Need some advice about a new foal?

I did it again. I got another baby. I got her at a horse sale on Sept. 9th. She's 3 months old and wild as can be. I don't understand why people breed horses and then ignore them for the first couple years of their life. I live in South Dakota and that seems to be the way people do it here. Now I have this foal who has no idea what kind of creature I am. She tries to go through the fence at least once a day when I appoach it. I am keeping her in a 16 x16 pen right now. I don't want to put her in with my other baby, Lincoln, until she is haltered. I know patience is the key here...I just don't understand why people wait so long to imprint their horses. If the people who origionally had her and had taken the time to at least get her use to people, she wouldn't be so scared right now. She's suppose to be a registered paint, but she is pure black with and wisp of white on one of her back legs, right along the hoof and a white star on her forehead.Need some advice about a new foal?
Firstly, her behavior has nothing to do with imprinting. We had over 700 mares and foals on the ranch in TX and we didn't do anything with them until they were about 6 to 8 months old and we had no trouble with them whatsoever when it came to halter break them.


The problem here is that she is just 12 weeks old, she should still be on her mother, she shouldn't be penned up on her own. Even if someone had handled her, I doubt her behavior would be much better given the circumstances. She needs contact with her own species, she needs to learn how to interact with other horses and she shouldn't be in a pen alone - no wonder she's trying to go through the fence. Your company is no substitute for the company of other horse or foal. Surely you can see that? In another 2 years she'll get started under saddle, this is the time that they should be ';just foals'; and she should have the chance to socialize and play with others.


She should still be on mare's milk replacement, she should have grain and milk pellets in a creep feeder and she should be with the other foal. I firmly think that the situation you have now is less than ideal and it's only a matter of time before she has an accident or develops ulcers and other stress related disorders.





Edit - I fully understand that she was weaned off her mother before you bought her and that is beyond your control. However, she still needs interaction with another foal/old mare. Human company cannot teach her the social skills that she will need. She's was already born at a disadvantage, you now have the opportunity to make up for some of that but keeping her in a pen by herself is not only dangerous if she is repeadedly trying to get out but it will eventually cook her head mentally making her that much more difficult to handle. She needs to be able to just play and be a foal and you'll find that she settles down much easier and will be far more willing when you come to work with her.Need some advice about a new foal?
Patience IS the key. The foal has to have time to bond with you
It is best to get the 3 month old registered with the papers you have.





1) If my horse's previous owners did when she was 18 months old (when they bought her) before I purchased her at 4 and half years old, I wouldn't have to shuckle out 1,500 in registeration fee, plus 35 in blood test fee etc. Compared to a simple $50 bucks back then, when the Sire/Dam where alive, they where too lazy to do...2





2) Keeps understanding of her blood line and records.





3) These are dumb back yard breeders and if they where to the point to sell due to color, then don't honestly trust what markings they left on the paper work. Update it with the markings this horse currently has. Over time, she might fade some white frickles or so as she gets older.





There is a such thing as a solid paint. In the Paint showing circuit, color is flashy. Solid isn't. Therefore, preference of color over solid horses is very true. If the sockings on the legs doesn't go past up the knee's or hocks, both parents must be registered paints with color, I believe for this filly, to be registered as a paint. It is weird how they like to base registration on color as well as parentage relations...





I have to do testing on my quarter gelding, because they believe he has ';paint'; in him, even though the sire is registered and my mare's parents are registered quarter (getting her registered, but have bloodline paperwork to prove) etc. Just due to a little white spot on his legs that isn't consider a sock, half sock or pasturn marking. It is a pain sometimes.





As far as her development. You should know with your other foal, it just takes patience and time with trust. She will come around. There was nights I stayed out with my gelidng, even though I was there when he was born, inprinted, I sleep out there with him. I spent most of my hours after school with him. It really did help. As far as putting him with the other horses, that I recommend NOT doing no matter what others say. You already stated a few factual reasons not to: not vaccinated nor wormed. You also have a 3 month old with a slightly older horse. Don't want anything to go ';wrong'; in any shape or form at these ages. Being stalled next to eachother is okay once vaccinated etc for bonding.





You can also be in search of a broodmare or older horse to keep company. When I weanned my gelding at 6 months, we had an estimated 38 year old Appy be his ';side kick';. In fact, the Appy was more ';alive'; with my gelding driving him nuts than he was with the other horses. So, it benefited both and our vets felt that was the best thing to do.





Make sure, as she is not properly nutritioned up til you bought her due to them early weaning, you give her proper nutrition and supplements. She is too young to be eating straight alfalfa/hay alone. 3 months is way too early to be at a sells auction like that. It does happen, to my knowledge, it is not legal (where I live that is). Can get in trouble with the Animal Cruelty Organization if caught, if the horse is not orphoned or the mare is being sold, or if foal is sold, but stays with mare until proper age weaning.
Congratulations on your purchase...she sounds beautiful. I would just tell you about a similar experience we had. We bought a six month old colt a few years ago, and he was terrified of us. He was the smallest colt in the bunch of weanlings, shivering in the stall of a dirty sale barn. We chose him because of his pretty little dished head and silvery color. Our bid of $115 bought him. We left him at the barn overnight, since we hadn't planned on purchasing a horse and it was midnight when the sale ended and we had no trailer. So the next day, he was standing in his little stall and was very lonely. Still, to catch him, we had to corner him and hold him to put the halter on. He was so little we could hold him with our hands. When we got him home, we kept him separate from our older mare, just to be certain they would get along first. It took a few months, but once he started trusting us, that was it. He has totally accepted everything we've tried with him, and now almost three years later we are riding him. He is the calmest, most laid back colt I've ever ridden, and hasn't tried to buck, run, spook, or balk.





I agree with you that people who breed are responsible for the horses they raise. The woman we bought him from should not be in the horse business, as she sold about ten weanlings at the sale and ours brought more than any of the others! Talk about raising trash and not improving on any of them! Our horse was half Quarter Horse, half Appaloosa, and may have been starved because he was so tiny. He is about 14 hands now, and a silver color with black mane and tail and black spots on his hindquarters. We plan to train him to be a child's horse, since he will always be small and is so gentle. But his previous owner should not be breeding horses at all.





Gentling just takes time. Just sitting in the pen and offering it feed will get it used to you. Exposing it to lots of different sounds and places will help it be less spooky once you do get it halter broke. Our colt is so used to cars passing, chainsaws roaring, dogs barking, kittens in the barn, people coming and going, farm machinery parked nearby....he just doesn't spook at anything. And he leads with just an arm around his neck--no halter needed. So just keep working with your new one, and she will come around. Good luck!
i believe lisa said it all
I would recommend starting clicker training with her. It can be done with young animals. Go to: clickertraining.com and check it out. And no, I am not affiliated with this lady or her program, but I am a lifelong horse lover and have read about clicker training; it works and makes sense and can be used on all domestic animals.
Good luck and you are doing the right thing, patience and time will help. Do not put her in with your other foal until you can catch and halter this new foal because if they get together it will be much harder to work with the foal.





I rescue PMU foals every year and they are all young and have never been handled. If she is coming up to you at feeding time, that is the best time to start working with her. Start grooming and handling her, rub your hands all over her, hug her, let her know you will not hurt her. Try to get a halter on as soon as possible and leave it on for a few days. You may also want to put a small grab strap on it to make it easier to catch her.





Since I work with PMUs I know exactly what you mean about people and breeding. I have mares that are 14 years old that have never been handled other than to catch the urine. With time they have all come around once they know they are not going to be hurt.
First of all, to Lisa M- KNOCK OFF THE NASTY ATTITUDE, DUDE !!! This asker is a friend of mine- we met when she was asking for help with Lincoln, right after she first got him last spring. HE wasn't halter broken either, at that point, and she needed help to get him to a point where he could be caught and handled safely. (Sorry, my friend- I had to say that. Lisa has no right to judge you in such a manner, when you are obviously doing that poor baby a favor by rescuing her. It's also obvious that she was orphaned, just the way Lincoln was, by circumstances that are and were way beyond your control.)


My suggestion to you where the filly ( BTW, does she have a name yet?) is concerned is to spend lots of time in the pen with her, just sitting quietly, reading, doing bookwork( paying bills or whatever) until she gets curious and comes up to you on her own. All foals are curious by nature, and once the filly gets over her fears ( and she will, eventually, as long as the atmosphere is kept quiet and calm, and no harm comes to her) she will naturally be curious about her surroundings and you. Be patient, though, because this may take awhile. Remember that she has just been through a very traumatic experience- losing one's mother at the age of 3 months is hard on ANY foal. It may take her some time to figure out that no one is going to hurt her. Meanwhile, make sure she has plenty of good feed ( I agree that she needs access to a creep feeder or something similar, depending on your circumstances) and hay, and just be patient. Keep visiting her pen a few times a day. Once the filly realizes you are harmless, and that you are the one who brings the food, then she will be more ready to accept you touching her and getting her used to being handled. I would ask your vet for some advice on what wormer to use once you finally succeed in getting her haltered- and it's a pretty good bet that she has never had any shots as yet, so I'd ask about a vaccination schedule as well. Just take it slow- you are doing the right thing with her, no matter what Lisa says. Doesn't Lincoln have a surrogate mom in one of your other horses? ( The Arab mare you asked about back in the spring is the one I am thinking of- aren't they pals?) Perhaps, if that is the case, you can pasture your mare next to this filly's pen to give her some companionship of her own kind, and help her get used to her new surroundings. I am pretty sure Lincoln won't object too much, as long as you don't separate them for too long a time.





Good luck, and I hope this helps.
I understand your frustration with the foal not being imprinted as I have always done that and think it helps. Idealy everyone would do it and also handle their babies daily. I also know the other side of the coin as LisaM pointed out that on the large breeding farms babies are turned out to grow. With the TB's we do imprint at birth, by 2mo they are outside until weaned. During this time we do make a point of getting every baby led in and out several times and all are haltered. I walk the fields everyday to check halter sizing but with 55-60 foals its not like having one baby to mess with everyday. After weaning the 20-25 that stay over winter come in to live and get handled daily for turnout, vet, farrier but make the transition usually very quickly from living out.


I do think your baby needs to be with your other baby. She's gone from her dam and possibly a herd situation to no contact with other horses. Talk about stress, not even accounting for your efforts to befriend her. I think you both would benefit greatly from her seeing your interaction with Lincoln. When we have to catch the more elusive babies it always helps to have another horse...in the stall I move the mares around to block the path of the baby and as a shield of sorts to get close to them... out in the open they'll follow their dam towards a corner of the fence. Play on her jealousy, if you walk in with feed/ handfuls of grass/ even hay and Lincoln walks over she will get curious and check it out, she will follow his lead. It will be much better for her mind to be around him and have a good example set for her to learn from. Also I would advise once you do get a halter on her to tie a short ';catch rope'; on her halter, we use about 12';-18'; of baling twine. I'm sure you will get her through as you already know patience is the key :) Good luck.
We raise orphan foals for other people. Most orphan foals do not get nearly enough milk. Milk replacer, IMHO, isn't really all that good for them.


But, the good news is that they will catch up if later nutrition is sound. I had a TB foal who was only 13.1 as a yearling. As a 3 year old he was over 16 hands.


We raised foals for many many years and didn't really work with any of them until just before they were weaned at 6 to 8 months. Never had a bit of trouble. The suggestion of sitting in her pen and reading is a good one but much better to have her with other tame horses.


Best of luck. I've done just as you're doing which is why I have about 6 more horses than I need. There are way too many $25 foals out there and often they sell around here as part of a 3 in one package. You get mare, foal, and the mare bred back. Part of the problem is that there are people who feel that the only use a mare has is to carry foals. Idiotic!
There would be nothing wrong with turning her out with the other foal, as long as you can herd the pair from the larger area to a smaller area without having to touch either one. Actually, the smaller the better (to a point). A 12'x12' or 10'x10' stall would be ideal. You can use Lincoln to help pin WildThing in a corner to get a halter and lead on her. You will probably want a second person to help you catch her the first few times.





Once she quits jumping around and starts being a little curious, lean back against the wall with the leadshank in hand and let her smell you from head to toe. If she opens her mouth like she is thinking about biting, kind of shake her off a little, but be gentle. Just moving the spot she is thinking of tasting or a very light bump on the muzzle is enough to discourage teeth. I used this on a couple very skittish fillies with excellent results.
The same thing is going on east river SD. Registered weanlings going for under $50.00 and nobody wants them. Some are tame, some are wild. How can people afford to tie up a mare with being bred and raising a foal and obviously loosing money on the them? I don't get it.


Then there are the suckers like me who have a hard time sitting through a sale without ';saving'; a couple. I will be going to a sale Saturday and probably be dragging home a couple of projects for the winter. I have plenty of feed and extra time in the winter so it usually works for me. Get them tamed down and fattened up and sell the ones I don't want in the spring.


I just sold a four-year old mare last night. She was bought at Corsica as a weanling. Whoever sold her brought 7 weanlings in. They were so wild that 4 had to be put down by the time they got to the salebarn because of broken legs, bad cuts etc. The local horse guru bought the remaining 3 and got them exposed to people, machinery, guns, etc. I bought her as a yearling. I got kicked when we put a halter on her and lost 3 fingernails but with TIME she turned into a beautiful mare. She only liked me though. Make sure your new filly gets exposed to plenty of people. Mine didn't but I got lucky. My old high-school friend and her hubby stopped by, fell in love with her, I said I would sell her and they pulled up with the trailer last night. It was so cool, I lead ';Calamity Jane'; up to them, she sniffed and immediately bonded with her husband. CJ put her head down and relaxed (my jaw about dropped) and was good as gold when he checked her out. They were thrilled with the price and her looks and intellegence, and I am happy she went to a caring home with lots of love and attention. Sorry, I get talking about what I've dealt with and I am supposed to be answering your questions.


Like you said, I would get her wormed ASAP and because she is wild, it might be a little tricky. You can do it, though. Make sure she didn't bring anything else home from the sale, and then I would turn her in with Lincoln. He will teach her that you are not the bad guy, and she will settle down.


I would be concerned about her papers too. Paint foals are famous for changing color, but the star on her head should have been there when she was born.


Have patience, she will come around and watch your fingers! Good luck.
I would suggest sitting in the pen and not doing a thing other than that. Take a book and go read in the pen so she can just get used to you being there and your scent. Let her approach you on her own. It stinks dealing with babies like that. We had a couple at the barn where I work off board and they were kept stalled in a foaling stall and we just would do the daily cleaning and talk to them the whole while. They would get used to us and not climb the walls and eventually after a few weeks we were able to get them to approach us and after a few more we were petting them and then haltering. Leading took a bit but they figured it out and now they're really great to work with. Give her time to build up some of her trust. I would start asap though.
People should start imprinting from the time a horse is born.