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you have a question that you would like answered on the training tips,
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Questions will be picked randomly to be answered on the web site monthly.
Hello Del,
Have a 10 mo. filly and when I groom her she will
turn her nose to me like she is wanting to nip but is not sure. I
do not know if she is wanting to groom me in response to my brushing
her or if my grooming is irritating her. I have not made any
corrections towards her because I really don't know what she is
doing.
Thank you!
Jan Lou E.
Dear Jan,
Your question is a good one. Many times people cannot
distinguish behaviors. To answer those types of questions we
have to check out all possibilities. Are we grooming correctly
and with the correct equipment? Is the horse sore anywhere and
what is the cause of the soreness? Does this behavior carry
over to any other activities such as blanketing or saddling?
Is it just on one side or on both?
For the discussion of this answer we will assume that the horse
is not sore, you are using the proper equipment and grooming
correctly. With that assumption, then we need to look at
horses' behaviors. Watching horses in the pasture interact can
answer a lot of questions if we know how to read the behavior.
Horses groom each other usually by standing head to tail. They
will groom with their chins, mouths and teeth. Many times this
ends with one or the other deciding that enough is enough, that
their partner is grooming to hard or that the partner has just
entered a "personal" zone that they would rather not have
touched. They let their partner know either by leaving, biting
the other horse, squealing and sometimes kicking. That is the
way that horses communicate with each other.
Now with that in mind we take a look at our relationship with
the horse. Part of how we care for a horse is by grooming
them. In order for us to be able to groom the horse we must
have his/her cooperation. That means that the horse must stand
quietly for whatever length of time that we decide we need, and
that they must accept the use of our grooming tools.
Lets go back to the horse behavior. Many times their are clues
to what a horse thinks about something prior to the worst
behavior scenario such as kicking, biting, rearing, striking,
etc. What are some of those clues. Well the obvious ones are
ear pinning, nostril flaring and head bobbing. Some of the more
subtle ones that we might miss or ignore are leaning toward the
person, stepping toward the person, tail swishing, tail tucking,
nostril flaring, head shaking, and head flexing.
We will take head flexing since that is one that your horse is
exhibiting. Horses will flex their heads to the side for many
reasons. Biting at flies, scratching, curiosity, pain,
annoyance and probably more as well. For our purpose we will
look at annoyance. Most of the time during grooming this is the
reason for the head flexing. It is also a common expression
during blanketing, saddling and sometimes mounting as well.
This behavior is a warning that your horse wants you to stop
what you are doing. We must always take these warnings
seriously as they can easily escalate into more dangerous
behaviors. She should be corrected for this behavior.
Keep
watching for those signs!
Del
Hi
Del:
I hope you are doing well. I noticed you had a clinic this weekend.
What a nice day for it!
If you have a minute in the next few days, I'd like some advice on a project I
started with a friend last week. He has a 3 week old foal and can go up to
it, scratch its back and rub on it. I noticed a picture on your website
where you were using a "towel" to apply light pressure on a
young one. What is taking place there?
He wants me to help him with this, so I'd like to have a few tools in
mind. I realize you can't go into great detail over the email, but I would
appreciate knowing where you might begin with this kind of project.
Best to you,
Stephen S.
Stephen,
That is a very good question. I will start my answer by telling you that
the filly in the picture is about 5 months old. We were preparing her
for halter breaking.
Working with a 3 week old is a little different than working with a 5 month
old and that is different still from working with a yearling.
I noticed that you said the owner could "scratch" the foal's back,
I notice that you did not mention that he could approach the foal in the head
area. The foal is keeping his feet in a position to leave by allowing
you to approach from behind. He/She feels more in control of the
situation and less trapped in that position.
If you want to start with a 3 week old getting some basic handling down, the
first thing that needs to happen is that you need to allow the foal to
approach you (only one of you). Don't overwhelm the foal by having more than
one person to start with. A good way to begin this would be to give the
mother some attention, such as brushing and basic care. While you are
working on the mother allow the foal to just hang out without pressure from
you. In a short time most foals will be curious enough to give you a
sniff. Let this progress until the foal feels comfortable being around
you some. At this point you may extend your hand to "greet"
the foal. Your hand should be palm down, fingers together and curled to
look like a muzzle.
When the foal will "greet" you by sniffing your hand you should turn
away from the foal to take the pressure off and allow the foal to feel safe
with his/her approach to you. Continue this routine until the foal feels
comfortable touching your hand and does not feel the need to leave. This
may take some time and does not have to be done in one session. Remember
a foal at that age has a very short attention span. Sessions should be
no more than 10 to 15 minutes. They can be frequent, as in several times
a day but each one should be short.
Your next step is to give the foal one rub on the muzzle or lower nose area
below the eyes. If you see that the foal is going to leave as a result
of this try to withdraw your hand BEFORE the foal leaves. Go back to the
previous step and then proceed with another attempt. Staying close to
the mother during this work will help the foal feel safer about the approach.
Do not try and keep the foal from the mother at this point.
Once you can give the foal a rub on the face, you are most of the way there.
You should then proceed to be able to rub the foal all over with your hand.
Using the retreat if at anytime the foal wants to leave. The more time
you
take without rushing things at this stage of the foals life the more accepting
the foal will be of new things as he/she grows up.
With this stage you are teaching the foal how to accept new things in his/her
life. It is important that this foundation is solid. Sometimes as
humans we tend to be thinking about the end result, i.e. getting a halter on.
But at this point that is not the important lesson for the foal to learn.
I must add at this point that you should be aware that foals can turn and kick
very quickly. Especially when they feel trapped. That is also a
part of their learning and exercise at that age so they kick up playing too.
At this point if this happens you should gently move the foal off by raising
your hands or tossing the mothers lead rope gently in his/her direction to let
the foal know that is unacceptable behavior.
After you can successfully rub the foal all over with your hands with the foal
standing comfortably you can move on to the next step.
You need to be able to put your arm under and over the foals neck. Again
keeping the policy of retreating before the foal leaves if he/she starts to
feel uncomfortable.
Once the foal is standing quietly and not bothered by the motion of your arm
or by the feel of your hand all over then you can start asking the foal to
move away from pressure. Start by putting your arm under the foal's neck
while you are facing his/her rear. Rub down the foal's back with your
other hand and then ask the foal to step the hindquarter over just one step by
putting pressure on the side of her hip. You might need to even accept a
lean in the right direction. Just use light pressure with your hand and
wait for the foal to decide to move away from the pressure. Release the
pressure immediately when the foal moves away from the pressure. Do this on
both sides until the foal can readily move the hindquarter when pressure is
applied. Again following the retreat action if the foal starts to feel trapped
or scared.
If the foal needs to move more than one step and go back to her mother allow
her to do so. DO NOT TRY TO HOLD HER THERE. Just start again.
Once the foal is moving the hindquarter freely you can start asking the front
quarter to move. Put one hand on the foals neck and the other above the
muzzle. Do not grip with either hand. Keep your hand soft and
apply light pressure to bend the foal's neck in the opposite direction.
Once the foal's neck is bent a little wait for him/her to take a step over.
Release the pressure immediately when she moves that direction even if it is
just a lean.
Once you have the hindquarter and the front quarter moving readily upon
pressure you are ready to start with something other than your hand.
Here is where we get to what you saw in the picture on my web site.
Start with a small towel and work with the foal on accepting the towel being
rubbed all over him/her just as you did with your hand. Follow the same
retreat techniques as you did then as well. If the foal is bothered by
the approach of the towel work it from a distance before approaching.
Allow the foal to take a good look at the towel then take the towel away.
Continue this until the foal can accept the towel then proceed with being able
to rub him/her all over.
Once the foal is comfortable with being rubbed with the towel all over you are
ready to use the towel as a tool. Work with the foal so that you can
place the towel on either side of the foal's neck just like you did with your
arm. From above and from below. Make sure that you only hold it there
only momentarily in the beginning. Again avoid making the foal feel
trapped.
When the foal accepts the towel being placed around his/her neck then you are
ready to apply a little pressure with the towel around the foal's neck to ask
him/her to move the front quarter toward you. Be sure that you place the
towel mid way down the foal's neck so as not to pressure her poll area.
Foals are very sensitive in the poll area and you want to avoid possibly
hurting the him/her. As soon as the foal makes an effort to move your
direction take the pressure off the towel, remove the towel and walk away from
the foal. This will assure the foal that he/she is not trapped there.
Then repeat until the foal can readily move away from the pressure of the
towel on both sides.
Your next step will be to hold the towel around the foal's neck with one hand
and ask the hindquarter to move over with the other just as you did with your
arm earlier. Follow the same steps that you did when you were using your
arm.
Now you are ready to get a new tool. Use a thick soft lead rope and go
thru the same steps as your arm and the towel.
When the foal is accepting these "tools" well and moving away from
pressure readily, then you are ready to begin the haltering steps.
Foals are great fun to work with because they are a clean slate.
Whatever you teach them they take it very literally. So, remember to
never trap the foal, keep the mother near, and always remember that RELEASE.
Have Fun.
Del
Copyright Del Wideman,
www.delwideman.com, 2003. All rights reserved.
