RAISING a
BABY
Relating with
foals and mares
There is no right or wrong time
or age to start building a good
foundation in horsemanship,
for the horse the relationship begins the moment we enter
the same space. Just like we do, horses form memories, the
learning process never ceases to happen. Young horses
are even more receptive to learning than when they are
older. No matter the role we play in the equestrian world,
when it comes to relating with a horse we always need to
consider that each and everyone of our actions will influence
how a horse is going to act in our future interactions.
Since horses do not talk, but use movement to express
themselves, it is important to take a moment to assess what
a horse is thinking in regards to us.
While genetics needs to be considered before the horse
is born, through good horsemanship we can structure and
manage any horse’s environment and life, to give him a
good present, or future experience, and to make him become
interested in sharing time and space with us.
Young foals are sweet, and can become a joy forever, if
we take care of interacting with them with a proper relationship
while they grow into horses.
From birth, the senses of a horse are his window to the environment,
and they never cease to bring information to the
brain, where new data combines also with the memories,
and the personality, ultimately determining the behavior,
which is the complete expression of each individual.
Foals have a very short attention span and no training,
which can make it difficult to interact with them, but
knowledge of the equine instinctual behavior, and of how
to communicate spontaneously through the senses can allow
us to relate and start training them early. Our behavior
is what counts. Once the horse perceives our actions, our
part is done, and this is the very reason why Human Horse
Sensing emphasizes so much that in horsemanship we
need to focus on what we do and on which sense will carry
our information to the horse’s brain.
When given a choice, the foal chooses its leader just as
any other horse does. A leader is an individual worth following
because his behavior makes sense. It definitely is a role
that a foal’s mare naturally covers at first, and it is very
portant that when
e interact with a foal we make
important when
we make
sure to have the mare’s cooperation to become a positive
part of the foal’s life.
Foals, just like horses at any age, have an instinctual response
to movement. They move away from something
that approaches them, and they move toward things they
are interested in and that move away from them. They key
is the fact that the objects must be in motion to play a role
on the horse’s movement. Once the object stops moving
the horse can just lose interest for it, and not move.
As with horses of any age, foals learn from what they
experience, therefore we need to avoid making them
experience fear, if we want them being open to horsemanship
and to choose to see human beings as leaders.
This statement brings me to differ from many of the ways
that are now in use to interact with mare and foal, where
consideration for the feedback the horse gives us is not important
even while the relationship is developing. Foals are
handled without considering the state of their mind, often
because at the moment of the birth we think that what we
“need” to do is more important than how we do it, and of
how the foal feels about it.
Examples of what I am describing are the practice of imprinting,
which disturbs the development of the relationship
between a foal and its mother, or the way the weaning
process is commonly done, where the mare and foal are
64 www.EliteEquestrianMagazine.com
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