3 week old Orphan Foal??

[RNR]

HEllo all

about 3 weeks ago my friend had a big horse foal and the mare died. I have been helping her with feeding and foal care since she has had to go out of town 2 times since he was born! We are having a minor problem that could be a big problem in the end. I have tryed all the training techiques I can think of to stop it he kicks when he gets excited, or scared or just decides to kick up. and he is a good shot he got me the other day and her the day before. Any ideas on this would be great if he was older and knew better I would have no problem but he is only 3 weeks old.

Thanks

RNR

 

[disneyhorse]

You will have to remember colt foals are VERY active. Normally they get to run and play with their mom all day, and run around and play with other foals. Is he getting enough activity?

You should be able to halter break him by now... if you have a halter on him you should be able to keep him facing you, not with his butt towards you.

Colts play rough, and at that young he might not exactly need "training" just good handling.

Andrea

 

[RNR]

Thanks!

HE is halter broke and he has a huge pipe panel pen to play in. I was thinking that we needed to halter him everytime we went in the pen but getting the halter on can be tough he kicks up the min we enter the pen what are some of your thoguhts on leaving the halter on him all the time? It scares me to do this but any ideas on this would be good. What about giving him a horse friend any ideas there??

RNR

 

[disneyhorse]

No, I wouldn't leave a halter on him. He sounds like he gets excited and wants to play when you come.

Make sure he gets plenty of exercise... is there an arena other than his pipe corral you could turn him out in to get some of his friskies out?

Getting the halter on and off every time might be "tough" but it's an important lesson that he has to learn.

If you have a quiet horse that can be his buddy, that would help immensely. Babies usually learn from their moms social boundaries, and your little guy is lacking in that department. He needs a horse that will let him know when he's playing too rough. A human just can't do that.

Andrea

 

[RNR]

Thanks!

Yeah I was thinking he needed a horse buddy to! She has a older mare that stands by the fence and watches him all day and won't let the others near the fence. When she gets home we are going to try them together. the more I think about it the more I think that is the answer!

RNR

 

[crponies]

Since you were talking to me the other day about him and how we was getting rough, I actually had wondered about him having another horse to be with. I think that is an excellent idea. That way, he will learn how to be a horse. We had an orphan at camp once (he was an adult by the time he got there) who didn't know how to be with other horses. :no: It made life difficult.

 

[wade3504]

I helped with an orphan foal once. I kept telling the people that she needed to be put with the horses to learn how to be a horse and to learn respect. She treated people like other hores so people were just part of her herd and part of her pecking order. They finally put her with another horse when she was a year old. To this day, she is 3, she gives people a hard time. They tell me she rears and won't listen and walks into you and want me to come out and work with her. I laughed. Then they say well she doesn't rear as much anymore. I laughed some more. Let me add that this was after my transplant so there is no way that I'm going to mess with a horse like this.

If you can get him with that other mare and they get along I would do so. Right now you are just other horses to him so he's behaving as he would if you really were.

Amanda

 

[Dontworrybeappy]

He's not too young to learn that he can't play with people like they are horses - even if he doesn't know how other horses play. Other horses won't put up with him being too rough, and neither should his human handlers.

I've raised a big horse orphan, and she had manners as good or better than any other horse I've raised. It just takes firmness and consistency. Use your voice to let him know something is bad, and use a crop or whip to "smack" him if he's kicking at you.

If he's hungry, he'll figure out that good manners mean he gets food, and bad manners mean people aren't happy with you!

Just a few loud "HEY!" remarks, backed up with ONE firm swat, and he'll start to get the idea!

Having another horse to play with can help - assuming the other horse will discipline him, but that still won't teach him how to act around people... only PEOPLE can teach him that!