The Principles of Training: Handling Unweaned Thoroughbred Foals Part 1 

My feelings exactly! well spoken Sir.

Felicia Dale I second all you said

@@kimbeyeler6173

Peter Castles I’ll say!!

I love seeing horses or other working animals as happy employees! That's a lovely thought, as is as close to equal partnership as is possible between two such dissimilar species. But my personal take on horses, and most animals who live with humans, is that they are our slaves. Not by our individual intent of course, but under the laws of most nations animals are considered property just as human slaves were, and still are in some countries. So, while it's incredibly important what's happening here on forums like this and truly does make our horses, and ourselves, better, it doesn't change the law.

Felicia Dale I say the same thing! I would die for my dog though. All life is sacred, but horses are different. The humane treatment of horses and cattle were at the heart of the Zoroastrian concept of vohu mana, the precursor of humanism. I think learning to work with horses in particular, because they're the most intelligent domestic species, helped our species evolve into more subjectively intelligent beings. I think it's because they're psychologically matriarchal, their memories are infallible, and they don't eat dead things. Tbh, I bet the trainer that said that they don't see horses as partners isn't that good. My lead mare is definitely my partner, she actively tries to help me, on her own. To serve is to rule;)

@@zoroisdead Well... I think horses and all grass eaters eat stuff that comes under the "dead things" lable on a regular basis. Bugs, grubs, fly larvae, etc., all get munched up with their forage. Also, it turns out that grass eaters who grow antlers every fall deliberately seek out sources of calcium and other minerals and, when not available through licks or forage, they will eat small birds or other critters, specifically targeting the largest sources of bone. Horrifying... but fascinating. In any case, horses and other animals can create huge healing for humans if we just slow down a darn second and learn from them. We surely would not be who we are today without Horse, Dog, Cat, Cow, Pig, Bird, Elephant and others who we have connected with over our species' short time span. We owe them so much.

The first thing Id do is make sure she is completely relaxed before any of that happens. having a good starting point is the most important thing.

@@WarwickSchiller Okay that makes sense. We don't currently have an arena on the property so I would have to work with her in her paddock or the yard. What would be the first step to take? I was thinking of getting her used to the actual bike before it starts. Thank you for the reply :)

@@littlehorses5930 No, forget the bike, just work on her relaxation with nothing going on

@@WarwickSchiller Ah, okay, she is fairly relaxed without anything going on, but I can certainly work on that too. Then once she is completley relaxed, begin to introduce the bikes?

@@littlehorses5930 Hi, l would start a lawn mower at a far distance from her, see how she is with the noise of that, if she panics & starts trotting off, you can turn it off straight away,. Then you could try starting it again even further away from her. I have 5 horse's here all in 1 acre separate paddocks, l mow past their paddocks on the ride on & none of them care now. But, l did start at first up near the house, so the noise wasn't as loud.

There are 150 thoroughbred foals on this farm...

sometimes in a commercial stud farm setting, where they are allowed to roam big paddocks/pastures, it's not reasonable to get them all back from the field, handle every foal, get the back to pasture. That's so many man hours in a day that it's just not viable. That's the reality of it.

I think that's what I was told

@@WarwickSchiller . Thank you. I will start working on mine. Perfect timing!

I was not employed by the TB breeder, Luke was.I was there to learn from Luke so I can help other horses, whatever was going to happen to these foals later in life is going to happen to them whether I went there or not. Im no fan of the racing industry either, and if you feel that strongly about it, Id suggest you directly contact someone in the racing industry, instead of someone who was learning something from someone who is not involved in the racing industry, but halter breaks foals for a TB breeder. In other words, dont arrest the drug user, arrest the drug dealer.

@@WarwickSchiller Not really trying to attack you personally. And I realize we all have to learn through others. I get that. I just find it really difficult to watch a trainer I admire greatly working with babies knowing most of them will be sent down a road that they didn't sign up for. I worked one season at a track here in the US. It just amazes me that nothing really has changed in 30 years. I have an OTTB that would have wound up on a slaughter truck because she is so fearful of trailering, I wound up using a schute to load her she is 12. I know she raced 7 times always in claiming races. So from the get go she was a throw away. I did a fair amount of research on her. I've seen how they handle horses that are noncompliant at the track. Some of these impatient fools forcing them into the starting gate with prods and whips. Trainers in general don't try to build a horses confidence. Trainers in the horse industry have a louder voice than average individual. Believe me TB trainers as you well know, will tell you once the horse leaves them it's not their problem. They truly do not care. That machine is broken and not worth fixing. I respect you as a trainer. I just wish that trainers in general would speak out for these wonderful animals. Look at how easy they are to get to come around and trust humans. Ultimately it falls upon us to say to these breeders and trainers and owners. What they're doing is cruel because they're over breeding to get that 1 fantastic horse who may also ultimately wind up in the food chain after giving their all. I realize that it was a learning experience. And it's very informative on halter breaking foals, But we as horse people have to do better. Don't you agree? I do respect you as a trainer and I very much like your kind approach method of training. Your love for horses is very apparent. I rescued an amazing mare who has a family tree that goes back to very famous race horses to the likes of War Admiral, Native Dancer, Northern Dancer, & Bold Ruler. One horse saved from the death train is better than none.

I said the same thing. 150 a year?! Such a stupid amount of overbreeding and they’re not even good quality. Digestive issues and coat condition issues.. they as soon as we go into drought they get loaded into a truck and sent to slaughter. Disgusting.

yeah

My thoughts exactly. So great to see what Warwick and Luke Thomas are doing, but what comes later is not edifying.

@@HelenRullesteg yes that is true, but i think this kind horse training will make many more people think that corporate horse training does not really benefit anyone, it such a waste of resources. In UK 15 000 horses are bred for an industry that only need 5000, so you have 10 000 "waste" horses, its rediculous. Imagine all the waste of rescourses besides the terrible lives these beautiful beings get.

Cruel, cruel industry.

@@stinahumana They wind up in slaughterhouses with a cruel death.

I think you'll see Jim that we didnt have any problems

@@WarwickSchiller I agree you didn't have a year problems and everything went smoothly but if the foals were imprinted at birth you would have saved all the time it took to get them to the acceptance stage and been able to move immediately to on the ground foundational.

@@jimmoore3705 Thres 150 of them at this Thoroughbred place, and they dont have the knowledge to do that

@@WarwickSchiller ok point well made. I still think 20 minutes when they are born would save hours later on but as you say we do the best we can in each situation. In any event the videos you are going are wonderful information tools p. Thank you.

@@jimmoore3705 I believe imprinting would be exactly that: saving time by taking a shortcut. It is nice to have a foal to imprint on her mum: this will teach the foal how to be horse. Few months later, it is your role to teach a foal how to work with people. Besides, the foals are smart: they trust their mums. They see, the mum trusts human. So you have 2 benefits: the bond between mum and foal remains strong (and you leave first precious moments of life for baby and mum to enjoy without interfering) and also it makes the foal to follow mare's example and be calm around people. That's just my observation from the herds I was working with;)