Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE Newsletter Archives

New foal - possessive mare

From: Joey

Hi, Jessica. . .

You've given me some great advice in the past, so I'm turning to you again about our new foal. She's almost a month old and just as adorable as she can be. I wrote to you about the mare who I was afraid had had too much fescue. The foal is strong and healthy and the mare seems to have plenty of milk and is a wonderful and attentive mother.

The problem is that the mare is SUPER possessive over the foal and it's her second one. The filly acts like she'd like to come up to us and check us out, but the mare just gets in between and turns her. The mare's not mean to us nor does she try to harm us, she just gets that filly away from us. She's teaching her to be afraid of us. Is there anything we can do get the mare to trust us more, or will catching the filly now make things worse. We feel like we really need to get a halter on her and get her used to us, but we don't want to scare her even more. The mare comes to us willingly (always did) and will eat from our hand, let us groom her, whatever. . . . just as long as we don't make a move to catch the filly. If we do, she'll calmly turn her and walk away from us. We've tied her in order to spray them for flies and we've held the filly once or twice with the mare tied and us standing right next to her. The mare just fidgets a little, and the filly would calm down and let us pet her after a few minutes, but then the mare's a little harder to catch the next time we go out. Any advise would be appreciated. We do so want to get close to the little filly and have her trust us enough to let us pet her and groom her.

Thanks in advance for your help. Joey

Hi Joey -- I know it's hard to stay away from your new filly, but don't worry. One month old is quite new, and the foal's mother is simply protecting her baby. It's quite natural. By trying to approach the filly, you put the mare on "alert" -- so don't try. Instead, pay attention to the mare! She is NOT teaching the filly to be afraid of you; the filly will learn that only if the mare becomes afraid of you. This filly has ONE role model, and that is her mother -- if the mare isn't afraid, the filly won't be, either. Handle the mare the way you would LIKE to be able to handle the filly, and be patient.

Don't worry about putting a halter on the filly, either. One month is really too young for leading -- you could damage her neck -- and you can halter her perfectly well later on. If you push her right now, you will create problems that will be VERY difficult to deal with later. If it's any comfort, one of my mares was first haltered at two months -- the other, at three years. Both will just about put their halters on by themselves now. You are NOT on a schedule with a deadline. Relax. ;-)

Here's my system for dealing with this sort of situation: go out to the field with a pocketful of treats and a brush. Then pay attention to THE MARE, and ignore the filly. Talk to the mare, pet her, brush her, feed her treats, and then go away again. Don't try to catch the filly, or even pet her -- just focus on the mare, and then leave. Do this frequently, and it will have two very useful effects: the mare will enjoy it, and will think you truly appreciate her for the wonderful creature she is; the filly will watch the interaction and learn from it. If mama always comes up to you, and obviously enjoys your visits and the attention she gets, this is NOT going to escape the baby's attention.

Foals are very curious by nature -- but they are also often timid, especially at this age. Catching a foal in this situation is very much like catching a cat -- you don't. Find a warm wall to lean against, and just stand there -- or bring out a muck bucket, turn it upside down and sit on it. Don't do ANYTHING. Pet the mare if she comes to you, and if the filly comes to you as well, let her sniff you but don't try to grab her. If she finds you to be interesting and nonthreatening, she will come back. Move VERY slowly, and talk softly. Pet her if she comes close, but don't grab her or try to HOLD her or confine her. And don't raise a hand toward her face -- pet her on the neck, side, back, and withers.

Sometimes when you come out, put a halter on the mare and lead her around her field, stopping here and there to feed her a treat and brush her or scratch her itchy spots (if you don't know where they are, find them: halfway up the neck under the mane is a good place to start). She will start associating the halter and leadrope with treats and good times -- and the filly will be watching.

If you and your wife are doing this as a team, one of you can keep playing with the mare and feeding her treats, while the other one can pet the filly WHEN SHE COMES UP TO YOU (don't go after her, don't confine her, etc). At the point where the filly comes up to you and allows you to pet her, don't spend much time on her face and neck. Go directly to her withers, and to the spot on her back that's right above her tail, and scratch her in those places. This is sheer heaven for a foal, and she will form a very good opinion of you.

Don't sneak up on her, though, or you may get an unpleasant surprise. Talk to her, and scratch withers and back FIRST, then rump. Foals have a built-in kicking reflex -- if something touches them SUDDENLY on the rump, they will let fly with both hind legs. When the herd is on the move, this reflex protects them from being run down by older, larger horses -- but you should be aware of it, so that you don't try to pat her on the bottom when she's dozing in the field.

You DO need to get to the point where you can tie the mare while she gets her hooves trimmed, and hold the filly while she gets HER hooves trimmed! At her age, it will just be a matter of a few moments with a rasp, but it's important for her to be relaxed about this. When you're at the point where the mare is comfortable with you handling the filly, you can begin to practice a little bit of leading, but not with a halter -- use a foal rope (a wide, soft cotton rope -- buy a long piece of cotton rope, unwind the strands, braid them into a flat braid, and tape the ends). Then you can use it, first as a 'come-along' (a loop over the filly's rear end, so that instead of PULLING her, you are encouraging her to move away from the pressure on her backside) and eventually as a figure-8 (one loop around her rump, the other around her chest, and the "package" held over her back by the rope "handle") which will give you more control but still not frighten the baby.

Take your time, and focus on the mare. It'll pay off.

In the meantime, a couple of useful books for you to read:

Cherry Hill THE FORMATIVE YEARS

Janet Lorch FROM FOAL TO FULL- GROWN

Have fun with your filly!

Jessica

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