Thank you! I look forward to a long life with this little sweetie. She's going to be a stunner, just like her big sister in the "1/2 Andalusian Siblings Meet For The First Time" video.
@CalaCherie I'm a Parelli Natural Horsemanship Level 3/4 student. I find the teaching materials (especially the older ones) for PNH to be the clearest and best-presented of the major natural horsemanship programs that I've seen.
Aw, that's *wonderful* news! Thanks for updating me. Don't be surprised if you have to backtrack a bit next time you go out. It will probably take several sessions before he really becomes comfortable on the right side; however, you're obviously on the right track. He's a lucky boy to have an owner who's patient and caring. :-)
Wow, what an incredible compliment! I'm just a student, though, so I'll send you to the teacher. I learned to do this using the Parelli "Levels" program, so that's where I'll send you. This video shows Level Three skills. Another thing: we started playing with this filly when she was 15 minutes old; 6 and 9 months is a whole 'nother ball game, and will take a different set of skills, which Parelli can teach you. Good luck!
Hi! Glad the haltering advice is working. There are a couple of things about leading. The 1st is that you are probably trying to lead her forward. Always start leading babies by having the pressure be to one side or the other, so they want to take a step to the side to regain their balance. I'll address the 2nd thing in a separate reply, because there isn't enough room here.
You're welcome. There are as many training philosophies as there are people training horses. All I can say is that my young horses lead forward just fine, and the first pressure they felt on the halter was asking them to follow a soft feel and take a step sideways. If a horse of any age sulls up about yielding to pressure forwards, I always think first about directing some energy back to the rump, either with the end of the rope, or a training stick and string (or a butt rope for a baby!).
Why, thank you! What a lovely comment. Yes, I am Level Three Parelli, though I have a background in other "natural" training techniques before I committed to Parelli four years ago.
Okay-- that's very helpful. :-) Approach & retreat: at some point when you go towards his right side, you reach the place where he says "No! This is not OK!", and what you've been doing is continuing past that place. You need to find that place, lean just a *bit* past it, (the "approach"), and then quickly and smoothly turn around and walk away (the "retreat", which is also a "release".) Approach, retreat, wait. Approach, retreat, wait. Lather, rinse, repeat. Never push until he gets scared.
Aw... thank you. And good for you for rescuing a sale barn foal! Just remember, techniques will be quite different for a foal that hasn't been handled from birth, at least to start with. Good luck!
Yup. Anytime a 'punishment' has emotion behind it, you are doing it wrong. That goes double for foals. And thank you for the kind words... I love my Saphiro babies. :-)
That's great! See if you can find some itchy spots that he likes to have scratched, and use that as a bribe. "Let me put on the halter, and I'll scratch your itch," "Let me touch your leg for a second and I'll scratch your itch," etc. Chest, withers, and jawline are common itchies on babies. Good luck! :-D
I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with this, though I acknowledge that this is a common and perfectly well-accepted approach. About 1 in 3 foals will rear and often flip over when they feel the pressure of a halter for the first time. I find a butt rope much more effective, coupled with a halter and lead which only ever applies pressure in a sideways direction, at first. Babies bounce pretty well, but once in a while they hurt themselves fighting a halter.
In nature, predators try to grab the top of a foal's neck in their jaws. The panic/fight/flee response to pressure in that area is an instinctive life-or-death response in foals. She needs to learn a different response to pressure on the poll before you try to buckle the halter again. If she were my filly, I would first teach her to drop her head from light pressure on the poll from my hand, and then from a soft rope. Then haltering will be easy.
Hello I just got a 2 week old colt foal and his mother. I want to be able to train him like this but I cant even get near him. He is terrified of me and runs away whenever I get close. When I try to just sit in the grass to get him to come to me he doesn't even look my way and is not curious at all. I got him to go into a corner to try to touch him but he panicked and kicked me. The mare is lovely and very friendly, please give me any advice.
Leave the foals alone, that is the mare's job. Horses are the best teachers of horses. If the mare wants you to interact with her foal, she will 'tell' you so.
Hello! It's a whole lot harder to get a 1 month old foal to trust you than a 1 day old foal... or 1 hour old, as was the case with this filly. I hope you won't take this the wrong way, but your best option is probably to find a trusted natural horsemanship professional to help you. Don't let it go too long.
Just remember to be quick and smooth. Not quick and jerky-- just reach a little farther than he'd like you to, then smoothly and calmly turn and walk away before he has time to get upset. Wait for what feels like a really long time between approaches; ideally, wait until you see him lick and chew with his mouth, which means his brain is working and he's mulling over what just happened. End on a good note, even if you don't get as far as you want. Good luck!
Yikes! Might I recommend a butt rope to teach forward movement in response to halter pressure? That way, you can focus on using the halter to direct the head side to side, instead of straight ahead. Sideways pressure is less likely to evoke the panic response you've seen. In nature, predators try to grab the top of a foal's neck in their jaws. The panic/fight/flee response to pressure in that area is an instinctive life-or-death response in foals.
If a baby is rearing (this one never has), then she is either trying desperately to escape pressure (there's probably a halter & lead line involved), or does not see you as a leader, but as a playmate. In the first case, I would back waa-ay up in the training process, because I've obviously gone too fast. In the second scenario, I need to work on yielding & establish a safe zone around myself, with consequences if the zone is breached.
Hello, Kaibuko. I'll be happy to do whatever I can, but I'll probably need some more information. Broadly speaking, the approach you would use is "approach and retreat". Are you familiar with this phrase, and with the concept of the "release" in horse training? Also, how old is the colt, and what does he do when you try to get on the right side? Feel free to answer me here, or email me privately at jwelch at centurytel period net.
The 2nd is your use of the word "pulling", and the concept of the release. Watch 2:30 minutes into the video, specifically, watch my hands. They are slightly open, and the rope is sliding through them a bit - I'm not "pulling". But the instant she gets curious & "follows the feel", there's an immediate "release", i.e., slack in the rope. I don't pull & let go, pull & let go, because "letting go" (the release) is her reward for moving away from the pressure of the rope. Clear as mud? ;-)
One thing for you to think about with babies is how to give consequences with no anger behind them. I love this trick: when a horse (of any age) is being pushy/nippy/trying to get in my space, I go into their pen with a rope or stick and start walking around, twirling the rope or swinging the stick in a big arc, paying NO ATTENTION to them. If they try to get in my bubble... WHACK! Not my fault-- their fault they ran into the stick/rope... better pay more attention next time, horsie!
Hi, there! I appreciate your courtesy in making the effort to ask, but there's a lot of stuff being called "natural horsemanship" that I don't agree with. I'd prefer not to have my videos used in any compilations. Sorry, but I do wish you good luck with your project.
