse follows the lead of the mature horse and is less stressed when introducing the beginnings of handling and haltering.
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My homebreds were brought up in the most natural environment - mare and stallion group, a family in other words. I didn't change my handling with this new one (she came in from a field without a companion she'd been with since she'd been weaned). I didn't change my methods, she's an absolute joy to have around 2 weeks on. I do agree, however, that from birth onwards the most important learning comes from the parents. I say parents because I honestly believe a stallion is a great teacher to youngsters and his input is so overlooked.
 
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