It’s obvious that most baby animals are cute, adorable, entertaining, and even amusing funny watching them pull their infantile antics, and baby horses or foals are no exception. At this age it is difficult to conceive that these seemingly precious little critters could possibly do any wrong, especially when everything they do is just so darn cute. Unfortunately, it is easy to fall victim to their antics. It’s important to treat some of their antics no differently than you would with an adult horse. We all know that when our own cute and adorable children misbehave we correct them right away while they are young to prevent them from developing their bad tendencies as they get older, the same practice must apply to foals as well. As with children, foals are also going to grow and get bigger and stronger and become harder to handle, and even more so with a horse due to it’s size. Habits formed at this age can be tough to break as they become older.

First, and foremost, you need to look at the foal as though it were a full grown horse. By viewing them in this way we can begin to put their behavior into a more realistic perspective. When an adult horse attempts to nibble on us, it’s not so cute and we don’t tolerate it like we do with a foal. If we don’t want an adult horse doing this, then why would we let our baby do it and then expect them to abruptly cease at some point because they are now an adult. After all, we actually led them to believe this was acceptable behavior to begin with, and to the horse they think we actually approved of[spin] it in the first place, then all [spin]at once we get mad at them which just confuses the horse. How well mannered a horse is as an adult relies a lot on how they were raised and trained, which needs to begin shortly after birth. Horses have no sense of reasoning that allows them to determine that they are older and therefore should now behave differently, they totally rely on instinct and learned behavior.

When correcting them for the mistakes they may make, you need to use the same correction methods we would use on an adult horse. There can be no excuse for those behaviors we affectionately consider to be playful as a baby. So next time you’re enjoying spending time with your foal and they do something other than what you want, you need to ask yourself, “is this something I would allow or even want an adult horse to be doing?” If they try nipping or biting, correct them!, if they try kicking at you, correct them!, if they try forcefully nudging or pushing you, correct them!. It is perfectly acceptable to expect the same proper behavior from our foal as we do from a an adult horse as some of their behavior even at a young age, such as kicking, can be potentially dangerous. Remember, they all grow up, and rather rapidly, so don’t waste anytime in instilling a good behavioral foundation. It’s important to still allow them to be youngsters and run around bucking and kicking, just not around you. Enjoy them while they’re young and still cute, just be sure to set boundaries for their behavior when they are around you.

If you found this article useful you can find more tips like this at the Hitching Post, a site for Equestrian Singles and country folks in general.

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