How do I teach a foal . . .?

[PasoVicki]

How do I teach a foal that I am NOT a horse?

Zephyr is now ten days old . . . very friendly and very frisky . . . but he doesn't seem to understand that people aren't horses. He loves to come up to people for rubs and scratches, but he also loves to play, and his favorite "game" is to try to run up to someone, rear up, and come down on that person. When he was only two days old, it was fairly easy to dodge his hoofs, smack him, and tell him "no." But he's getting bigger and more coordinated, he's getting harder to dodge, and smacks and a sharp "no"s don't seem to be teaching him not to try again. How to I stop this behavior?

[CarolU]

How do I teach a foal that I am NOT a horse?

Zephyr is now ten days old . . . very friendly and very frisky . . . but he doesn't seem to understand that people aren't horses. He loves to come up to people for rubs and scratches, but he also loves to play, and his favorite "game" is to try to run up to someone, rear up, and come down on that person. When he was only two days old, it was fairly easy to dodge his hoofs, smack him, and tell him "no." But he's getting bigger and more coordinated, he's getting harder to dodge, and smacks and a sharp "no"s don't seem to be teaching him not to try again. How to I stop this behavior?

oohhh:frown: shades of Bruiser! :mad2::mad2:

[Abejita]

Gee CarolU THAT was a BIG help LOL..come on you've been through it ...

Have you started teaching the little basta...brat ..to lead yet? or to do anything like pick up his feet etc..I start this almost from day 1 so maybe that makes a difference..I have never had one as bad as you describe ( oh Lord I probabaly just predestined Bernie to have one of these monsters in a few weeks ) but I would just start doing some groundwork, leading etc in hopes that he starts to see you as an authority figure and learns that you will reprimand him when he is bad.

[PasoVicki]

oohhh:frown: shades of Bruiser! :mad2::mad2:

I KNEW this was your fault, Carol. I asked for a filly dance, not a Bruiser dance. ;)

Really, he's a very sweet boy . . . He just needs to learn the difference between horse and person.

[CarolU]

LOL Sheri. If you recall when I was going through this with Bruiser half the people on here tore into me for being too lenient with him, and the other half yelled at me to leave him alone and let him grow up to be a horse w/o human interference.

I'll PM Vicki.

[PasoVicki]

Gee CarolU THAT was a BIG help LOL..come on you've been through it ...

Have you started teaching the little basta...brat ..to lead yet? or to do anything like pick up his feet etc..I start this almost from day 1 so maybe that makes a difference..I have never had one as bad as you describe ( oh Lord I probabaly just predestined Bernie to have one of these monsters in a few weeks ) but I would just start doing some groundwork, leading etc in hopes that he starts to see you as an authority figure and learns that you will reprimand him when he is bad.

We're working on leading his week. And we can touch/handle him anywhere -- he'll stand perfectly still. He's really very sweet natured -- he just loves this inappropriate "game" and it has to stop.

[Mystic Fire]

A friend of mine raises Arabians and the youngsters are notorious for rearing up on people, especially from behind. I would always joke on her for walking around the pasture with a plunger in her hand. This household tool comes in handy when you get one of those rowdy brats getting too frisky with you. Whenever one would try to pounce on her she'd use the plunger to push them over. After they got shoved off their feet a few times the quit trying to jump on her.
Horses are horses, and people are people. A horse should never be allowed to treat a person like a horse. If you watch horses interact with themselves in the pasture you will notice that they will only tolerate so much friskiness themselves.
You want to disipline the foal, but not hurt or scare them. They need to know what the rules are or interacting with people and that there are consiquenses for breaking the rules. No nibbling, no pushing or shoving, no rearing, no kicking, no striking.
D.

[motorgypsy]

Three foot piece of light weight PVC or a big flappy jacket or a big pastic bag and a pocket full of rocks. And don't go in with him without a second person. I know you know how very dangerous this is and very typical. If you have the second person with you as a lookout you can both leap up in the air, wave the hands, YELL NO and chase him away immediately with a few rocks to the butt to emphasize the point. It's amazing how impressed they are with a two legged horse that can bite or kick from a distance. Once he behaves he gets a treat and lots of scratches.

[PasoVicki]

And don't go in with him without a second person.

Unfortunately, I usually don't have a second adult person available when I need to go in to feed and muck. However, I've gotten fairly good at keeping one eye on him and one eye on whatever I'm doing.

I have a toilet plunger on my shopping list for my next trip to WalMart. We'll see how he likes that. ;)

We're starting to have a problem with nipping, too. At first, he was just trying to grab at my fingers a little bit, which I thought might be because I had to help him so much with nursing the first day. (That first day, anytime he nursed my hands were right there, getting him to the nipples and starting the milk flow/rubbing the milk on his face. -- so I thought HE probably thought he could grab my hands and get milk.) However, now that I've smacked him on the mouth for days for nipping at my hands, he's starting to try to nip my legs instead. Sigh. He's so cute that it's hard to be mad at him . . . but he's got to learn.

[Mystic Fire]

Ahhhh, so this a colt we're dealing with isn't it? Never give him any slack if he's starting this behavior at such a young age. He's trying to be a herd stallion already. Putting his butt on the ground with the plunger will help make sure he respects your personal space, but he'll think of other ways to assert his dominance so always be on the lookout for new tactics he'll employ. He's not really being "bad", he's just doing what instincts tell him to do. You'll have to think, and react, like a boss mare to make sure he keeps his place in the herd. YOU are the herd leader. And speaking of herd, he should be raised in a herd. Other horses (especially dominant ones he can't bully) will teach him more about respect than you ever can.
As for the nipping, get you some of those bannana hair clips (a bunch) and keep in your pocket. Make sure they have a good strong spring. When he goes to nip at you, try to snap it on his lip (or nose, nostril, whatever you can get). You'll have to be very quick about this and try not to miss. He'll run off and realize "you still have hold of him". It may take a while to get close enough to him to take it off, or if he won't let you he'll eventually rub it off on his own. But he needs to relaize that "punishment" for nipping will be quick, instantaineous, consistant, and that you can reach him from afar.
D.

[PasoVicki]

Oh, yeah, he's definitely all boy. Very sweet, really, when he wants to be loved on -- but very mischievious when he wants to play.

This is Zephyr at four days:

[Mo.D]

Rosa went through a nippy stage.Nothing like a colt i'm sure and I am not going through it with this colt...yet, but what worked well for her was very quickly grabing and squeezing her lip everytime she went to try it.I like that hair clip idea alot too! Rosa did go through trying to play with me like another horse.I'll have to go back and refresh on what all she tried to pull and how I got her to stop. I do remember that when I got on to her that she would stew over it and come back at me hoping to win a rematch.Rosa was not a nice polite filly from the start.Your friend,Mo

I would like to add that Rosa was in a herd situation but that the the herd I had when she was a baby was useless as far as teaching her any manners went.

[motorgypsy]

Smacking may or may not work for nipping. We had one it did not work on. He thought we were playing when we smacked him and tried even harder to nip. So I grabbed the end of his nose and held on every time he tried to nip. Of course he could eventually pull loose but he definitely didn't like it and got the point. No more nipping.

The toilet plunger is good but doesn't have much reach. Another of our boys was so fast at the "nip and run" I couldn't smack him. That's the reason we always carried some rocks in our pockets - not huge but big enough for him to feel if one hits him in the butt. And if he nipped and ran we nailed him. Stopped that silly business very quickly. He also was really really sweet but just had that one bad habit.

I frequently have to feed the boys by myself also and with three stallions and a very studdy gelding living together and playing hard, they will try to bite each other during feeding on occasion so I've developed the "eyes in the back of the head" also. But I have had to be very aggressive with them to stop this including throwing a small empty plastic feed bucket at the offender. So do what it takes to stop him now.

Our guys never threaten me but oh they try so hard to sneak over and get in a little nip on one of the other guys during feeding before they are tied. It would be funny if it weren't so dangerous. They are all tied for feeding in order of hierarchy which works well but initially it took some disciplining. The reason I'm mentioning this is because you also want to limit his play with any horse that is near you as well as his attempt to play with you. He nips another horse and that other horse runs you down trying to get away. So NO horseplay with other horses ANYWHERE NEAR MOM EITHER.

[Mo.D]

I agree with Nancy 200% on everything she just said!! Your friend,Mo

[Soltera]

As for the nipping, get you some of those bannana hair clips (a bunch) and keep in your pocket. Make sure they have a good strong spring. When he goes to nip at you, try to snap it on his lip (or nose, nostril, whatever you can get).

Oaky, THAT'S the funniest image I've seen in my brain in a long time!

Sounds like it works, but I'd be a afraid they's brain them selves on the wall trying to get that sucker right on off of there. Ouch!

Mystic Fire, remind me to be nice to you should we ever meet: that's a diabolical cure!!!......LOL

[PasoVicki]

we always carried some rocks in our pockets - not huge but big enough for him to feel if one hits him in the butt. And if he nipped and ran we nailed him. Stopped that silly business very quickly.

LOL -- I have no hand-eye coordination. If I threw a rock at his butt from five feet away, I'd probably miss by ten feet.

[SandyMM]

Oaky, THAT'S the funniest image I've seen in my brain in a long time!

Sounds like it works, but I'd be a afraid they's brain them selves on the wall trying to get that sucker right on off of there. Ouch!

Hmm... I was thinking a mousetrap might be even more effective.... :v:;)

[PasoVicki]

He knows we're talking about him. He hasn't tried to "jump" anyone or bite anyone for the past day and a half . . . but I narrowly avoided being kicked this morning.

[lisa l aka marci]

Oooh I like the idea of the hair clips!

Thankfully, I have not had these problems with BB - although I do keep a close eye on him when he is approaching from behind to make sure he doesn't sneak up on me.

[SandyMM]

The two worst kicks I ever got were from fillies! The dear sweet things..... :rolleyes:

[PasoVicki]

The two worst kicks I ever got were from fillies! The dear sweet things..... :rolleyes:

I have an impressive purple decoration on my left leg, caused by my failure to dodge fast enough on Saturday. Come to think of it, that was the last time he reared up on me. It was the only time (so far) he connected, but he also ended up in the dirt.

[SandyMM]

It was the only time (so far) he connected, but he also ended up in the dirt.
I would have to say endangering a human earned him his just rewards! Sorry you ended up with a 'souvenir', though...

[CarolU]

Only one bruise? Oh, he's got a ways to go before Bruiser shares his name with him. ;)

Rosie tried to kick me once. And one WHACK took care of it and she never tried again. You have no idea how I wish that would work on Bruiser. LOL

[Mystic Fire]

My friend with Arabians still uses the hair clips on her 13 year old stallion to this day. He just never learns. When he's in the crossties being groomed he always tries to get a nip in. He looks goofy with his purple hairclip hanging on his nose, but it keeps him occupied while the brushing gets done.
All the advise above is good. Always be aware of your surroundings (whether you're wroking with foals or grown horses). Dish out your disipline quickly and fairly. By learning the rules to interacting with poeple while he's still small enough to "push around", he'll be easier to deal with when he gets bigger. And if he gets really rank, Dr. Robert Miller's foal imprinting video has a technique for "reprogramming" a "studly" colt. I've only had to use it on one strong willed colt out of the dozens I've raised.
D.