Training The Young Horse
Helpful Tips for Training the Young Horse
Training the young horse is one of the most exciting experiences anyone can have if they enjoy horses. However, training the young horse does require an individual to have patience, consistency and tenacity. Many horse owners don’t realize that training the young horse requires individuals to work with the mare and foal together, rather than simply focusing on training the young horse. The mare and foal are linked biologically and emotionally so it is important you don’t neglect the mare while training the foal.
Develop a Relationship
Although it may seem strange at first, there are a lot of similarities between training the young horse and raising a human infant. No matter what species an infant is, they will start to form relationships right away. A young horse will develop immediate relationships with other horses as well as the humans around them. It is the trainer’s job to focus on building up this relationship the moment the young horse is born.
Natural horsemanship is a training method that focuses on communicating in transparent ways with horses. With this method of training a young horse, trainers can increase the effectiveness of their training by studying more about equine communication. The most common method to do this is through foal imprint training. Imprinting is basically the process of bonding the young horse to their handlers in the same way the young horse imprints on the mother. The best time to improve your relationship with the young horse is to spend as much time with the young horse as possible.
Start Halter Training Early
The main goal of training the young horse is to establish a foundation for future training. When a rider mounts a horse, their main method of communication is through pressure. Halter training for the young horse helps to establish this understanding of pressure from the very start. This is also the best way to show a foal that they cannot escape when something scares them. This allows the young foal to confront their fears since the trainer is able to establish boundaries.
Exposure to New Things
A goal of training the young horse is to introduce the foal to something new each day. This may be something as simple as going to an unfamiliar area, using a different brush or bringing either a new horse or human around the area. Larger introductions to the young horse during training may include their first bath, picking the hooves, running clippers near the ears or loading in a trailer. All of these activities can help desensitize the foal and make these new experiences less frightening for the horse. Basically, the young horse is learning that the trainer doesn’t mean them any harm.
Take It Slow
Everyone has experienced sensory overload sometime in their life. Young horses can experience this as well which is why trainers need to understand that they can push a lot of new sensations and experiences on the young horse at one time otherwise this can delay the training process. It is best to limit training the young horse to fifteen minutes increments. If a young horse doesn’t accept these new experiences within this time frame then you can come back to it the following day. As a foal reaches the one year mark, the trainer can increase training time to half an hour.
Training the young horse is a wonderful experience that becomes easier the more you do it. It is important for handlers to realize that mistakes will be made when working with young horses for the first time, no matter what training method is being used. All trainers will soon find the ideal training method for their young horse as they start to gain experience.