Foal

Foal care:

When training foals and young horses, my experience has been that horses who come from good bloodlines often mean good training experiences.  Horses that come from a good bloodline often have excellent conformation, character, and the willingness to advance in training.  It is of great importance to have a clear picture in your mind of what type of breed and disposition you are looking for in a foal before you make your selection.

It is a long and daunting task to train and raise a foal from the very beginning of their life.  The dangers of this are inevitable and can be fatal if the handler has little or no knowledge about schooling foals or young horses.  Therefore, it is of outmost importance that the individual who undertakes this task possess enough knowledge, skills and patience to embark on such a journey.  The goal of training a young prospect is to have them become a well rounded and happy riding mount.  Unfortunately, horses have such great memories that early mistakes in their training often come back to haunt you.  When horses realize that they are superior in strength to humans, the human always becomes the permanent loser.

Weanlings:  

Most breeders wean their foals away from the mother mare when they are six months or younger.  When the foal is weaned, much attention should be given to the feed of the foal.  It is strongly recommended to add additional nutrients to your foal daily feed in order to make up for the loss of the mother’s milk.  Establishing a three time a day feeding rule is important for the nutritional health of any foal.  It is crucial to familiarize the foal early on in their growth to haltering, leading and trailoring.  Good grooming practices in brushing and hoof care also are an important part of the horse’s early development.   Early vaccination and teeth care is also a very important part of your foal’s care.   In these tender years of development, everything is new and should be introduced in a slow and playful manner.  Learning should never be forced, as this can greatly disturb a horse’s natural way of being and lead to breaking ‘trust’ in humans.

Horses are herd animals and, therefore, should not be entirely kept alone.  The best environment one can create for a foal is to have other playmates of equal or close age around them for play.  We must not forget that humans cannot teach a foal or a young horse how to become an adult horse.  Therefore, the best environment for the early development of a horse is to have other horses present.  This will allow your foal to grow up into a well established and happy horse. 

Foals and young horses that are watchfully and carefully raised, and have started their training age appropriately, will be more likely to establish a trusting relationship with their handler(s) and caretaker(s).