Imprinting

[Marsha Cassada]

I've heard pros and cons on imprinting, and I know there are various ways to do it. The only imprinted horses I've known were rather bratty, as though they could not distinguish the owner from another horse. Any experiences or opinions about imprinting?

 

[Minimor]

I have no use for imprinting--never did it, never will. My foals get handled normally, I play with them as young babies,nothing extreme--and they grow up to be agreeable, nice to handle horses. Now--a year ago I got a weanling pony that had never been touched by humans--never had a halter on until the day he came here. He got here and was wild as can be--he settled right down with handling and is friendly and easy to catch--first one to come over when I go to the gate and call. he is good to trim and clip, right from my first attempt. (picking up his feet the first time he did some kicking but soon gave that up and I trimmed him easily) So--lack of imprinting (and even handlibg) certainly had no negative effect on him)

 

[Jean_B]

I bought a colt as a future herd sire that had been imprinted and he can be a real jerk - has no respect for personal space, and when it is a slightly rammy, hormonal stallion, that can be somewhat dangerous. So we are working on learning to respect my space, but it is an uphill battle. I will NEVER EVER imprint a foal for this reason.

 

[Miniv]

We've never done the "formal" imprinting that is written up in books.....but we have done a mild version. By that I mean, after the mare has bonded and while we are rubbing the foal down with a towel, we use the towel to dry and handle ears, legs, etc. And then the next day we use our hands and touch ears, legs, and in general just pet on it. We do this every day until the mare and foal are turned out with our "baby group" by the barn.

I have noticed that the foals are friendlier when we do this....and will also add, we have had a bottle baby who we still have as a gelding. And yes, he can be a little crap! LOL.

 

[JMS Miniatures]

I think with imprinting if its done right it can be a positive thing, but it is a process and if you don't fully understand it it can bite you in the long run. With me personally I don't see it beneficial to me as I already start training them at an early age, nor do I have the time to fully imprint one.

 

[Jean_B]

Here is an interesting article about why you should NOT imprint. http://besthorsepractices.com/foal-imprinting/#comment-2357

 

[paintponylvr]

Marsha -

I have used many ways to train/work with foals. To further address your actual concern, I'll have to do a separate write up - but to me - those particular horses were not properly imprinted by someone who knew what they were doing OR handled by someone who knows very little about horses or a combination of both.

Here is a write up I did on our form of imprinting - Imprinting Foals

A post I did on working mares and foals - After Foaling?

Since 2009 when I got back into breeding Shetlands, I have not been right there when any of our mares actually foaled so the "imprint training" is modified. And some write ups I did on this year's foals - May 2016 - Imprinting & Foal handling, Water Worx - Chylly #1, Water Worx - Chylly #2, Water Worx - Koal #1, Water Worx - Jynx #1

and it turns out that I haven't done a couple of other posts I'd had in my mind! I did read what Jean_B posted - I can't verify or refute what was said - my Robert Miller book (along w/ many others on handling foals by other trainers, and on horse psychology) are still packed and the VHS tapes we no longer have the equipment to play. I was involved with several farms/ranches in CO & MT that did his type of imprinting - those foals into adult horses were easy to handle and friendly. I don't remember EVER doing this for hours at a time as the person who wrote the refuting post states.

What no one thinks about is even with "Imprint training" there are differences in the foal's personalities - right from birth - which can change/affect how the "training" is done and needs to be continued. I have noticed a HUGE difference in handling imprinted horses - foals out of alpha mares usually were quite alpha themselves and often needed slightly different or longer technique(s).

 

[paintponylvr]

Also, at all the farms that I've been on that used the actual "imprint training" techniques - if the mare had a difficult birth or the foal had problems - the "training" itself was delayed until those issues were/could be addressed.

We did find that farms that did the imprint training were right there and ready to assist in those difficult times... and then later the "imprinting" was started - no harm done.

While working on a sickly foal - he/she is being handled or imprinted so to speak - IMHO.

 

[paintponylvr]

Here is one that I did as well. You can look at how we handled these 3 babies at 10 days of age (Chylly) and at 3 days of age (Koal & Jynx).

Ponies intro to halters

 

[Debby - LB]

Paula, I just love reading your articles and seeing your beautiful ponies! Your Website has so much valuable personal information, it's really a treasure.

 

[paintponylvr]

WOW, Debby, thank you!!!!