Gentling an untrained 8 month foal!

[Ladyann]

Sunshine is an 7-8 month old pinto foal we got just a few days ago. She has never been worked with in any way, in fact this past Sunday was the first time she had a halter on her. When we took her off of the trailer she was a little wary but I managed to lead her after a little pressure on the lead rope, I lead her to the hay we put out and then let her go, she is wearing a halter.

Sunshine has a deformity of her right leg a really bad knock knee and no one wanted her. We took her with the intention of just giving her a good home, but we would like to handle her...she will not let us any nearer than about a foot before moving off and we cannot catch her so we can start gentling her. I am not sure how to start with her as she is much older than normal to begin working with.

She has been neglected for so long with no interaction with people at all, no grooming, hoof care, worming or shots. So we need to do something about this soon, she isn't even sure what grain is, she pushes it around the food dish and will eat a small amount before going back to her hay. I have taken the hay away as I want her to eat the feed which has de-wormer in it, the vet said that would help until we can catch her and work with her. She is in about a 1 1/2 acre pasture. We have no stalls, just a run in shed and a round pen, so we cannot confine her. I go to her several times a day with the feed pan in hand and talk to her all the time.

I have put a copuple of pictures of Sunshine, two showing her leg. Disregard the Uno bit, he is baby Goat.

Any advice would be appreciated,
Thanks,
Ann:)

[cloedoll]

I'm not going to bother to post advice because there are many others forumers that are far better and more experienced than me. =P I wish you the best of luck with her, she's adorable. :)

[FrogInABlender]

If you can get her to go in the round pen for her feed then that would probably be your best bet. Then she won't have the whole pasture to use to get away from you. Monty Roberts uses a method called "Join Up" for gentling wild horses, and although she's not technically wild, she's behaving in much the same way. I believe John Lyons methods are based on a similar principle. I wouldn't presume to be knowledgable enough on the subject to be able to tell you how to do it, but there are plenty of DVDs on both methods that you could watch, and I'm sure there are people on this board who have actually used them. I think it's great that you have rescued this cute little filly and I wish you the best of luck with her! :)

[AUEquine]

hmmm... kinda hard with limited facilites, but I'll give you the best advice I can.

First she has to learn to give to pressure. I'd put a lead rope on her (short one, like 4-6') and leave it on her. This will start getting her used to giving to pressure when she steps on it, and it also gives you a way to catch her.
Now you're gonna have to catch her... this has to be your game/idea not hers! If you just keep letting her allow you to touch her when SHE wants you to... you're not gonna get very far. You need to have two strong people when you do this. Catch the rope, and don't let go! Both people hold the lead rope, the 2nd person puts the rope behind them to anchor down, and the first person holds the rope and starts to calm the horse. She's gonna set back most likely, just don't give in. 1st person should scratch the horse, and reasure them... try to find that spot they like (usually under the throat latch or between the eyes). Gradually test letting up on the rope until she'll stand there and let you pet her. Then gradually start petting other areas, when she starts to get uneasy go back to a spot she was ok with you petting.
Just keep doing this everyday! Catching her and petting her! And the end of the catching and petting give her dinner (only after).
Once she's comfortable with being caught and touched you can start working on leading. Start by asking her to go side to side. It's alot easier to break their balance lateraly where they're not very wide than forward when they can sit back with all their power.

We recently had a 6 month old untouched foal in the vet school who was sick and in isolation. It's really hard to catch and treat a foal that big when you're wearing plastic booties! But after a few days of holding the halter in one hand and the metal bars in the other, she started to understand. She no longer flipped out when I touched her halter, and would stand there and let us do her treatments. We did still have to sedate her for some of her treatments because otherwise we'd ruin any progress we made, but she had to be treated! But after only 3 days I was able to walk up to her and hold her with the halter, just because she learned that pulling away didn't work. Once they learn that they can pull away if they're nervous, you'll never be able to keep them with you.

Hope some of this helps. Just remember lots of scratching and lots of loving talk, keep your eyes and shoulders low so as not to appear as a preditor. But don't forget that you are the boss and this must be done your way, if they learn they have a choice, they'll always take it!

[iloveponcho]

i would try to get her in a fairly small field and bring in food or something with you (something that might interest her) and try to get her to come to you...when i got my baby i had to get lower than him and sit in a chair or on the ground so he did not run from me, but mainly it just takes a lot of time but once you can touch her try and get a halter on her to make her easier to catch

[OwnedByOurHorses]

if you want to do it a more relaxed way will also take longer than what has been suggested..get a comfortable lawn chair and a good book...Sit out in the middle of the pasture and read...She is still at a curious age..let her just get use to you being in her area.. from there work up to offering her treats without reaching out to her....Once she will stand still even if it's just to eat hay from your hands slowly start reaching towards her neck or shoulder.. when she is relaxed enough for you to do that then started reaching for her face when she is comfortable with that then start takin a hold of her halter and slowly begin asking her to move off pressure ... I have found I gain more trust doing it slow and easy unless I'm pressed for tiime because of hoof or health issues.then I will do it the way AUEquine discribes

[PatriotsDreamer]

If she were mine she would be living in that roundpen TO learn to trust me. id be sitting out there everyday with hay/ grain in a tub either in my hands or RIGHT next to me and no where else. Id grab a lawn chair and sit in the round pen everyday with her. like someone else said read a book or something. Dont talk to her, dont look at her for the first couple times she comes up and certainly dont attempt to touch her. She is not going to starve herself. It may take a couple days for her to come to you but hunger will get the best of her and she will come around probably pretty quick if she learns your her only access to food. Once she learns that your ok and provide her with her food, things will become alot easier because she will have already made the first babystep in trust. You may have to sit there for hours and it will be time consuming but rewarding in the end. Once she will eat from you without being nervous, talk to her calmly. when she is comfortable with that id start petting her. If she moves away, let her, she will the first couple times, dont chase her, just leave your hand out a couple seconds after she moves away so se doesnt think she can leave and the hand goes down. Once she allows you to pet her, get the halter on and leave it on. Take an additional halter that is adjusted a couple notches bigger and work on putting it on/taking it off WHILE leaving the other halter on. once she allows that, start with lead training and training her as you would any baby.

[Cat]

Not sure if you saw, but I did post some tips in your first thread about her. ;) But here are a few more.

One I want to share is appraoch and retreat method. Find out where her comfort zone is with you. Maybe you can get within 5 feet with out her moving off. Stand there for a bit, and then back away. Then approach again, but try to get a bit closer with out making her move off. This is where you really need to watch her reaction and read her. Once you get a little closer and she doesn't move off, back away again a couple steps. Keep repeating this until you get closer and closer to her.

And then when you get next to her, hold out your hand - palm down, fingers relaxed, - inch it closer, hold, and then take it away. Eventually she will let you touch her using this method - all in a relaxed fashion.

Also, when you approach her - don't approach straight on looking at her. Then you are acting like a predator. Keep your eyes down and approach in an arc towards her instead of straight on.

[cheval]

How much experience do you have with horses? For one like this, I'd suggest having a trainer step in to help you build a good and trusting foundation for the horse. Good luck.

[Ladyann]

I have been around horses since I was 12, I am now 69! I do not need a trainer, just some in put with this one foal as it is new to us....we have worked with a 3 year old filly with no training, but at least she was used to humans...this little girl has been neglected. Once I can get near her I can handle the gentling very well. I appreciate your input, Thanks, Ann

[IrisGreen]

She is a cutie!! I got Muffin at 9-10 months old and wild. You couldn't get with in 20 feet of him or he would walk off.

I like the idea that was suggested to sit in a chair and read a book with food next to you. This is what I did with Muffin. The only time he got food was when I went out there. He was curious but cautious and didn't trust me. So I just read my book and didn't pay attention to him, didn't look at him and even turned the pages in the book and he would spook back but come up again. He got used to my hands moving the pages but not touching him and he got over it pretty fast and wasn't so spooked with my hands moving.

Once he was better with eating next to me and my hands moving I would bring the food closer too me gradually then reach down and pick at the hey, move it around some and not pay attention to him watching me. Then go back to reading my book, I kept doing this and he eventually got used to me moving the hay and uncovering the "good stuff" underneath. He really liked the leaves from the alfalfa but not the stems so I would move those out of the way for him and pretty soon he realized every time I reached down and moved the hay around I uncovered the next layer of leaves and he was happy to have me messing with the hay.

From there it went really fast and before you know it he was happy to see me and fallowing me around and coming when called.

You have all the time to get this foal to trust you from the get go. I wouldn't push yourself on her and try to catch her. Just read a book and let it happen. She is young and looking for someone to buddy up too if she trusts you. Before you know it you won't be able to do anything with out her wanting to know what you are doing and what you got in your hands.

I think because I didn't push myself on Muffin and I "helped" him with finding his leaves he grew into a horse that wants to know what you have and is not afraid of new things I bring to him. He trusts me and kept that curious personality. It makes every day training so much easier now that he is 2 1/2 and wants to be around me and check out what I have in my hand instead of being scared of it.

I would take is slow and you will get better results in a faster time period and build a trusting relationship for the long run. It won't take her no time at all to start coming over when you walk out there if she only gets feed when you are out there with the food.

I bet in less then two weeks she will be just fine with you messing with the food, moving around and petting her head and she will just stand there and eat. Then you can work on standing up and offering her food and starting to pet her neck and body.

I wouldn't grab her halter at all until she is fine with you touching her shoulder and body while she eats. If she is calm and not worried about you moving around or touching her then I would start to work on halter braking her now that she is more comfortable with you and will be willing to lead or fallow you with out being afriad.