How do you halter break a foal?

[scotty4ever]

My mothers TB mare had a foal a while ago and we need to start training him. The problem is he is pretty unruly and hot tempered. We can get him to come over to us but he will always run when he sees the halter or lead. He's growing fast and we need to be able to halter train him before he grows even Bigger! Please Help!!:confused:

[WildHorseSpirit]

Sounds like this colt was not worked with when he was fairly new in life.
You need to be able to handle this colt before you try to train him. If not you will be doing it the hard way.

I would start by getting my hands all over him *no halter or lead* rub him good all over, playing with his mouth etc. Make sure you work with his head alot Once he comes to get his rubs just have a halter in hand and don't go at him, let him come play with it. Just stand there or lean against a post and play with the halter, let him come see what you have let him sniff, chew and stick his own head in there without capturing him with it.
Then once you can get your hands on him, halter him may take 2 people here since he doesn't have the earlier knowledge.
Let him run around in a round pen with it, but never never leave it on him alone he could get it stuck and you will have a dead youngster.
Do this daily and soon he won't mind the halter.
Then move on to leading, there are two ways one is to walk mom and lead him with her or you can pull and he pulls usually right on his rump he would go. I prefer the mare method myself less stress on the youngster.

I would also recommend you get books on young horses and how to halter train and handle them.
Once he sees it isn't going to bite him

[LucyLou]

I have had lots of experience training young and unruly horses. I would say that the best thing you can do for a young horse is spend lots of time with it. The sooner you get a halter on, the better. If you cannot catch him in a field, bring him in a stall with its mother. when you do halter the young horse, he will fight you if you pull on him to walk forward. Its always best to put the rope around the rear of the young horse to encourage forward movement. Its also very helpful with a high spirited young horse to teach them to give to pressure and if you have a round pen or arena, lunge before groundwork :D

[Chenay]

Greetings!

Lots of good advice. It is best to start "gentling" or "imprinting" foals from the time they are born and with their mothers. You can actually use the mother to manipulate a lot of things with the foal, such as where you want them to go, teaching them to lead, all sorts of things.

The poster who mentioned rubbing all over without a halter is right on. That is the best way to start. On the other hand, the poster who said to get a halter on ASAP is also right on the money. But when touching their mouths DO NOT let them nibble, this creates a HUGE bad habit.

Depending on the age of the foal and the experience of the handler, I ALWAYS recommend consulting a professional especially when working with foals.

One last piece of advice: make sure you always move slowly and smoothly (but dont creep, there's a difference) around the foal, especially ones that havent been worked with. Remember, this is a big scary world for them and you are a part of it, your job/goal is to make them feel "secure" with you not "scared" of you.

Good luck!!! :D

[Div]

I once briefly worked with a trainer whose idea of halter breaking foals was to wait until they were six months old and weaned, and then go into the paddock and LASSOO THEM (yes, I'm serious), throw them down, wrestly a halter onto them, and then leave the halters on, day and night. One or two of the foals were easy to catch and halter, but one gorgeous, smart little palomino filly ducked out of the way of the lassoo several times, then when she was finally roped she galloped in the most terrible frenzied way until the 'trainer' dug in his heels, the filly reached the end of the rope, leapt up into the air and slammed down onto the rock-hard ground, hitting the ground shoulder first. The trainer got the halter on her, then undid the lassoo, but the poor little filly was so exhausted and frightened she just lay there panting for several minutes. When she got up, she was dripping blood from her mouth and face; she had bitten her tongue and cut her face when she hit the ground. It was a horrific sight. And this was a guy who trained other people's horses!

The result of this training method; foals that were indeed halter broken, but maintained a wild, mischeivous, naughty at***ude. I bought one of their horses last year and he was shocking to lead at first, and near impossible to catch.

Halter breaking is something that must be done slowly, calmly and gently. Have the foal in a small yard and just get it used to being handled without a halter. Rub it all over with your hands and a soft rope until it stands quietly. Get a correctly fitting and SOFT halter that will NOT slip off or pinch. A halter especially made for foals is the only way to go. Get the foal used to having the halter put on and taken off, and NEVER leave the halter on while the foal is turned out; if it gets caught on something, it will never forget the experience. Keep his mother nearby; this well help him to settle. But keep her tied up so she cannot get in the way. If he struggles, she might try to defend him and that could be dangerous for you.

Foals are very imprintable; what you teach them now they will always remember. So it is vital that you do it properly. There are many articles online and in books that will describe halter training in great detail, so go have a read.

Good luck with your foal :)

[Div]

That word that asterisked out was 'att-itude'

Dunno why it censored....:rolleyes: