From: Tamara
Hi Dr. Jahiel,
I have so much respect for your wisdom and I have gained so much from reading your newsletters. I am hoping you can help me with a sensitive subject. My best friend Debbie recently got "into" horses-- she has always loved them, but is still very afraid around them. Her knees literally knock when she is around them. Her in-laws (who have very limited horse experience themselves) recently bought a yearling stud colt and a weanling filly at auction. Having limited space themselves, they gave them to my friend to graze them on her newly purchased, partially fenced seven acres.
To her credit, Debbie has been learning as much as she can, and I am so excited that she is jumping into this with both feet. However, I am so afraid that she or her husband will get hurt, and I feel quite strongly that this is not an ideal situation for them or the colts. I have voiced my concern to the point that it has strained our friendship. I've told her it's not just me who thinks this is a dangerous and not an ideal situation, and I've consulted a couple of well-respected local vets and a local horse trainer, all of whom think it is a bad situation as well. She respects and agrees with everything that you write, and I'm hoping you can either calm me down or talk some sense into her.
She's had the colts for a couple of months now, and (at my urging and from reading your newsletters on the subject that I've forwarded to her) is planning to have the colt gelded soon, thank goodness. He strikes at them, and both colts are as yet still untrained and unmannered. The situation is made worse by the fact that they are kept in the same large stall all day and night, with limited turnout time due to very wet winters here. They have to be hand-led out to the pasture, and they go nuts, trying to run by the person leading them, running over the top of them, striking out, rearing sometimes, etc. (I've advised her to finish the fencing and let them go in and out of the stall as they wish so that they can be out on the pasture 24/7). She has been getting some instruction with a local trainer who comes out and gives her lessons at her place. I've been learning about the quieter methods used by Buck Brannaman and Ray Hunt, and this trainer uses stud chains, and so far hasn't been able to impart to Debbie or the colts the importance of personal boundaries and respect.
I am so afraid that Debbie or her husband will get hurt and I feel quite strongly that both she and these colts deserve better. Her in-laws would take the horses back in a heartbeat if that's what Debbie and her husband wanted, but they've "bonded" with them and refuse to send them back. She admits that they weren't ready for horses when they were given these colts, and worries about the safety of others handling them, but won't send them back. I would much rather see her take riding lessons and take some time to find a gentle, seasoned gelding who can fill in for her. I want having a horse to be a positive experience for her. I am done harping on the subject to her, and now all I can do is support her and help her learn as much as possible, BUT-- I am hoping that hearing advice from you will convince her to do whatever you feel is in the best interest of her and the horses. Thanks so much for all you do to help the horses and the people who love them! Tamara
She ABSOLUTELY should not have such young horses on her place, and her in-laws should not have asked her to take them. For everyone's safety, they should take them back immediately, and sell them to someone who actually wants very young horses, AND knows how to handle them, AND has facilities suitable to accomodate their needs. Weanlings and yearlings should be outdoors full-time, in a large, safely-fenced field, in the company of other horses of varying ages. They need this environment so that they can become healthy and fit and develop normally - if they're confined at such a young age, they will NEVER be able to develop normally, because they won't be able to "catch up" or make up for the development they missed during those crucial first two years. They also need this environment so that they can learn manners and deportment. A young horse's best teachers are older horses in a herd. Even the best, wisest, most experienced human trainers are a poor second-best, because they're not horses - and because they're not with the young horses day and night. Even the very best, most experienced, most confident humans are inferior teachers when compared with older horses in the herd... and humans who are inexperienced and afraid are the worst possible teachers. They're always at risk themselves, and they put the young horses at risk as well.
Some colts and fillies are sexually mature at 6 or 7 months of age. These two should not be turned out together, much less locked into a stall together! The colt should be gelded immediately, kept separated from mares and fillies for at least six weeks afterwards (but not confined to a stall - he should be in a field with other colts and geldings) and both youngsters should be sent to a facility where they can be kept under proper conditions. They can't learn good manners if they are kept locked up day and night, separated from other horses, and handled by people who know very little about horses and nothing about youngstock.
Please continue to encourage your friend to give back those two young horses. This is a bad and dangerous situation, and can't possibly lead anywhere positive. I'm sure that she and her husband have worked hard to acquire their farm and the money to pay for lessons and horses and all the costly things that become necessary when people acquire horses (fencing alone can be a huge expense!). Right now, unfortunately, they're doing it all wrong and creating unnecessary dangers - and ruining two young horses in the process, which I'm sure is NOT what they want to do.
It would be lovely if your friend and her husband could learn about horses, learn to ride, set up their property in a way that would let them manage horses correctly and safely, and then buy one or two older, well-trained, quiet, pleasant geldings on which they could continue to take lessons. It's always possible to become injured when you're dealing with horses - horses are big, heavy, and fast, can hear and smell things that we can't, and have rapid and strong reactions to things we may not even perceive. But there are ways to miminize the risks, and ways to maximize them... and right now, your friend is maximizing the risk to herself, her husband, the horses, and their property. I won't even attempt to analyze the liability issues!
I'm sure that your friend has become attached to these young horses, but if she wants to do what's best for THEM, as well as what's best for herself and her husband and their future together on their farm, she'll send them back and begin taking lessons with someone who will be able to help her find suitable horses when she's ready to become a horse-owner. It's unfortunate that she's gotten "into horses" in the wrong way, because it makes it so much less likely that she'll be able to relax, learn, and enjoy horses later in her life.
She is very lucky to have a friend like you to help and advise her, even if your advice is presently making her angry. Don't give up - keep harping on the subject, because it's better to have an annoyed, angry friend than an injured or dead friend, and that's where she's headed if she and her husband continue along their present course. It's also important to remember that the horses deserve a chance to grow up normally, be trained, and perhaps become useful equine citizens someday. In the situation you've described, there's no way that can happen.
I'll cross my fingers and hope that she'll follow your advice, get off the path that's leading to danger and failure, and set herself up for success and a lifetime of ENJOYING horses. In the meantime, encourage her and her husband to wear their helmets whenever they handle these young horses. When inexperienced humans attempt to perform even such apparently simple tasks as leading, tying, or walking or trotting a young horse in hand, especially if the young horse is unsocialized and has never been handled correctly, there may well be some rearing and kicking and other unwanted behaviours, and even a very small, light, young horse can cause an incredible amount of damage to an unprotected human body part. Heads don't repair themselves, so your friend and her husband should do everything they can to protect their heads. In the short term, helmets can help (but remember, they don't protect necks or faces). But by "short term," I don't mean "for the next few months" - I mean "during the few days or the week between now and the time those youngsters leave for another, more suitable home." In the medium and long terms - months and years - your friend's best protection will be lessons - and more suitable horses.
Perhaps she'll understand this more readily if you offer an analogous situation. Some people who want to own dogs get off to a bad start because they choose the wrong dog, the wrong breed, the wrong age, and then keep it under the wrong conditions. Apartment-dwellers who look for a small, quiet lapdog and are sold or given something like a baby Border Collie or Cocker Spaniel (in other words, an extremely strong-minded, highly-motivated, high-energy animal that desperately needs room to run and a job to do) often end up taking their pet to the pound because it's completely out of control and has destroyed their furniture and perhaps begun to bite people, and they've decided that after all, perhaps it isn't good to have a dog that has to be kept in a crate around the clock. They finally get rid of the dog because it has "behaviour problems," but don't seem to realize that they personally created each one of those problems. They certainly didn't intend to create behaviour problems, and they never meant to do anything wrong - they just wanted a puppy to love and pet - but unfortunately, their decision to get the puppy meant that the puppy ended up with the wrong owners, the wrong environment, and the wrong situation. Your friend's problems are similar - they're all the result of mishandling, misunderstanding, and confining very young horses, and every problem traces back to the initial decision to bring the wrong animals home.
Jessica
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