From: Vidheya
Hello Jessica,
You have indeed readers all over the world: this reaction comes from the french pyrenees!
I have a question about a male foal, he is 10 months now. I have had another, female, foal which was very easy and learnt everything without a problem. This male foal, on the contrary, has always been a little difficult. It seems he does not have much confidence in humans, it took a lot of time to let him accept me touching him, his eyes are in general not quietly, confidently looking (from the side, with a little white visible). He is not mean at all, but easily turns his hind legs, and he can kick his back legs to you. I leave him quietly when he is eating, but it happened twice that when i brought food to him he turned his ass to me and i really had to get away. In general though I come quite close to him, also from the back (I don't want him to think i am afraid), and in general this is not a problem. (He also goes away when I tell him to, by moving quietly but clearly my arms to him). I wonder if this is caused at his birth, he is born early in the morning, we weren't there, outdoors (we live in the mountains). Just after his birth he has fallen down where he could not climb up again, just under the fence, pretty far away from his mother, maybe 10 meters down. We found him in the bramble bushes and we had to carry him with difficulty steep up, carry him over a fallen tree, in short: this must have been quite a trauma for him.
Back to his mother who was looking for him all the time (and his old auntie as well), everything was fine, they found each other, we led them quietly to the stable where they stayed for some hours and where he found the milk.
He has also the habit of biting, from early days on. He says hello and then bites, it is as if he just wants something in his mouth. Now I give him a rope to bite in, and then i touch him, lift his foot, things like that. But as soon as he drops the rope, he bites in my clothes, or my arm. I tell him strongly NO, and he stops, but he does it again and again. He also bites his mother, the more energy he has, the better he feels, the more he bites his mother, or other horses. They are patient with him, play, or are strong to him when they are fed up.
Is this typical male behaviour, is he simply a wild thing? Is he a particulalrly strong character? Could you say something about how to be with him? Keep him more tight than average, or does he need on the contrary a lot of freedom?
I also have difficulty making him follow me. I tried with a rope around his hindlegs, as i had read somewhere, but he resists a lot, and for this I don't want to force him, it seems this is not the right way for him. He comes when I call him (he is always curious to see me, and hinneys sometimes to me) , and when he is in the right mood, but that is not a good basis. I would like to lead him to places sometimes.
And the a last question: what is a good age to have a male foal castrated?
I know you receive a lot of questions, and this is a long letter. Still I really hope to find an answer from you. Thank you. Vidheya.
Hi Vidheya! I don't think that there is anything wrong with your foal; he sounds like a normal ten-month-old colt. The behaviour problems you've described -- aggression toward other horses, resistance to leading, a desire to bite or chew everything within reach -- are all very typical colt behaviours. They are also behaviours that tend to get much more noticeable and much more pronounced at puberty -- and at ten months, your colt is probably reaching that stage.
His early trauma may have affected him, but there is nothing you can do about that NOW. You can focus on building a good relationship with him, but that will be much easier for you to do when he is capable of paying attention and listening to you. Right now, it sounds as if he is listening to one thing only: his hormones1
So, to answer your last question first, a good age to have a male foal gelded is "any time at all". The sooner the better, because the process is easier and less painful, and the recovery time is shorter, if the foal is very young. But NOW would be an excellent time. It's still early enough in the year that you shouldn't have a problem with flies. If you don't geld him soon, you may find that his mother and his auntie -- and any other available mares -- are pregnant, and that may not suit your plans. So, why not separate him from the mares NOW, and put him in a field with colts and geldings? If it takes a few weeks before you can get your veterinarian to come out to geld the colt, at least he'll be with other horses, and they may be less patient and tolerant than his mother and auntie.
Horses learn discipline best when they learn it from other horses, and some mares are too old and gentle and patient to discipline their foals properly.
Such foals will be better off if they are turned out with older geldings who can be a little fierce with them at first, and teach them some manners.
A month or two after gelding, he should settle down, and his behaviour should become less silly. But he will still be interested in mouthing and biting everything, for two reasons: (1) since horses have no hands, they use their muzzles and lips -- and teeth -- to investigate unfamiliar objects, and (2) now and for the next several years, your colt will be losing baby teeth and growing his permanent teeth.
Don't try to keep him from mouthing and chewing all objects -- it's natural behaviour. But DO teach him that biting humans is NOT ALLOWED AT ALL. (You can look in the HORSE-SENSE archives for previous posts on that subject.) He needs to learn to stand quietly for the veterinarian and the farrier, and perhaps for the dentist -- and for you, too. And he should learn to lead.
At ten months, he is old enough to be quite strong. You will probably want to use a "foal rope" until he leads well: it's a long piece of flat, soft braided cotton rope that you can wrap around him in a figure 8, with one loop in front of his chest, one loop behind and above his hocks, and the middle of the 8 just behind his withers, where you can hold it comfortably.
With this arrangement, you will have the foal in a sort of "suitcase" arrangement with the handle in your hand.
Standing next to his shoulder and facing forward, you can ask him to go forward by moving your hand forward so that the rope pushes his hindquarters. When you want him to stop or stand, just stop or stand quietly so that the foal's forward movement will be restricted by the rope around his chest. Talk to him, teach him what you want, and what the words mean, so that he can learn to go and stop and stand and turn. Since there are no knots or clips anywhere in the rope, if the worst happens and the foal becomes tangled, you can let the rope fall to the ground and begin again later.
As he begins to understand this arrangement, you can add a short leadrope attached to his halter. With this in your other hand, you'll be able to teach him to respond to light pressure on his nose. At first, use only the foal-rope and just hold the leadrope loosely, then gradually begin to use a small amount of pressure on the leadrope at the same time that you use the foal-rope, so that the foal will learn to point his nose in the direction that he is going. When this is comfortable for you both, you can begin to use the leadrope just BEFORE you use the foal-rope, so that the foal will learn to respond to the leadrope (with the action of the foal-rope coming immediately afterward to reinforce and clarify your request). Finally, you will discover that the foal understands and responds to the leadrope alone, at which point the foal-rope can be discarded.
If you can't find a suitable flat-braided cotton rope, you can make your own. Buy a piece of three-strand twisted cotton rope. Then untwist the strands, fasten them together at one end, braid them, and secure them when you reach the other end.
Take your time, be patient, do NOT accept ANY biting (if he nips you, move toward him suddenly and make a horrible loud noise -- this tells him that he has made a mistake and that he should not do that again). Spend a lot of time talking to him and grooming him, teach him to tie and to lead, to pick up his feet, etc. Take him for walks -- he won't be old enough for formal riding-horse training for several more years, but he is old enough to learn good manners and how to be a good companion. Don't be afraid to be strict with him and say "NO", and to tell and show him exactly what you want. Young horses, like young children, are much more secure and comfortable if they know what the rules and boundaries are, and if they know that they are NOT in charge of everything. You can make this clear to your foal. He won't be angry, he will be more at ease.
Above all, let him spend most of his time outdoors, in a field with other horses (geldings, for preference). He will be physically and mentally healthier, and much easier to train.
Jessica
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