Ground Manners

- Halter Breaking the Foal

By Pam Hunter

Copyright 1998-2012, All Rights Reserved - These articles are the property of Pam Hunter and Cornerstone Consulting, Inc., DBA Hunter's Pony Farm. They may not be copied or reproduced in any form - EXCEPT: ONE (1) copy of the article on  Halter Breaking and ONE(1) copy of subsequent articles in the Continuing Series on Training can be made by an individual for their sole personal use. Other use violates this copyright.

The following information for halter breaking the foal can be applied to any horse that will accept you touching it and will accept the halter. If your horse is halter broke and doesn't lead well, you can use the method below to improve its response. At the end of this article is a reference to another article in the archive about retraining frightened or abused animals. Next month we will be discussing Ground Manners. From there we will move on to ground driving; which includes bitting the horse and using a surcingle.

Your foal has arrived, you've imprinted it (handled it gently right after it was born), spent time with it every day, picked up it's feet, gently brushed it...now it is 2 months old and time to halter break it. We usually put a halter on our foals by 2 or 3 days old, however we do not try to lead the foal. The halter is used to help the foal get used to handling and as an additional restraint when handling it. That is, not to hold the foal, but to give it the idea that this thing on it's head is there for a purpose and that purpose is restraint.

EXERCISE 1, Single Step: Before we attach a lead rope to the
halter we begin by using the halter with gentle pressure to
turn the foal's head. At the same time we exert pressure
we gently push on the foal's shoulder or neck to encourage
it to turn the desired direction. We are only asking for a
single step in that direction, whether it is right or left.
As soon as the foal takes that step we praise it and scratch
it in it's favorite spot

Have a lead rope handy for your foal to smell and taste.
Foals are a lot like human infants in that they enjoy learning
about their environment by mouthing objects. They also
tend to paw at things, including people, and this should
be discouraged by gently stopping the leg with your hand
and saying "NO" in a firm tone, but not loudly.

Your foal is probably used to the lead rope from being around the mare while she is being handled by you. If you have not been around them very much then the time spent familiarizing the foal with the lead rope, halter, handling it's body and feet should be longer. Be sure to be patient and work slowly and use a gentle voice. Foals are naturally skittish because, after all, they are a favorite food of prey animals in the wild.
Now, for the lessons of leading.

Start slowly. Never jerk on the foal's head, never tug it along or have someone push from behind.
Halter the foal. Don't make the halter too tight or too loose.
Practice the single step exercise mentioned above. Let the foal smell the lead rope.

EXERCISE 2, Backward Steps:
Attach the lead rope to the halter.
Just hold the rope and let foal feel the weight of it on
the halter. The foal may try to back away. Just let it
back up and reach the end of the rope. This should only
be about 3-4 feet, don't let it have too much rope. As the
foal reaches the end of the rope it will meet with resistance.
This may cause the foal to rear up. To prevent this just let the foal feel
the pressure for a second or two. Then step toward the foal so the
pressure is released. Go to the foal, all the while talking in a
calm voice, and reassure it that all is well. Repeat this
exercise several times until the foal stands quietly without
pulling back when the end of the rope is reached.

EXERCISE 3, Forward steps: When exercises 1 & 2 have been
successfully completed, which may take a few days (you should
not work with the foal for long periods of time as this can stress it)
begin to pull gently on the lead rope to try to get the foal to
step forward. It is easiest to pull gently to one side or the other,
just a little, not a sharp turn. This reminds the foal of the first exercise. It is a good idea to review the first exercise a couple of times immediately prior to this one. If the foal resists, stop and redo exercise one. If the foal takes even one tiny step, stop and praise it lavishly and give it a generous scratch. (Foals are VERY itchy! Rubbing or gently scratching the foal on it's withers is a good spot. This is the area where the mare nuzzles the foal to reassure it.) Then do it again, and again. Praise the foal for any movement in the right direction...that is taking a step. If the foal resists, do not praise or scratch, just stop, try again. If the foal pulls back, refer to exercise two.

Soon your foal will be taking several steps forward. Praise it each
time. This is how you gently train a foal with out gimmicks, ropes
and force. We do not believe in forcing an animal to do
something it does not understand. Keep in mind that this animal
has never had anything but free choice. It is a hard lesson for
a foal to learn that it must do what it's human master wants.
Remember when you realized you couldn't do everything you
wanted to?

For information on training a frightened or abused animal or just
step by step training to ride (horses and ponies should not be
ridden until at least 2 years of age) refer to the article
"The Shetland Pony - Getting a Bad Rep".


Copyright 1998-2012, All Rights Reserved - These articles are the property of Pam Hunter DBA Hunter's Pony Farm. They may not be copied or reproduced in any form - EXCEPT: ONE (1) copy of the article on Halter Breaking and ONE(1) copy of subsequent articles in the Continuing Series on Training can be made by an individual for their sole personal use. Other use violates this copyright.

You can also view this article at: http://www.petpeoplesplace.com/resources/articles/horses/255-halter-breaking-foal.htm