Raising new born baby horses can be a nice experience, but don’t let the excitement fool you into raising a brat. Remember that that small foal would shortly be as big as or even bigger than her mom. And if you treat her the way you’d do your pet dog, you’d inevitably raise a hard-headed pain in the neck. A horse like that isn’t fit for riding, much less equestrian sport.

Baby horses are naturally not ready for horse riding or coaching for sport (though you can teach her to load or something similar). Consider what human babies do most of the time till they are ready for school: they play. Let your foal horse around with other fillies and colts her age range. If you can, take some time to watch her within a herd. If she gets too rowdy, her dam or some other aged herd member would give her a horse spanking to sort her out. Not only is she learning who are playmates, also she is learning who are leaders. Clearly, though you can be a playmate occasionally it’s smart though to establish yourself as her leader.

This means teaching her when you are serious and establishing your leadership authority. The most effective way to do so is with reins or bridles. Without them, it’s play time. When they’re on, she better not play around. It’s fine to reprimand her on your own way, just be gentler—she is a baby after all. Try early training with mom around, and eventually teach her away from mom to develop uniqueness and a sense of being a separate horse away from her dam she might instead be dependent on. In the wild they naturally come to an age where they become self dependent. In captivity, you must guarantee this pattern is followed, because they will be together in pens and enclosures almost all of the time—dam and filly.

Observing the young foal as she grows would provide hints when she is of age for further stages of training. If you believe she is , always apply lessons in moderation, and be twice as patient as you would on other horses. Do not use lessons that are physically demanding or mentally taxing—she’s still developing her muscles and her brain. Pushing too hard on the lessons may cause irreversible damage to essential body parts of your foal.

But let’s go back for a second. Lots of folks take horse riding for a casual activity, while some owners intend for their horses to join equestrian events. Either way, almost all of the time a newly born foal which they’re going to raise into maturity on their own is a rarity. And due to that, and because the thing can be terribly cute, first time breeders tend to treat it too loosely. As fast as evidence of stubbornness or insubordination arise, nip it at the bud. You wouldn’t need her taking such practices to adulthood—a 900 pound stomping, kicking, biting pony that will hardly be contained much less trained.

Horses are Heather Toms’ passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100’s of articles with other horse lovers… like all things about cheap horse rugs