From: Kristin
Hi Jessica, I have gotten your list for a long time and have never had to ask a question, you always seem to cover everything I need. However, I do find myself need some information that hasn't been covered. I bred my maiden 6 year old TB mare this last year to an Andulusian. We were fortunate enough to get a fantastic colt who is now three weeks old. How soon can I start my mare back into riding again and what method seems to work best? Are there things that I need to look for that tell me we are pushing too fast?
I jumped on her out in the big back pasture just to see how she would react with the baby. She was very calm and relaxed. I think she is little jealous of all the attention that the colt is getting and was happy to be the center of attention. One problem is that the pasture has awful footing so I will have to some how get mom and baby down to an arena down the street. Any suggestions?
The baby allows me to take the halter on and off, but doesn't get the leading thing. He tends to go backward rather than forward. Should I work on leading him first before trying anything else? Thanks for any help you can give.
Kristin : - }
The easiest way to put your mare back into ridden work is a little at a time, in the pasture with the foal present. Keep the work gentle, slow, and brief -- as long as the mare is nursing the foal, you shouldn't overheat her. Don't try to take her to an arena anytime soon, just walk her in the pasture and let the foal follow you. It won't hurt him, and he'll still be in his familiar pasture, so he can lie down and take a nap if he gets bored or tired. Even on poor footing, you'll be able to help your mare start to get back into shape by walking her under saddle for a month (or two, or three). If you do this for three months, you'll find that when you finally wean the foal and put his mother back into full work, she'll be ready.
Once the foal is a few months old, you can start taking his mother OUT of the pasture for brief periods. If the pasture is safely fenced and he has a familiar companion with him, he can be taught to stay calm whilst his mother is gone. Begin by taking her out of his sight for just a few minutes, then add a few minutes at a time. You won't be able to do any work with her, but you'll be preparing both of them for later separations. Once the foal has learned that his mother goes away AND COMES BACK, he will worry much less about the separations.
Right now, your mare's most important job is to raise and educate her young foal. Let her focus on that job for a few more weeks before you begin to separate them, and then spend a week or two creating the habit and understanding that will let the foal accept his mother's brief absences without going into a panic and hurting himself.
Three weeks is too young to learn to lead safely. Wait until he is at least six weeks old, and when you DO teach him to lead, use a foal rope (a wide flat-braided cotton rope long enough to wrap around him in a figure-eight). This will restrain him front and back, just as your arms do when you practice restraining him now. When you "lead" him, you'll be doing the actual work with the foal rope, and using the lead rope only to indicate to him that you are about to start or stop moving. Don't put any pressure on his head with the lead rope, and never PULL him -- foals this young have very delicate necks and can be badly damaged by too-early attempts at leading with a leadrope.
When he's learned to walk, stop, and turn with you, you can use a single wrap of the foal rope: stop using the loop around his chest, and just use a single loop around his hindquarters as a "come-along". By this time, he'll understand more about taking his direction from the lead rope. Finally, when he responds to this reliably (which may take several weeks or months), you'll be able to discard the "come-along". By that time, he'll have learned to respond to your brief gentle pressure on his nose, and to your verbal signals and body language. All of this will help make him a better-behaved, more sensible horse for the rest of his life, so it won't be a waste of time no matter how long it takes. ;-) But no matter what anyone tells you -- and someone will probably, at some point, tell you to "fight it out" or "get tough" with the baby, NEVER get into a pulling contest with a foal, and NEVER tie a young foal -- it's a quick and easy way to end up with an injured or dead foal. You're training this baby for the long term, not trying to score points over him in the short term. YOU realize this -- but not everyone who offers advice will understand, so you'll have to get in the habit of saying "Thank you" and then going right on doing what you know is correct. ;-)
Have fun with your mare and foal, and let me know how he progresses!
Jessica
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