From: Sandy
Hi Jessica,
I hope you can please help me - and quick. I have a nine day old Welsh Mountain pony filly. I used the imprinting method and she is excellent to be with. She stands while I brush her, I can pick up all of her feet, and I had a halter on her for about 10 minutes (no walking yet).
When I go out to see her and her mom, I can walk right up to her and pet and rub her. But when I turn to walk away, she will put her ears back and in most cases, she will rear up. I have always watched to make sure she doesn't get me when she rears and in fact her front feet are only coming off the ground about 1-2 feet, but it is a rear and I don't like it. It makes me feel unsafe to turn my back on her and I get very nervous when I bring my 4 year old son out to see her. I believe she is doing this because she wants the attention constantly on her, but she also has done it just when she comes up to me in the pasture. Her mother is excellent tempered, no problems and doesn't mind when I am around her foal. I have used the buzzer sound tell her it is the wrong thing to do, but it is not working. She also is very mouthy. Lots of biting, chewing. I have used the buzzer sound when she does this and also give her muzzle a firm squeeze. I think I have a handle on the biting/chewing problem, but the rearing is what I am most concerned about. I have had lots of horses before, but never a foal. Welsh ponies are wonderfully tempered, and I don't want to turn my foal into a 'jerk'. (snappy and ill mannered). By the way, I am 30 years old, I just have a thing for Welsh ponies. (Everyone askes me if the ponies are for my son)
I would be grateful for your help. Thank you.
Sandy
Letting the filly wear a halter for a few minutes at a time is okay, but don't even THINK about leading her yet. It's very easy to damage the neck of a young foal; save the leading practice for later. Instead, lead her mother and let her follow alongside. If you want to show her -- as you should -- that you are bigger and stronger than she is, hold her still with one arm around her chest and the other around her rump, and just keep her in one place for a minute or two, until she understands that she can move off when you allow it, and not before. If she fusses, you can even lift her and just hold her off the ground for a few moments. If you do this now, she'll accept that you are more powerful than she is, and she'll never forget the lesson. When she is bigger and stronger and heavier and older, she will think that you can still do this. It will make ALL of her later training much easier.
All babies are mouthy -- a nine-day-old foal is very new to the world, and your filly is going to explore the way all little horses explore: with her mouth. EVERYTHING is new to her, she is growing fast, she's curious, she wants to learn, she wants to touch everything, and she doesn't have hands. ;-) Biting and chewing aren't inappropriate behaviours for her right now; they are baby behaviours and entirely appropriate. She is learning to eat grain and grass, and she has to "test" everything to find out whether it's edible. You're dealing with a baby -- and using her mouth on everything is part of exploring her world. If you don't want her mouth on something -- a particular plant, a rope, a piece of equipment, your arm -- you need to keep it out of her reach. Later on, things will be different. Right now, she's in the same position as a human infant -- she's putting everything into her mouth. Human babies do that too, and even put their toes into their mouths once they discover that they HAVE toes. And they'll suck on their toys, their fingers, YOUR fingers, pencils, potholders, anything they can get their hands on... later, when they are older, we teach them NOT to put things into their mouths. But when they're babies, it's appropriate behaviour, suitable to their age and stage of development, and it's not something that needs to be corrected or changed. After all, they are TEETHING -- and so is your filly.
Don't hand-feed your foal. If she opens her mouth in your direction, and you don't want her lipping your sleeve or your fingers, just push her muzzle away. Talk to her -- she's not too young to start learning what your voice means, and she'll quickly learn to know the difference between a soft, approving voice and a harsh, loud "NO". All of this will carry over to her training. If you put fingers or sleeves or toes in her way, they'll end up in her mouth -- accept that, and make it YOUR responsibility to keep them OUT of her mouth.
Yes, you want to have a nice, well-mannered pony, but you need to remember that this is a very new baby, and that you need a balance here. You have to know what is normal for a foal -- and that's not too complicated: Baby foals drink milk, nibble everything, rear, kick, buck, run around their mothers, run away from their mothers and come back, run in big circles, play very hard with other foals or dogs or cats or people or anything else that's available, and then lie down very suddenly, get absolutely FLAT, and go to sleep. Then they get up and do it all again.
If your foal doesn't have any other foals to play with, and if her mother and the other mares in the group are old and staid, her instinct to play and her boundless energy can get you into trouble if she sees you as her playmate. Let her grow up with her mother, and watch how -- and when -- her mother disciplines her. And although I understand that you want your four-year-old son to enjoy the pretty foal, let him watch from the fence, or from some other secure place. Little children adore horses and want to play with them, which makes perfect sense. Little foals want to play with anyone who will play with them, which also makes perfect sense. But foals need FOALS to play with, not little human children. Pony foals are adorable, but most of their charm -- quick darting movements, sudden kicks and rears, spinning and running -- is best observed from a distance. Normal foal behaviour can kill or maim a small child whose face or head is in the way when a foal, with NO bad intentions at all, does what a foal does and spins, rears, kicks, and runs.
As for you -- be careful. ;-) Holding and lifting the foal, and putting her down and letting her go when YOU are ready, will make the point you want to make. Leading comes later, and you can't expect a baby NOT to be mouthy. You can reprimand her for nipping, but try to avoid the situation in the first place so that you aren't constantly fussing at her for being a baby. The buzzer sound works best when foals are past babyhood; right now, ALL sounds are new and different. If you want to make a "STOP THAT!" noise at her, squeal like an annoyed mare. THAT sound has a truly amazing effect on foals -- they know what it means, and they stop in their tracks. ;-)
From your description, I'd say that you're really doing very well with your new foal. Just stay safe, and don't expect too much from her. She has to learn how to be a pony first, and her mother will teach her that. You've taught her quite a lot already and done an excellent job: you can put a halter on her and take it off; she stands, which means the vet can work with her; she lets you pick up her feet, which means the farrier can work with her; she obviously likes you. She's already miles ahead of the pony foals that get brought in with their mothers and meet humans for the first time when they are several months old! You've done very well. Now relax a little, stand back, and just enjoy watching your foal grow up. (Don't forget to take photos!)
I love Welsh ponies too. ;-)
Jessica
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